NiceNames

[PBolchover]

Quite a nice feature for pros, I suppose, but I doubt that I'll be making much use of it...

As I understand it, we can quote the gallery name without the galleryID, and (as long as we don't change the NiceNames), then everything works OK, for example
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/landscapes/glacier-national-park
is now an automatic redirect to
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/Landscapes/Glacier-National-Park/3571799_T29nu

If so, then I can see that this will lead to a future "Virtual Gallery" feature, once Smugmug changes
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/keyword1/keyword2/
to be a customisable gallery with all of the photos with both keyword1 and keyword2.

The second advantage I see is that you can still links consistent, even if you change the NiceName, so
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/AnyWord/AnyOtherWord/3571799_T29nu
also points to the same gallery, as does
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/AnyWordYouLike/3571799_T29nu

It looks as if 3 levels works, but no more, so
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/a/b/c/3571799_T29nu
is a redirect, but not
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/a/b/c/d/3571799_T29nu


Does "category names are now less restrictive in terms of characters they can contain" mean that we can have Unicode characters in categories? If so, then does this mean that this is the first step towards Unicode support in keywords?

[TexasFamily]

i think this is a pretty cool new feature...

i was hoping it would be more like http://www.snipurl.com
where you can control the entire url and put in the long url it redirects to.

with snipurl you can change the long url that goes with the short url
you can even delete the short url if you want to.

so you would be able to change a long url to something short like
http://mysite.smugmug.com/summer_pics and have it point to a specific gallery
then if you want to point it to a new gallery the next year...just edit the long url that it redirects to.

i can only imagine the complexity of this though...
and not knowing all the intricate details...it may not even be possible with smugmug...???

good job guys...
keep up the good work.

Edward

[Richard]

Nice idea. I'm a little puzzled that my galleries titled Madrid, Artsy, Chicago and Private all got nice names of Madrid-1, Artsy-1, etc. Other titles that were similar, like Venice, did not. I was able to rename them to delete the -1, but I am a little uneasy that they may have been there for a good reason. :scratch

One question: I could not delete the nice name on a private, but not-password protected gallery. Doesn't that make the gallery easier to find by snoopers? I guess I could just add some gibberish as a nice name. Hmmm....

[PBolchover]

Richard: Perhaps you have two galleries called Madrid?

My understanding from the release notes is that for a private gallery, the gallery ID plus key is still compulsory; it is only optional on public galleries. (I'm not sure about public, passworded galleries...)

[Andy]

Nice idea. I'm a little puzzled

B/c we had dupes in the database :D
you can change them now to any nicename you want!

[Richard]

B/c we had dupes in the database :D
you can change them now to any nicename you want!

K. It's possible that I had different galleries in the past with the same names and reorganized them out of existence, dunno. But there weren't dupes in my current set, at least that I could see.

[BigAl]

Really nice addition :thumb

I was ready to publish a post on this when I fortunately saw I got beaten to it!

[Now for virtual galleries :wink]

[Nimai]

Yay! I just noticed this feature, too. I copied a link, pasted it, and thought, "Ooh- that's new!". :thumb

Love you, SmugMug!

[sunxsweet]

is nicenames working properly? when i setup a nicename... i still need to reference the gallery with the numerical identifier at the end. without it, it won't work.

http://richmarphotography.com/Events/2009-08-Summer-Break-Potluck/9360374_w8wtn

[Andy]

i think this is a pretty cool new feature...

i was hoping it would be more like http://www.snipurl.com
oh we'll do this, too :thumb but I can't say when. It's in the plans.

EDIT: I was informed I'm wrong, I was thinking of something else. Sorry!

Please post your request on our features request forum, http://smugmug.uservoice.com thanks so much.

Sorry for my mistake!

[Andy]

is nicenames working properly? when i setup a nicename... i still need to reference the gallery with the numerical identifier at the end. without it, it won't work.

http://richmarphotography.com/Events/2009-08-Summer-Break-Potluck/9360374_w8wtnbecause it's an unlisted gallery. To leave it open to only the nicename, leaves your gallery potentially guessable :D


So you need the albumID and albumKey.

[SamirD]

oh we'll do this, too :thumb but I can't say when. It's in the plans.:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow You guys are unbelivable. I don't understand how you can have such great services for how much you charge--but I'll never complain about that. :clap

I look forward to the new releases. Now my family can quit nagging me 'can you send me that link again?'

[afarber]

oh we'll do this, too :thumb but I can't say when. It's in the plans.

EDIT: I was informed I'm wrong, I was thinking of something else. Sorry!

