SmugMug for Android - Category order insists on Alphabetical

WinsomeWorks · October 22, 2015

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for App support. My new site has published, etc. and I don't think I ever solved this problem on Legacy smugmug when viewed through the SmugMug (for Android) app. But no matter what I do, (& I have tried toggling all the correct options, leaving the app, turning off the phone, etc. etc.) I can only get my categories to display in alphabetical order. I think galleries are doing the same. I do not want them displaying that way; I've set them manually on my site to a certain order, & I'd like them to retain this order on the app. There are a couple other toggle options that aren't conforming to my choices either. Can't think what they are right now & will have to post back.

Allen · October 22, 2015

Did you go into Organizer, highlight your name at the top of tree, then drag the
categories to the order you want in right window?

WinsomeWorks · October 22, 2015

You mean on the full site, right? Yes, I did go into Organizer & got all my cats to the right spots-- not sure if I did it by highlighting my name, but yeah, it showed me all my top cats. I mean, on the full site (computer) it displays correctly whether I'm logged in or not. It's only on SmugMug for Android that it's alphabetical instead. It's got a choice in "Settings" to not display alphabetically, but I see no difference no matter how that's toggled.

Allen wrote: »

Did you go into Organizer, highlight your name at the top of tree, then drag the
categories to the order you want in right window?

pilotdave · October 23, 2015

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

You mean on the full site, right? Yes, I did go into Organizer & got all my cats to the right spots-- not sure if I did it by highlighting my name, but yeah, it showed me all my top cats. I mean, on the full site (computer) it displays correctly whether I'm logged in or not. It's only on SmugMug for Android that it's alphabetical instead. It's got a choice in "Settings" to not display alphabetically, but I see no difference no matter how that's toggled.

Are you talking about the smugmug android app or the mobile site? I see what you mean in the app, but NOBODY is going to use that to browse your site other than you. I only just realized I can browse other smugmug sites in the app.

As far as your page displaying in mobile browsers, I'd suggest setting your menus to collapse in mobile. They are pretty big for a phone screen. I'd really recommend reorganizing a little bit with a deeper folder structure (which wasn't available on old smug)... you can probably make your site a little easier to navigate and not need a menu with 19 top level items. For example, you could keep nature at the top level and move things like flowers and animals underneath. It's a little overwhelming to visit a site with so many categories... they don't all need to show up on the homepage.

Dave

WinsomeWorks · October 23, 2015

I don't know what the difference is... I'm talking about the app... isn't that the same thing as the mobile site?? Anyway, I want the cats displayed in the order I put them for me,.. the alphabetical order does me no good. And I don't know why someone else would be using the app much differently than I am--- it all depends how they have their own app set to work as far as seeing a menu or seeing cat pages as thumbs. I'm sure lots of people have it set to show thumbs, not a nav-type menu.

Yes, I have not even begun to get my site optimized for mobile. I only just got my main site "re-set back", so I'll be behind for awhile. Can't work on it all weekend. I saw the "collapse for mobile" thing, but it wasn't explained well & I still have no idea what it means. My menu isn't even fixed correctly on my computer site either, & I'll be doing a whole new logo & all... eventually. Oh gosh, yes, you can do much of the stuff on the app that you do on the regular site--- surprised you never found other people's sites.

pilotdave wrote: »

Are you talking about the smugmug android app or the mobile site? I see what you mean in the app, but NOBODY is going to use that to browse your site other than you. I only just realized I can browse other smugmug sites in the app.

As far as your page displaying in mobile browsers, I'd suggest setting your menus to collapse in mobile. They are pretty big for a phone screen.

Dave

pilotdave · October 23, 2015

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

I don't know what the difference is... I'm talking about the app... isn't that the same thing as the mobile site?? Anyway, I want the cats displayed in the order I put them for me,.. the alphabetical order does me no good. And I don't know why someone else would be using the app much differently than I am--- it all depends how they have their own app set to work as far as seeing a menu or seeing cat pages as thumbs. I'm sure lots of people have it set to show thumbs, not a nav-type menu.

