Well, D Day has come

TalkieT · October 23, 2015

Thanks Smugmug... I know it was a force migration and I know there was plenty of warning, but the only help you gave was to confirm that most of my customisations weren't going to work with New Smugmug.

The automigration has broken so much of my site I just don't know what to do. I know you don't care about the last few customers, I don't expect any help or sympathy, but I hope everyone realises that if they rely on something you don't want to support, then they will be left out in the cold.

The earlier promises of assistance in converting amounted to nothing...

I had to vent. I'm ashamed I kept giving you money this long.

Cheers - N

AceCo55 · October 23, 2015

Just looked at your website -I could navigate without any trouble (nice work - especially Rallycross)
Nav menu worked as expected.
Loaded quickly.

Sorry I can't help you with PayPal issues but Nick (a fellow NZ) created a work around here:
http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=240753

If you ask about a customisation that you had and still want, I suggest you ask here (one at a time).
There are some amazing people here (not me) who will be able to tell if it is possible in New Smugmug and how to go about it.

I can understand your frustration and maybe you think it is all a bridge too far, but just work on one thing at a time.
As I said, your website is functional at the moment - it may not be exactly how you eventually want it but there are people who are certainly willing to help you get there.

TalkieT · October 23, 2015

Thanks for the response Ace, but have a look at my join date... I put literally hundreds of hours creating many features like seamless Paypal that didn't require browser plugins to maintain, custom random backgrounds for folders, premium galleries, substituting gallery links for featured categories, slideshow with onhover highlights and transparent overlay.

The biggest issue by far is that Smugmug have removed Javascript for "security" reasons they think are justified, but in doing so, they have removed so much advanced functionality that for the first 5-6 years I was with them was touted as one of their best features (and it was). This, along with other issues (removing some identifiers that make targeting customisations to various categories impossible) have rendered as I say, hundreds of hours work wasted.

I wouldn't even mind so much if the same functionality was available still, even if I had to redevelop different solutions - but they have removed them with NO SUITABLE ALTERNATIVE available. Their idea of customisation now seems to be pick a theme and change some colours.

I spent an hour fixing the actual broken parts of the website, but Paypal is a goner and while they recently added NZ Dollars as a currency, it was 5-6 years after I needed it, and their additional charges for a digital download are scandalous.

The most gutting thing is that I was a strong supporter of Smugmug before "New Smugmug"... I sold several people on it and helped out here when I could. Now I feel they have utterly lost any connection with the early adopter advanced customisers... That's ok, we pushed the envelope of what was possible with their old system - but we did it with the full understanding and endorsement of Smugmug. Never did I think they would slam the door so hard on their most enthusiastic customers.

But they did, and it sucks.

Cheers - N

AceCo55 · October 23, 2015

Thanks for the background Neil.
I can understand how frustrating it would be having spent so much time customizing your website and then having to reorganise it again.
So I guess you have to decide what you can live with and what workarounds are possible to get it as near as you can.

I a week or so you might have something to celebrate to take you mind off it - Rugby World Cup
I sure hope the Wallabies get to play the All Blacks. Should be an awesome match (although we have been lucky to escape a couple of matches. Too many errors and turnovers).

Looking at your website, I'm sure you would have a large and loyal following.
Anyway, best of luck in your deliberations.

Andy · October 23, 2015

Neil, help is on the way, from those close to me!

owilliams · October 25, 2015

Hi Neil, I've just send you an email about the concerns that you have here. I look forward to your reply so that we can get your new SmugMug site moving in the right direction.

-Oliver
SM Support

TalkieT · October 25, 2015

Received and appreciated Oliver. I'll try to get to it tonight or tomorrow. I do know about the browser based setup for paypal and it's less than optimal - especially for the large number of existing galleries. I'll also dig into some of the details - I think there was one other major issue where it's no longer possible to target customisations to a particular category because a class was removed (or something)...