Please post your request on our features request forum, http://smugmug.uservoice.com thanks so much.

Sorry for my mistake!

Yay!!!! :barb:barb:ivar:ivar


oh. darn. :cry :cry


You had me all excited...that's a real bummer that it's not already in the plans. I am thrilled about nice names, but having to include the category and subcategory in the url defeats much of the purpose. The links look MUCH better and make much more sense, but they aren't memorizable for others.

I really do appreciate the step!

[jfriend]

Yay!!!! :barb:barb:ivar:ivar


oh. darn. :cry :cry


You had me all excited...that's a real bummer that it's not already in the plans. I am thrilled about nice names, but having to include the category and subcategory in the url defeats much of the purpose. The links look MUCH better and make much more sense, but they aren't memorizable for others.

I really do appreciate the step! You can still use vanity URLs for single word shortcuts.

[fototourist]

Hello everybody!

My whole website no longer works since the nicename feature is "active" ... but I haven't made any changes.

For example:
http://fototourist.smugmug.com/Portraits

If you want to visit one of the subgalleries >>> the link doesn't work!

What can I do???

Its very bad for me, because no one can see any picture on my webpage.... :-(

Greetings
Stefan

[AdamNP]

All of the galleries on that page work fine for me (other than the passworded ones, of course)

[Andy]

Hello everybody!

My whole website no longer works since the nicename feature is "active" ... but I haven't made any changes.

For example:
http://fototourist.smugmug.com/Portraits

If you want to visit one of the subgalleries >>> the link doesn't work!

What can I do???

Its very bad for me, because no one can see any picture on my webpage.... :-(

Greetings
StefanStefan, all working fine here.

[Richard]

Just noticed an additional benefit. If you are using StatCounter, the detail reports on navigation are much easier to understand, since they show the gallery nice name. Nice. :clap

[Malte]

...so you would be able to change a long url to something short like
http://mysite.smugmug.com/summer_pics and have it point to a specific gallery
...

This is how the corresponding feaure behaves on Zenfolio. You can create a "Friendly URL" for any gallery, group or collection. (Groups are folders and collections are virtual galleries) There it seems to be uncoupled from any category or group system, however you can add forwardslash to indicate belonging to one.

I have a gallery on this frienly URL:
http://malte.zenfolio.com/rainbow_lorikeets

But I could have named it "nature/birds/rainbow_lorikeets"


Malte

[jandrewnelson]

...I'm on a learning curve here so please bear with me.

Is it possible to change category names without messing up galleryies, pictuers, etc?

I want to change my "arts and crafts" catgegory to something like "arts" so my clients will have even a shorter web address to pass out.

Doable?

Thanks
Jerry
www.meesoon.smugmug.com (http://www.meesoon.smugmug.com)

[Andy]

...I'm on a learning curve here so please bear with me.

Is it possible to change category names without messing up galleryies, pictuers, etc?

I want to change my "arts and crafts" catgegory to something like "arts" so my clients will have even a shorter web address to pass out.

Doable?

Thanks
Jerry
www.meesoon.smugmug.com (http://www.meesoon.smugmug.com)
It won't mess up your galleries.

[IvanhoeButch]

What is its purpose? I dislike the restrictions placed on Title naming. Did I somehow ask for this feature? It just suddenly showed up this week!

[ghealy]

What is its purpose? I dislike the restrictions placed on Title naming. Did I somehow ask for this feature? It just suddenly showed up this week!
In my opinion it is to placate the Pros who have been complaining that their images don't show up on Google searches.

That fact that it might screw up how a standard user does things carries little weight as standard users are not Smugmug moneymakers.

Your choices are: If you would like to have your images found by search engines, you must now use NiceNames. If you don't care if your images appear in search engine results and NiceNames are really annoying, you can disable their use in your Control Panel --> settings tab --> by setting Hello World to "No"

[mbrady]

In my opinion it is to placate the Pros who have been complaining that their images don't show up on Google searches.

That fact that it might screw up how a standard user does things carries little weight as standard users are not Smugmug moneymakers.

How does it screw up how anyone does anything? Pro or otherwise?

[sellis]

In my opinion it is to placate the Pros who have been complaining that their images don't show up on Google searches.

That fact that it might screw up how a standard user does things carries little weight as standard users are not Smugmug moneymakers.

Your choices are: If you would like to have your images found by search engines, you must now use NiceNames. If you don't care if your images appear in search engine results and NiceNames are really annoying, you can disable their use in your Control Panel --> settings tab --> by setting Hello World to "No"

I'm curious how it's annoying? I find it extremely helpful to have a simplified web address that I can give people rather than a long string of random characters. Not trying to start an argument or anything, I'm just wondering if I'm missing something.