Yes, I have not even begun to get my site optimized for mobile. I only just got my main site "re-set back", so I'll be behind for awhile. Can't work on it all weekend. I saw the "collapse for mobile" thing, but it wasn't explained well & I still have no idea what it means. My menu isn't even fixed correctly on my computer site either, & I'll be doing a whole new logo & all... eventually. Oh gosh, yes, you can do much of the stuff on the app that you do on the regular site--- surprised you never found other people's sites.

My point is that the average visitor won't know the app exists, so this isn't an issue for your visitors. Your mobile site is what people see when they visit your site with their phones, except in rare cases where they know you're using smugmug and know the app exists. I doubt my site has ever gotten a visit from the app.

I guess it would be nice if the app could be organized exactly like the site, but remember it doesn't have all the features of the site anyway... Like the ability to display pages. Parts of my site use pages as "mock folders." That organizational structure can't be replicated in the app.

Dave

leftquark · October 24, 2015

Hi Anna Lisa,
The term "App" is different from a web-browser on your mobile phone. When viewed using Chrome, Safari, or whatever web-browser you choose, that's just loading the mobile web version of your site. We have our own Android and iOS SmugMug apps which make it easy to browse your photos but don't load your full website. Here's how your website looks in both the iOS app (I don't have android) and on the mobile web.

As you see, they're listed exactly how you have them in the Organizer.

WinsomeWorks · October 26, 2015

What we see on Android phone - App or Browser
Thanks, Aaron-- I was really dull-in-the-head that day (& I wish that day only

) mainly from pulling all-nighters left & right with my site conversion & travel. What was maybe getting twisted in my head was the recent SmugMug thing where we can't (or won't be able to?) go to the full site via smartphone... instead of, there are 2 choices of how to view SmugMug w/ a phone-- the app or a browser. ( I was given the option to "View on full site" while on my Android phone (S4) in lightbox view last night though, & I think I was using a browser... so has that denial-of-full-site-view not gone into effect yet?)

Anyway, I'm glad to see that the app & mobile browser are both working better on an iPhone, but none of that looks what I'm getting on my S4 with either the SmugMug for Android app or any browsers. I took some screenshots, but am not sure how best to upload them to this thread? I'm on desktop writing this, but see an attachment clip, & also another option-- "Insert Image", but that needs a URL. The screenshots I took are still on my phone, & also uploaded to SmugMug, but to an unlisted gallery. It's been eons since I tried including a shot here. I'll describe what I see, without getting into individual gallery or image appearances.

Here's what I see on Android in the app (SmugMug for Android):

There's no real homepage. "Homepage" that appears is basically the /Browse page, showing all my top folders.
Nothing says "Folders" at top the way the iPhone app does.
At very top, no logo, no "WinsomeWorks", my custom site. Just SmugMug grin; "Anna Lisa"; an arrow (which I'd never guess to be a slideshow of every image on my site in random order.... ugh); a refresh symbol; then the 3 dots which mean "Settings".
Below that, search box with words "Filter galleries" on it. That wording is silly, as is the whole search. If it's going to function the way it does, it should say "search folder titles" (all it can find is words that are in the titles of folder pages you're already on-- it doesn't find words in sub-folder titles, gallery titles, keywords, or image captions). All in all a rather useless search, & completely unclear that so little is being searched.
Below that, my top Folders appear as a thumb w/ each title beside it. Some say how many photos are it them & some don't. Folders are alphabetized on that page. No way to make them display in the order my full site displays, whether logged in or out. (incidentally, sub-folders on subsequent pages are in the correct order, as arranged by me on full site. But not main folders)
If I have a settings box toggled to show "Galleries as Thumbnails", then my /browse page shows as the homepage w/ small thumbs with title overlays.
Note: In "Settings" menu, the "Alpha-sort Galleries" toggle seems to work for sub-folder titles & gallery titles. There's no change on the homepage; i.e. the /browse page listing all top folders. That always remains alphabetized. Unfortunately, the articles "A", "An" & "The" get alphabetized too, if you toggle to "alphabetize".