Cheers - N

owilliams · October 25, 2015

Hi again Neil,

About customizing individual folders and galleries - you can certainly do that with the new system. To do this, you will access your customizer (customize > content and design) from the folder/gallery that you want to work on. From there click "Make this Folder (or gallery) custom" form the customizer bar on the right. With that, it any changes that you make will be restricted to just that one folder/gallery and it will not affect your other pages.

As always, we're here for you if you need anything else going forward.

-Oliver
SM Support

TalkieT · October 26, 2015

I can see this feature has actually been added. Great! It took 15 months for a critical feature for customisers - but it does look like it's there now.. This was the thread I was concerned about:

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=239444

For your initial perusal and just as a basic list, these are the things I can find from my previous customisation... Anything marked with * is something I don't really care about.

- Total hiding of Smugmug branding. (YES, this was allowed for some customers if they implemented it when the T&Cs allowed it)
* Searchbox showing up only for event galleries (like my MTB galleries where I tried to tag with rider numbers) *
- Hide some elements on pricing/about/links pages (Looks like this would be simple)
- Slideshow had an onhover highlight, plus had a transparent PNG overlay
* Category and subcategory icons had a random background graphic that made them look like a pile of polaroids *
- Paypal, obviously. Includes a separate underphoto paypal menu depending on category I guess folder/subfolder now). The rewriting to put the menu under the photo was also done via JS.
- Nav menu at top of screen included dropdowns for category, subcat etc
- Styled popular photos across the bottom of the screen with a pop-out function on hover.
- replaced featured galleries with recent galleries (Used JS to rewrite the page based on the RSS feed of recent galleries) - is this now a built in option?)
- Custom backgrounds and entries in featured galleries for major events (individual background per event)
- Custom headers, graphical elements per category. (different headers for events, weddings etc)
- rewrote the top breadcrumb. Don't know if current functionality replicates what I had yet (JS)
- rewrote page to make a simple "download image" button for some galleries. (JS)

A bunch of individual styling tweaks (to account for SM changing size of thumbnails depending on number of items in a category), custom background graphics to create consistent screens without just colouring the boxes... SO much stuff.

Cheers - N

leftquark · October 26, 2015

TalkieT wrote: »

For your initial perusal and just as a basic list, these are the things I can find from my previous customisation... Anything marked with * is something I don't really care about.

- Total hiding of Smugmug branding. (YES, this was allowed for some customers if they implemented it when the T&Cs allowed it)
* Searchbox showing up only for event galleries (like my MTB galleries where I tried to tag with rider numbers) *
- Hide some elements on pricing/about/links pages (Looks like this would be simple)
- Slideshow had an onhover highlight, plus had a transparent PNG overlay
* Category and subcategory icons had a random background graphic that made them look like a pile of polaroids *
- Paypal, obviously. Includes a separate underphoto paypal menu depending on category I guess folder/subfolder now). The rewriting to put the menu under the photo was also done via JS.
- Nav menu at top of screen included dropdowns for category, subcat etc
- Styled popular photos across the bottom of the screen with a pop-out function on hover.
- replaced featured galleries with recent galleries (Used JS to rewrite the page based on the RSS feed of recent galleries) - is this now a built in option?)
- Custom backgrounds and entries in featured galleries for major events (individual background per event)
- Custom headers, graphical elements per category. (different headers for events, weddings etc)
- rewrote the top breadcrumb. Don't know if current functionality replicates what I had yet (JS)
- rewrote page to make a simple "download image" button for some galleries. (JS)

A bunch of individual styling tweaks (to account for SM changing size of thumbnails depending on number of items in a category), custom background graphics to create consistent screens without just colouring the boxes... SO much stuff.

Most of these things are possible with the New SmugMug, often without the need to write any code or find scripts, etc (like the nav menu, for example). The "New SmugMug Customizations" forum may be your best bet for any of the CSS tweaks, as well as Nick Sherlock's site, and my Customization site.

Well, D Day has come

Comments