[jfriend]

In my opinion it is to placate the Pros who have been complaining that their images don't show up on Google searches.

That fact that it might screw up how a standard user does things carries little weight as standard users are not Smugmug moneymakers.

Your choices are: If you would like to have your images found by search engines, you must now use NiceNames. If you don't care if your images appear in search engine results and NiceNames are really annoying, you can disable their use in your Control Panel --> settings tab --> by setting Hello World to "No"

How does this new nicename feature screw up anything? All pre-existing URLs still work. And, now the new form of the URL looks nicer and is easier to remember. Why are nicenames annoying in any way? If you don't care about them, then don't do anything with them. You can safely ignore them. They will get a default nicename based on the category/gallery name just like categories always got a default nicename. Now nicenames extend to sub-categories and galleries.

Yes, if you care about search optimization, nicenames will improve that. If you don't care about search, you haven't lost anything.

[Allen]

The extra long links with long cat, sub-cat and gallery names will mess up in some
email programs when pasted in and wrap to two lines. They will have to copy
and paste the two lines together to use. Plus it's not clickable in the email.

[jfriend]

The extra long links with long cat, sub-cat and gallery names will mess up in some
email programs when pasted in and wrap to two lines. They will have to copy
and paste the two lines together to use. Plus it's not clickable in the email.What email program does that happen in and with what link? I would think you'd have to be using plain text email and be using URLs longer than 80 chars (or sometimes 72 chars) for that to happen.

[Andy]

The extra long links with long cat, sub-cat and gallery names will mess up in some
email programs when pasted in and wrap to two lines. They will have to copy
and paste the two lines together to use. Plus it's not clickable in the email.

How about sending this?

http://www.photosbyat.com/FloraandFungi/Flowers

[eddief]

Sir Andy, you are the best... I just wanted to let you know when I'm scanning the posts, sometimes I'll just scroll down until I see your pic on the left side of my screen, and then I stop to read your every word!

Keep up the good work! I hoist a Heineken on a fine Friday afternoon, to you and all of your sorcerers!

Eddie F.

:)

[ghealy]

What email program does that happen in and with what link? I would think you'd have to be using plain text email and be using URLs longer than 80 chars (or sometimes 72 chars) for that to happen.
I only use Plain text e-mail, and will not send nor receive HTML content via e-mail. Additionally, I participate in newsgroups that restrict html coding.

So should I wish to share this picture so that it will also open to my web page, I now am presented with a link that looks like:
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Vacation/Ireland/Day-6-4-June-2009-Connemara/8652557_XCTdF#571105727_ADrUr

instead of:
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Vacation/Ireland/gallery/8652557_XCTdF#571105727_ADrUr

Of course you don't see any difference with the way the links are presented here.

I think it is annoying and screws up the way I've named and structured my gallery.

But what I think doesn't matter anyways.

[jfriend]

I only use Plain text e-mail, and will not send nor receive HTML content via e-mail. Additionally, I participate in newsgroups that restrict html coding.

So should I wish to share this picture so that it will also open to my web page, I now am presented with a link that looks like:
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Vacation/Ireland/Day-6-4-June-2009-Connemara/8652557_XCTdF#571105727_ADrUr

instead of:
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Vacation/Ireland/gallery/8652557_XCTdF#571105727_ADrUr

Of course you don't see any difference with the way the links are presented here.

I think it is annoying and screws up the way I've named and structured my gallery.

But what I think doesn't matter anyways. You can still share the older style URL if you want as it still works fine:

http://ghealy.smugmug.com/gallery/8652557_XCTdF (http://ghealy.smugmug.com/gallery/8652557_XCTdF)

[Andy]

I think it is annoying and screws up the way I've named and structured my gallery.

But what I think doesn't matter anyways.
Of course it matters.

Did you know you could share like this:

http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Other/Recent-photos-1/

Or for that gallery you can have the nicename be anything else you like? Such as:
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Other/Recent

Or, as John said, you can give the olde style links still if you want.

Or you can use hide owner and have nothing show.

Does this help?

[ghealy]

You can still share the older style URL if you want as it still works fine:

http://ghealy.smugmug.com/gallery/8652557_XCTdF (http://ghealy.smugmug.com/gallery/8652557_XCTdF)

Thank you John. I know I can. The annoyance is that before it was done automatically by clicking on send link. Now I need to either type it manually, or manually modify the copied link.