Here's what I see in the Chrome mobile browser (& in DuckDuckGo it's about the same) :

Whole homepage is rather a mess. At top, the temporary logo I have set up, w/ my name & the banner. However, too far underneath it (and sandwiched between that first logo set and another similar logo set but with "Anna Lisa" all tangled up) is a black box saying 'Menu". Clicking that brings the nav bar vertically, & shoves the rest down, including that second logo, which is in that case kind of a good thing as I have no idea where this 2nd ghost logo & name are coming from.
Way below all that, whether or not the menu is open, is my slideshow. Images are overlayed literally halfway with captions (bear in mind that, against my will, I have virtually no titles on my site since the conversion, so idk what they'd look like if they were titles instead as they should be. All I know is, it looks awful the way it is.)
Way below that is the carousel block with "Seascape Favorites".

I know, I know... a picture would be worth 1000 words!
Note to PilotDave-- Idk, the app's got over 100,000 downloads... not sure who all's using it. I have no idea how many people have a SmugMug site. I just want it to look good whether I or someone else is viewing my site or anyone else's. It reflects best on SmugMug and us, the better it looks & works.

leftquark · October 26, 2015

You can always paste a link to the gallery, though to include photos here, I typically upload to SM (like you did), choose "Get a Link" from the Share menu, and then use the "Insert Image" button on dgrin to paste the link to the photo. I was able to find your uploaded images, though I only see the Android app screenshots and not any Chrome screenshots.

Chrome will pull in whatever customizations you've done for Desktop, just displayed for mobile. We may have to help you out with some mobile specific CSS so you can tweak things as you'd like. We do our best to make your Mobile view look as great as the desktop, but with less screen space, we can't always mimic things perfectly when you start having lots of menu options, multiple menus, etc. The best we can do is customize the CSS.

On the Android app it looks like Folders are Alphabetized. There's an option in the app's settings (Settings -> Display) to "Alpha Sort Galleries" as well, though this isn't what you want. We're about to release a new version of the Android app that will fix this issue and sort by the order you've set in the Organizer. Stay tuned in the new few days or so.

Lastly, the Android app is more of a photo browsing app than a personalized site in app form ... your logo's, menu's, etc won't be displayed in the App, though your folders, galleries, and photos will.

WinsomeWorks · October 26, 2015

So I could post a link here to a photo in an unlisted gallery, & that wouldn't give people access to the gallery otherwise, but just to that image / screenshot? Yeah, I don't even know what actually got uploaded, & I'm not sure how many screenshots I got of the browser view. As I've been saying in another thread, Instant SmugMug (which has worked great for me 99% of the time) has had issues since Legacy is dead. Can't choose a destination folder from a logged-in view, hence my Unlisted destination folders are invisible & un-chooseable).

Anyway, I'm not aware of having multiple menus or logos etc. & don't know why the browser view is so bad in my case. I mean it really is bad, especially the double logos & Anna Lisa all tangled up. It needs more than a tweak. All the spacing is way off, with lots of scrolling needed before you even see what's below.

If a new release is in the works, I hope all the other things I mentioned are being addressed. That search thing-- yikes. And yes, I mentioned the toggle for alphabetizing or not, and yes it works on galleries as well as sub-folders. Just doesn't seem to apply to the top level. And the words A, An, & The should not be included if someone does decide to toggle alphabetizing "ON".

Why am I still able to go to the full site? That was in the app, btw... when in lightbox view.. just checked. Long-pressing on a photo gives the option "View in SmugMug"... is that going away? I hope not.

leftquark · October 26, 2015

There is still no option to view in Desktop due to the way we reformat the page for mobile. What we do actually makes it easier for the site to render beautifully in mobile, but also means you cannot tell the browser to switch to the desktop view.

SmugMug for Android - Category order insists on Alphabetical

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