No idea wth im doing, need help/guidance

DJKennedy · September 27, 2013

dont like being forced to change to new SM when im happy with my old site but now i guess i have two choices, get some help or shut er down. rather not shut my site down but if i cant get it migrated over to the new format and have it looking like my old one, well i guess i will have to shut the site down

I have *zero* coding skills, none, nill, ziltch, nada. the reason why i liked Sm was that it was simple to use but i havent the slightest idea what im doing now.

Any one want to help me out please step forward. Im liking this site: link but dont like the photo taking so much room. Denise has a nice menu but i would want a home/galleries/about/contact me for navigation (galleries need to be drop down).

The old site is black background, going with white or black will work for me on the new one. Denise has her name on the left edge of the banner, that works for me. I dont mind losing the slideshow that i have on the legacy site.

I *need* help people!!!

Dunno guys. i am totally lost. *zero* coding skills here.

denisegoldberg · September 27, 2013

The good news is you don't need coding skills in the new smug. Yes, there are some customizations that need code, but most (if not all) of your site can be done with the tools on the new smug, without code.

My site name (logo) is a logo content block using text instead of an image.
My menu is a menu content block.
Both of these are defined at an "entire site" level. And by defined I mean that I dragged the content elements onto the page then typed to fill in the entries as needed.

I chose to show single large photo on my homepage. You can show a block of photos or a slideshow or whatever you'd like.

My gallery and about entries on the navbar lead to pages.

You don't need to create a page to show your galleries - instead you can use the built-in /browse page.

Look at this page - http://school.smugmug.com/SmugMug-Tips/SmugMug-In-5-Minutes-or-Less - on the new http://school.smugmug.com/ site. There are quite a few entries in the smugmug tips section.

Have fun, and don't hesitate to ask for help if you get stuck.

--- Denise

DJKennedy · September 27, 2013

thanks Denise!

needing help for my menu/navbar.

I need a drop down navbar for galleries...

this is making me very frustrated. not having fun.

denisegoldberg · September 27, 2013

DJKennedy wrote: »

needing help for my menu/navbar.

I need a drop down navbar for galleries...

You can make a drop-down navbar using the menu content element.

See the Create a Nested (drop down) menu bar section of the help page at http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/1222523-customization-navigation-menu.

--- Denise

DJKennedy · September 27, 2013

thanks Denise - this is giving me a headache lol, i have to leave for work real soon so will start this up again tomorrow. Im checking out the link you posted above.

EDIT: Btw: do we still have the option for a 'recent' photos galleries? It was a hack to show photos yo posted in the past (x) time period?

Derek

denisegoldberg · September 27, 2013

DJKennedy wrote: »

do we still have the option for a 'recent' photos galleries? It was a hack to show photos yo posted in the past (x) time period?

Add a multiple photos content block to a page and select Recent.

--- Denise

DJKennedy · September 27, 2013

geeze you are a fountain of information!

Thanks Denise - slow hacking away at it, taking time since im at work now and our (borrowed wifi) is iffy. Keep losing the signal. I have way too many galleries. Lots of links to transfer over.

I *greatly* appreciate your help

Without your help tonight I would have said the heck with it, shut er down!

Derek

denisegoldberg · September 27, 2013

DJKennedy wrote: »

geeze you are a fountain of information!

Thanks Denise - slow hacking away at it, taking time since im at work now and our (borrowed wifi) is iffy. Keep losing the signal. I have way too many galleries. Lots of links to transfer over.

I *greatly* appreciate your help

Without your help tonight I would have said the heck with it, shut er down!

Derek

I'm glad I was able to help.

Have you considered not putting every gallery in your menu? I see that's how your legacy site was set up but that doesn't mean you need to re-implement the same site. Maybe try entry into a top level set of folders from your menu as a starting point.

--- Denise

DJKennedy · September 27, 2013

At this time i am more or less moving all of the same galleries onto the menu but then I was going to look things over to see what can go and what id like to keep. guess im creating more work than i need to doig it that way.

I wanted to keep away from folders as personally ive never really liked the look of folders, to me a menu was cleaner. but yeah I plan on removing galleries from the menu. I just need to sit back and decided what to remove.

My original site was meant just for my photos, but then after getting married and having a son it also became a 'family photos' site. I need to see what I want to do, which direction i prefer it to go. my photos...family...arg...something has to go tho so yes i understand what you are saying

jw303 · September 27, 2013

I too am feeling the same and could really use some help.

DJKennedy · September 27, 2013

not sure if I will be of assistance or not jw, but what sort of help do you need? Maybe I already came across the same problem and figured it out?

denisegoldberg · September 28, 2013

DJKennedy wrote: »

At this time i am more or less moving all of the same galleries onto the menu but then I was going to look things over to see what can go and what id like to keep. guess im creating more work than i need to doig it that way.

I wanted to keep away from folders as personally ive never really liked the look of folders, to me a menu was cleaner. but yeah I plan on removing galleries from the menu. I just need to sit back and decided what to remove.

My original site was meant just for my photos, but then after getting married and having a son it also became a 'family photos' site. I need to see what I want to do, which direction i prefer it to go. my photos...family...arg...something has to go tho so yes i understand what you are saying

Actually using folders gives a natural way to segment your site into two pieces. And since folder can be represented by large images (as opposed to small thumbnails) you might want to experiment with them. You can decide not to use them, but just see how they look. If you want to see an example, here is the folder that holds the galleries from my recent trip to the Canadian Rockies - http://www.denisegoldberg.com/Travel/Alberta-2013.