[jfriend]

Thank you John. I know I can. The annoyance is that before it was done automatically by clicking on send link. Now I need to either type it manually, or manually modify the copied link. I'm a bit confused how you only ever send plain text email, but also use Send Link. Send Link certainly isn't sending plain text email.

[ghealy]

Of course it matters.

Did you know you could share like this:

http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Other/Recent-photos-1/

Or for that gallery you can have the nicename be anything else you like? Such as:
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Other/Recent

Or, as John said, you can give the olde style links still if you want.

Or you can use hide owner and have nothing show.

Does this help?
Andy, I really admire you, for your photography and for how you always give 150% of yourself here helping others. There's doing the job. And then there's doing more than the job. You always do the latter.

So please understand that my anger and frustration is not directed at you.

But angry and frustrated I am. This NiceName crud does not work with how I name my galleries. It causes me extra work when creating galleries. It causes me extra work when I send/post links. It has created a bunch of meaningless gallery titles:

Examples:
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Photography/Montreal-Images/empty/1448135_BJcpf

empty???? The gallery title is: Walkabout Montréal & Mont Royal 26 April 2006

http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Events/Hot-Air-Balloons/International-de/912398_Yg7VU

http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Events/Hot-Air-Balloons/International-de-2/1887137_Cuzor

http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Events/Hot-Air-Balloons/International-de-1/3361120_nxW5M

Actual gallery titles:
International de Montgolfieres 15 August 2005
International de Montgolfieres - 17 August 2006
International de Montgolfieres - 14 August 2007

I can't even ignore it. When creating ta gallery, it won't let me proceed until I give it something it finds acceptable for a NiceName.

Add this annoyance to the growing list of annoyances I have with Smugmug:
- Meaningless stats that force me to page through screens of unsorted galleries with no usage to see the ones that do have usage.
- Send an e-mail feature that will not permit me to send e-mails without embeded images.
- unsorted list of galleries when attempting to move photos between galleries.

I think all of these are PITAs. But have been told, Sorry, that's the way it is.

So as I said, what I think doesn't matter.

[apexonephoto]

A little brainpower needed. I am more of a cut and paster then an expert on anything.

I use a gallery for each year to keep my categories separated. Instead of loading 180 events, it only shows 30-50 from each year.

All of my races are named for the event (categories). My sub categories are the classes of cars that raced at the event (category), and the different races at said event (galleries).

So ever since nice names came around, I was changing some things around on
http://www.apexonephoto.com/gallery/3877550 this page. I have noticed that when I click on a thumbnail it works no problem. When I click on the hypertexted link under the thumbnail it sometimes works. I have it figured that if I have a category that I am not using subcategories in, that my hypertexted link doesn't work.

It shows up like this
http://www.apexonephoto.com/gallery/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.apexonephoto.com/CRA-Super-Series-at-Anderson%22

Where as the same href is used for the thumbnail and I get this
http://www.apexonephoto.com/CRA-Super-Series-at-Anderson

I know I could remove the link, but I have always had it and it always worked.

[ghealy]

I'm a bit confused how you only ever send plain text email, but also use Send Link. Send Link certainly isn't sending plain text email.
Send link is merely a copy and paste action. It copies the URL into the computer's clipboard. You can then just paste that data into the e-mail body. It copies as plain text.

The recipient than copies and pastes that text into their browser. No HTML coding required.

Not the most technology efficient, admittedly. But I have several recipients who are behind Corporate firewalls that will reject any e-mails with HTML code or attachments having a JPG extension.

[Andy]

empty???? The gallery title is: Walkabout Montréal & Mont Royal 26 April 2006

Somehow, you gave it a nicename of "empty" - dunno why or how. You can fix this in 5 seconds flat, by going to tools>customize gallery.
http://img.skitch.com/20090829-gxc5aq7a5wb8mjr6tqy8ufj57c.jpg

[Andy]

http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Events/Hot-Air-Balloons/International-de/912398_Yg7VU

Again, somehow, you gave it a nicename that could be longer and more descriptive. EASY to change :D

http://img.skitch.com/20090829-82a85th3m4f2a3y2wwk75xqi16.jpg

[Andy]

Add this annoyance to the growing list of annoyances I have with Smugmug:
- Meaningless stats that force me to page through screens of unsorted galleries with no usage to see the ones that do have usage.
Ouch I'm so sorry you are upset at our stats. We are collecting stats on all hits. And presenting them. To call them 'meaningless' is simply flat wrong, I'm sorry. You probably want more. It's a very good thing we have a fulltime dedicated sorcerer on new stats, building out a whole bunch of new stuff that you should like very much. We hope to see it live soon.

