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Image Captions hidden when using Keyboard nav

HamsterHueyHamsterHuey Registered Users Posts: 73 Big grins
edited August 2, 2013 in SmugMug Support
Another annoying "feature" of the new SM gallery. When I click on images so that they show up larger on screen, the image caption appears below briefly, but then fades away with the toolbar at the bottom. Coupling the caption with the toolbar overlay seems to be a bad idea to begin with. Usually when you caption a photograph, you caption it so people can read and see it when viewing your gallery. You'd want it to be persistent without being overlayed above your image, but yet that is the design choice in the new SM gallery.

This was perfect in Legacy SM as the caption was always visible in a box below the image. Now however, the caption is there for a couple of seconds then fades away. The only way to view it again is to move the mouse. Even worse, if you have longer captions that wrap over 1 line in length, then you have to hover your mouse at the caption region for every single image for the hover box to pop up.

But what is the worst issue of all is that if one were to use keyboard arrow keys to flip between images, then the "Hover" state is not recognized so the toolbar at the bottom is always invisible, thus meaning that your captions will also be completely invisible as someone flips through your gallery. There aren't even any visual cues to the user that the image has a caption that they are missing out on.

This is all just so clunky and a step back from what we already had. I usually use captions to tell a story of the places I go and the things I see so my family and friends can share in the experience and have more context when viewing my photographs. It used to work just fine, but now there is very little chance that my image captions will be seen or noticed in the new SM.

Hope this is addressed at some point in time. Feels like so many things were changed just for making them look slick without any thought to the actual impact on usability :dunno
Unhappy SmugMug beta tester - http://smandal.smugmug.com

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    WinsomeWorksWinsomeWorks Registered Users Posts: 1,935 Major grins
    edited August 1, 2013
    Another annoying "feature" of the new SM gallery. When I click on images so that they show up larger on screen, the image caption appears below briefly, but then fades away with the toolbar at the bottom. Coupling the caption with the toolbar overlay seems to be a bad idea to begin with. Usually when you caption a photograph, you caption it so people can read and see it when viewing your gallery. You'd want it to be persistent without being overlayed above your image, but yet that is the design choice in the new SM gallery.

    This was perfect in Legacy SM as the caption was always visible in a box below the image. Now however, the caption is there for a couple of seconds then fades away. The only way to view it again is to move the mouse. Even worse, if you have longer captions that wrap over 1 line in length, then you have to hover your mouse at the caption region for every single image for the hover box to pop up.

    But what is the worst issue of all is that if one were to use keyboard arrow keys to flip between images, then the "Hover" state is not recognized so the toolbar at the bottom is always invisible, thus meaning that your captions will also be completely invisible as someone flips through your gallery. There aren't even any visual cues to the user that the image has a caption that they are missing out on.

    This is all just so clunky and a step back from what we already had. I usually use captions to tell a story of the places I go and the things I see so my family and friends can share in the experience and have more context when viewing my photographs. It used to work just fine, but now there is very little chance that my image captions will be seen or noticed in the new SM.

    Hope this is addressed at some point in time. Feels like so many things were changed just for making them look slick without any thought to the actual impact on usability ne_nau.gif

    Oh good grief. This just makes me SO mad. THere's just so many issues like this that they even asked for feedback about when we had the sneak preview going on for those couple years... and then it's like no one even bothered to listen to the feedback. I remember this as one of the issues, as well as the stupid lack of "previous... next" buttons, buttons in invisible orvery unhandy spots, etc. I was one pressing for the ability to use the keyboard arrows... but certainly not at the cost of losing other options and most definitely not at the cost of invisible captions. They seem to have been thinking about this new site for one particular use, one particular type of photographer & display need, and forgetting that there are thousands of differing types of display needs, just like there are thousands of different types of photogs.
    Anna Lisa Yoder's Images - http://winsomeworks.com ... Handmade Photo Notecards: http://winsomeworks.etsy.com ... Framed/Matted work: http://anna-lisa-yoder.artistwebsites.com/galleries.html ... Scribbles: http://winsomeworks.blogspot.com
    DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
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    AristophanesAristophanes Registered Users Posts: 28 Big grins
    edited August 2, 2013
    I find this VERY problematic as detailed captions are core to what I am trying to do.

    Fix, please.
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