I had a lot of old galleries on my site before migrating. I've left the old travel galleries since I also write about my trips and I wanted the photos available, but I essentially unpublished other galleries older than a few years old (unless they contained what I considered to be special photos). I created a folder called "unpublished", set it to unlisted, and dragged the galleries I no longer wanted showing to the public to the "unpublished" folder. The folder is unlisted, and all of the galleries in the folder inherit that setting so they are unlisted too. The galleries still exist but they are not in the way and not visible to viewers.

--- Denise

DJKennedy · September 28, 2013

thats a good idea. I will have to consider doing that.

Had a bunch more questions onhow to do stuff but found the answers. Adding the recent uploads was not the same as the faqs page shows, or how you have it i found. so that was a bit of a challenge.

now i need to find where i can alter the navigation parameters (eg width) as i cant seem to add too many words...also, spacing of the navbar, like to lowe it a bit

PaulO · September 28, 2013

drop-down, fly-out menu
I also in the boat with some of the other frustrated people. I'm building a site from scratch rather than converting a legacy site. I've looked at half a dozen video tutorials but I'm now stuck. I originally sketched out how I want my site to function and then looked at dozens of sites to find something close. Here is the site that I'd like to model mine on: http://www.setoien.com
Here is my start: PaulOsgood.smugmug.com
The part of the design I'm looking at resolving is the drop-down, fly-out menu. I've read the help page (http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/1222523-customization-navigation-menu) but I must be thick as I'm not getting it. In the Organize panel I've built the hierarchy I want and it seems to be working, at least for the Galleries. I've populated it with just a few galleries and will add many more when I get it working.
Also I can't seem to place the top banner all the way to the left. The positioning of the placement areas does not seem to allow it.
I'd be grateful for any advice you can provide.

Thanks,
Paul

denisegoldberg · September 28, 2013

DJKennedy wrote: »

you said "Add a multiple photos content block to a page and select Recent." how am i adding a new page, sorry stupid question i know...?

Im not seeing where we can make changes such as getting rid of (or adding i suppose) allowing comments, removing 'from XXX gallery"....can you point me in the right direction for those?? scratching my head trying to find the location of those. found how to remove other items so far and thats good, but i like how easy it was the old way...

oh, how to change description of photos??? cant seem to see how to...looking still.. found it. old way was much better >:(

Go to the organizer, click on the folder where you want the page to live (or on your site name if you don't need it in a folder), click the Create button, click Page. Then you'll be able to drag content boxes into your new page.

Allowing comments is in the gallery settings. That hasn't changed.

Not sure about the "from xxx gallery" - are you asking about keywords or a collection? I think there are threads here that tell how to remove those.

Changing description of photo can be done in two places.

One, while positioned on the photo in the gallery, click the wrench icon, then Edit... Photo details.
The other is accessible from the organizer, click the gallery to select it, click the wrench icon, click captions and keywords.

--- Denise

DJKennedy · September 28, 2013

sorry dont think you saw this edit, as i made several in the last few mins:

now i need to find where i can alter the navigation parameters (eg width) as i cant seem to add too many words...also, spacing of the navbar, like to lower it a bit

i also seem to have an issue in preview where if i have more than one page of thumbanes, im getting 1 of X but also a arrow down button overlaid..odd..

DJKennedy · September 28, 2013

gallery with more than one page giving error
OK gone public with new site and have a problem on galleries. WHen the gallery has more than one page of photos, I hvae a different issue in IE and FF, where it says 1 of X pages. I get a right arrow thingy, and a down arrow button. two different styles, one must go.

any help on that issue anyone?

to view this issue i suggest trying galleries/family/friends and family new (or the old)

Derek

denisegoldberg · September 29, 2013

DJKennedy wrote: »

OK gone public with new site and have a problem on galleries. WHen the gallery has more than one page of photos, I hvae a different issue in IE and FF, where it says 1 of X pages. I get a right arrow thingy, and a down arrow button. two different styles, one must go.

That sounds either like a bug (in which case you can report it in the bug reporting forum) or a difference in browser behavior. There may be someone here who can make a suggestion but that's outside of my knowledge.

I just took a look - your site looks good.

I thought you wanted your site name on one side and your menu on the other?
Your menu wraps to a second line - you might try increasing the width of that container.

Are you aware that since you removed the breadcrumb you have left no information on your page as to what is being viewed? See the first post of the thread Are you really sure you want to hide the breadcrumb? Think of your viewers! Also, clicking on the breadcrumb to see other galleries in the same folder is a good way to move around the site.

--- Denise

DJKennedy · September 29, 2013

thought i should put menu on the left with all the drop downs/flyouts. Seems to me, adding boxes - seems you have certain areas they let you place things, not exactly where ya want em

Yeah, breadcrumbs, never had them, didnt like how unclean the site would look with them :P

i dont have my galleries setup very good, so basically hiding the breadcrumbs hid that issue. it was easier than moving a *lot* of stuff around, or starting over

this pagination issue, doesnt come up on my ipad, but viewing on the pc using IE and/or FF i get the bug, albeit slightly differently in each browser

denisegoldberg · September 29, 2013

DJKennedy wrote: »

i dont have my galleries setup very good, so basically hiding the breadcrumbs hid that issue. it was easier than moving a *lot* of stuff around, or starting over

Moving galleries around is very easy in the Organizer.

If you don't want to use the breadcrumb you should at least add something to the gallery description. Using the breadcrumb is actually easier since you don't need to remember to add a description.

--- Denise

No idea wth im doing, need help/guidance

Comments