- Send an e-mail feature that will not permit me to send e-mails without embeded images.
I'm so sorry you find this annoying. The way we built our system to support your type of sharing need is to give you an easy get a link feature, that lets you simply copy a gallery, slideshow, or direct photo link, into YOUR email program. And guess what - we're improving this, too, based on customer demand. Stay tuned, shouldn't be long.

[ghealy]

Again, somehow, you gave it a nicename that could be longer and more descriptive. EASY to change :D

Do appreciate you trying to help, Andy.

FWIW, All those 'NiceName's were created by whatever Smugmug did to existing galleries when it implemented the 'NiceName' feature [sic].

I know I can change them.

I know I can avoid the system barfing every time I create a gallery name that is longer than 30 characters and doesn't duplicate an already existing NiceName.

All I have to do is change the way I've been naming and creating my galleries for the last almost 4 years.

My options are put up with the annoying crud or switch to another service. :dunno

[Andy]

My options are put up with the annoying crud or switch to another service. :dunno
I'm really sorry that Nicenames aren't for you, and has made you so upset :(

We've been getting raves for the effort we've made on this to help improve folks' SEO and make galleries easier to share.

I'm sorry that it's falling short for you, I really am. Feel free to write me further at our help desk if you wish.

[sirsloop]

Hate to say it but I really really dislike this feature. I'm usually not one to complain, but creating galleries was already enough of a pain in the butt without having to make sure the nicenames field is under 30 chars and unique. Nobody is going to remember a URL anyways, so its really just a nuisance to the pros. I've been out shooting all day, I come home, blast through a thousand or two photos... last thing in my mind is nicenames. People have a hard enough time remembering my main site url without adding a backslash "nicename" to the mix.:crazy:crazy:crazy Any way we can completely opt out and stick with random characters and numbers like the good old days?

[jfriend]

Hate to say it but I really really dislike this feature. I'm usually not one to complain, but creating galleries was already enough of a pain in the butt without having to make sure the nicenames field is under 30 chars and unique. Nobody is going to remember a URL anyways, so its really just a nuisance to the pros. People have a hard enough time remembering my main site url without adding a backslash "nicename" to the mix.:crazy:crazy:crazy Any way we can completely opt out and stick with random characters and numbers like the good old days? So, let me get this right. You think your users are going to have an easier time remembering a gallery ID and a gallery key (a series of 11 random characters) than a meaningful english name that you pick? How does this possibly get in your way? If you don't think either one is rememberable, then what difference does it make?

Advantages of the way it is:

You get to use lots of characters in your category and sub-category names that you couldn't previously use (because category names used to be limited to what chars could go in an URL, now they don't have to be limited that way).
If you care about SEO, you get much better search performance because there are real words in the URL instead of only random numbers and letters.
You get the option of referring to your galleries with either the new nice names or the old gallery IDs.
You get the option of making very short and rememberable nice names if you want.
The category and sub-category stuff is in the URL when viewing a gallery so you can see where you came from and/or manipulate the URL to get back to the category or sub-category if you want.
You get a word name for sub-categories now (they used to just be numbers).And, if you really don't care about any of this, then just ignore it all. What have you lost? If you're having trouble when creating a gallery getting a unique nice name, then maybe it's legit to ask Smugmug to auto-generate something that's unique to your account, but I haven't had that problem myself.

[sirsloop]

If SM had an option that autogenerated some URL garbage for my nicenames I would be peachy peach. I drive customers to my site through business cards at events, and direct link from my website to the Smugmug gallery. Its so easy to hand someone a card, have them visit my page, homepage has a link to the most recent events and bam... there are the photos. Its almost as easy to tell someone you are talking to on the fly to "go to photos.tallmanphoto.com, click on equestrian, find your show by the date, find your ring and time gallery". Nobody is gonna remember me telling them, "go to photos.tallmanphoto.com/East-Ring-Jumpers-ReRun. WAIT!! Fast foward to 2010 when I once again shoot jumpers in the east ring at the rerun show... ooops... that name is already taken! Now its going to be 2010-East-Ring-Jumpers-R. Its just a total cluster-f when you have been using a perfectly usable naming convention for years that makes it easy for non-computer savvy people to find galleries among hundreds. Google finds my galleries fine... the event and location name are in the gallery title along with the date.

Works great when you have abc.smugmug.com/flowers...cars..houses... whatever... but when you start shooting things over and over year to year its just going to become a nightmare.

[jfriend]

If SM had an option that autogenerated some URL garbage for my nicenames I would be peachy peach. I drive customers to my site through business cards at events, and direct link from my website to the Smugmug gallery. Its so easy to hand someone a card, have them visit my page, homepage has a link to the most recent events and bam... there are the photos. Its almost as easy to tell someone you are talking to on the fly to "go to photos.tallmanphoto.com, click on equestrian, find your show by the date, find your ring and time gallery". Nobody is gonna remember me telling them, "go to photos.tallmanphoto.com/East-Ring-Jumpers-ReRun. WAIT!! Fast foward to 2010 when I once again shoot jumpers in the east ring at the rerun show... ooops... that name is already taken! Now its going to be 2010-East-Ring-Jumpers-R. Its just a total cluster-f when you have been using a perfectly usable naming convention for years that makes it easy for non-computer savvy people to find galleries among hundreds. Google finds my galleries fine... the event and location name are in the gallery title along with the date.

Works great when you have abc.smugmug.com/flowers...cars..houses... whatever... but when you start shooting things over and over year to year its just going to become a nightmare. I wonder if you're objecting to a problem that doesn't exist? A nicename only has to be unique within it's own category or sub-category. For example, I created two test galleries, each with the same nicename (which was auto generated), but in a different category:

http://jfriend.smugmug.com/Other/test1
http://jfriend.smugmug.com/Other2/test1

No problem. So, unless you're trying to create multiple copies of the same gallery name in the same category or subcategory, this should not be an issue. If you are trying to make duplicately named galleries in the same container (which is the only circumstance I think you'd have any issue), I'd ask why you're doing that.

[ghealy]

And, if you really don't care about any of this, then just ignore it all. What have you lost? If you're having trouble when creating a gallery getting a unique nice name, then maybe it's legit to ask Smugmug to auto-generate something that's unique to your account, but I haven't had that problem myself.
John, the problem is we *can't* ignore it all as you suggest. SM insists we have a NiceName. If it generated 'something that's unique' to fit its criteria of what is an acceptable NiceName, that would at least allow me to continue to do things as I have been for the past almost 4 years.

FWIW, your example of galleries Other/Test 1 & Other2/test1 is too simple. The problem really get annoying in galleries with titles that exceed the allowed 30 characters.

An example:
Category: Photography
Subcategory: Montreal Images
I have a number of galleries titled in this fashion "Walkabout Montreal - 12 December 2008'

This becomes a NiceName of 'Walkabout-Montreal-12-December'

The moment I continue to type the rest of that title (i.e. ' 2008') I receive an error and can't do anything until I remove the excess characters from the NiceName box.

So far I've been lucky that I've not had two galleries of photos taken on the same month and day but two different years. Or I'd have received an error telling me my NiceName is not unique, also requiring me to stop what I'm doing and make a correction.

I've four galleries entitled 'International de Montgolfieres' and a date afterward, i,e 'International de Montgolfieres - 17 August 2006'. And will be adding a fifth for this year's photos. So when I do, I'll again have to stop what I'm doing and come up with some sort of 'NiceName' that SM will accept and I never intend to use.

But despite all that, I guess it doesn't matter since I'm probably only "objecting to a problem that don't exist".

[sirsloop]

Its just comes to down to the fact that its time consuming for us to do, its adds ZERO value (at least for me), and its something that effects something customers see so I am forced to put forth effort into making it look "right".

If Smugmug put all this effort into allowing people to change the URL, you would think they would have at least allowed people who don't care to not bother and stick with good 'ol sequential numbers. Seems like simple programming if you ask me. Instead of that auto names thing, it just looks up the next numeric unique db identifier and uses that. Afraid of competitors knowing how many new galleries SM is generating daily or something?

This just doesn't seem like one of those updates where we had Pro's jumping up and down over. There's tons of stuff people have been asking for forever like digital download proof times, photo packages, and coupons.

[Andy]

This just doesn't seem like one of those updates where we had Pro's jumping up and down over. There's tons of stuff people have been asking for forever like digital download proof times, photo packages, and coupons.
Better SEO and more control of this stuff, and more human urls, has been begged for forever, by all types of customers.

And as we've been saying, we have a lot of Sorcerers. This project was completely separate from the Coupons and Packages projects that are currently underawy.

[jfriend]

John, the problem is we *can't* ignore it all as you suggest. SM insists we have a NiceName. If it generated 'something that's unique' to fit its criteria of what is an acceptable NiceName, that would at least allow me to continue to do things as I have been for the past almost 4 years.

FWIW, your example of galleries Other/Test 1 & Other2/test1 is too simple. The problem really get annoying in galleries with titles that exceed the allowed 30 characters.

An example:
Category: Photography
Subcategory: Montreal Images
I have a number of galleries titled in this fashion "Walkabout Montreal - 12 December 2008'

This becomes a NiceName of 'Walkabout-Montreal-12-December'

The moment I continue to type the rest of that title (i.e. ' 2008') I receive an error and can't do anything until I remove the excess characters from the NiceName box.

So far I've been lucky that I've not had two galleries of photos taken on the same month and day but two different years. Or I'd have received an error telling me my NiceName is not unique, also requiring me to stop what I'm doing and make a correction.

I've four galleries entitled 'International de Montgolfieres' and a date afterward, i,e 'International de Montgolfieres - 17 August 2006'. And will be adding a fifth for this year's photos. So when I do, I'll again have to stop what I'm doing and come up with some sort of 'NiceName' that SM will accept and I never intend to use.

But despite all that, I guess it doesn't matter since I'm probably only "objecting to a problem that don't exist". Then, you should just file those as bugs. That's bad behavior and can easily be fixed without throwing away the entire nicenames for everyone else. Nicenames can exist with no impact on you. If it is in your way, then rather than trash the feature (which won't help you at all because they're not going to get rid of it), please help identify where it's getting in your way and we can get them to fix it. It shouldn't be in your way. I'm sure the design intent was that it would auto-generate a unique nice name for any valid category name so if you didn't care about the nicename, you wouldn't even have to know it's there. If you are finding that is not the case, let's nail down the exact steps and file them as a bug. I suspect Smugmug will want to fix them because they want nicenames to be successful rather than a drag on users.

[sirsloop]

Why 30 char max? If you want to use the feature as intended so people can try to remember a URL (which they cannot)... then keep your gallery name short or make your own nicename. If you don't care, let it be whatever length its going to end up being. That makes it easy for people that have used long descriptive gallery names forever and don't want to bother.

[ghealy]

Then, you should just file those as bugs. That's bad behavior and can easily be fixed without throwing away the entire nicenames for everyone else. Nicenames can exist with no impact on you. If it is in your way, then rather than trash the feature (which won't help you at all because they're not going to get rid of it), please help identify where it's getting in your way and we can get them to fix it. It shouldn't be in your way.
John, I must be a really incompetent writer for you to come to the conclusions you have . I've never suggested that NiceNames be thrown away. Nor do I feel that I've trashed the feature.

I have written a number of examples showing how the new feature is getting in my way. I've commented that I find it annoying that I must use it even though I see no benefit in it for myself.

In turn I've been told that I only need to change this for that or that for this. When I try to explain that it is the fact that I must change this for that and that for this that is the annoyance, I am then told that I shouldn't trash this great new feature.

Might as well add that if I don't like it, I can take my photos and go elsewhere.

Thanks for being so understanding.

[jfriend]

John, I must be a really incompetent writer for you to come to the conclusions you have . I've never suggested that NiceNames be thrown away. Nor do I feel that I've trashed the feature.

I have written a number of examples showing how the new feature is getting in my way. I've commented that I find it annoying that I must use it even though I see no benefit in it for myself.

In turn I've been told that I only need to change this for that or that for this. When I try to explain that it is the fact that I must change this for that and that for this that is the annoyance, I am then told that I shouldn't trash this great new feature.

Might as well add that if I don't like it, I can take my photos and go elsewhere.

Thanks for being so understanding. I may have gotten your comments mixed up with someone else's in this thread. Sorry about that.

My point is that nicenames can be a valuable feature for many and it's not going away. So, if it's in your way, we should help identify exactly what steps make it in your way so we can get Smugmug to fix that. They did not intend for it to be in your way.

So far, the only concrete info I've identified is that if your gallery name is >30 chars, then auto-generation of nicenames stops working and the user is forced to manually create a nice name. Are there other issues where it gets in the way?

[sirsloop]

...Like I mentioned above... if there was no char limit I could completely ignore this new yet seemingly useless feature. I assume most other people will too. :rolleyes

Yay... I have 9 galleries to make up names for tonight!

[jfriend]

...Like I mentioned above... if there was no char limit I could completely ignore this new yet seemingly useless feature. I assume most other people will too. :rolleyes

Yay... I have 9 galleries to make up names for tonight! Can you confirm that if the auto-generated nicename worked no matter how long your category name was that you could safely just ignore nicenames? Or, is there something else that also needs to be changed?

[sirsloop]

As long as I don't have to put thought into the URL I'm happy. If that means its not going to be a number anymore that's fine. I just don't want to have to edit it into something that looks planned because half the gallery name was removed from the URL.

Edit... I just went to create a subcategory and there is apparently nicenames for that too. That means when I create a subcategory name I must create another name that is under 30chars..zzzz... so annoyingly redundant.

[sirsloop]

Ack! Sorry, but your NiceName cannot be longer than 30 characters.

:deadhorse:bash:bash:bash:bash:bash:bash:bash:bash :bash:bash:bash:bash:deadhorse

just makes everything about this a pain in my *$%.

If you are going auto generate and its ONLY allowed to be 30 max... why does the auto generate code select more than 30 and throw an error!!! ARGHH!! Wtf

[jfriend]

just makes everything about this a pain in my *$%.

If you are going auto generate and its ONLY allowed to be 30 max... why does the auto generate code select more than 30 and throw an error!!! ARGHH!! Wtf Because it's not behaving as it should. We should simply get Smugmug to fix it! No need to get so angry about it. The software isn't perfect and needs to be fixed.

[Andy]

If you are going auto generate and its ONLY allowed to be 30 max... why does the auto generate code select more than 30 and throw an error!!! ARGHH!! Wtf

Here's what I do, tell me how we can improve.

I'm in this category
http://andytheme.smugmug.com/Electronics

I choose Add Photos to make a new gallery.
I type in this for gallery title:
My First stereo with 8 track tape deck

http://img.skitch.com/20090831-cm3t3n1mt4s1dtpq1hwcf12dtx.jpg

which is too long for a NiceName, so I see a red error message.

I go to the NiceName box and I just delete all the stuff after the word 'stereo' and I'm good. I have a NiceName that is memorable (if I care).

Now, my question, from a 'can-we-improve-this' standpoint:

Should we stop at 30 automatically in the NiceName Box?

Should we give you a character counter so you know how many are left?

Would these be helpful?

[sirsloop]

What is the hang up on 30 characters? Why not make it something very large that will never get hit? Maybe if you have like a 300 char url it errors? What we have now is worse than 30 char max where the auto name cuts it off at exactly 30. Currently the auto name code typically selects more than 30 characters, puts concatenated gallery text in the box, then errors out. So now just part of the text from my gallery name is there. I either have to live with what it selected and just delete chars until its 30, or go find the text that I want and type it in there. Its just overall poorly executed, and the entire thing is not well thought out. A 30 char counter next to the box could be handy, but that's fluff. Its not the root issue here. Knowing that the auto name generator selected 33 characters, erased the rest of the text, then errored out isn't going to make it less annoying and time consuming.

You had to know that people that have long galllery names were going to be annoyed over this. As photographers, we are ALWAYS looking for ways to streamline our process. When something like this comes up its so annoying because it could have easily been avoided. Yeah, so you want to make nicenames a new feature. Ok, fine, good..BUT! Spend some time, think it out, and make it transparent to the users!

Also looking back, all of my galleries that had numbers for the names have been converted to nicenames (in an ugly way I will add). The number urls are still working, so it appears nicenames is just a pointer. That leads me to believe that this could easily be disabled with a simple radio button in the options. Seems to me nicenames is really just, "lets not show flicker, etc, etc, how many galleries our subscribers are making"... and we got the short end of the stick.

[jfriend]

Here's what I do, tell me how we can improve.

I'm in this category
http://andytheme.smugmug.com/Electronics

I choose Add Photos to make a new gallery.
I type in this for gallery title:
My First stereo with 8 track tape deck

http://img.skitch.com/20090831-cm3t3n1mt4s1dtpq1hwcf12dtx.jpg

which is too long for a NiceName, so I see a red error message.

I go to the NiceName box and I just delete all the stuff after the word 'stereo' and I'm good. I have a NiceName that is memorable (if I care).

Now, my question, from a 'can-we-improve-this' standpoint:

Should we stop at 30 automatically in the NiceName Box?

Should we give you a character counter so you know how many are left?

Would these be helpful? Andy, it's pretty simple. It should always auto-generate a legal nice name. That means legal characters, under the length limit and no conflict with any other nice names in scope and it complies with any other rules it must follow.

All he wants is to not have to mess with the nicename if he doesn't want to. My guess is that you already have this functionality in the API because you likely support earlier generations of the API that just created a category, sub-category or gallery without a nicename being specified at all (so the API had to just auto generate a legal one).

[klinquist]

I just noticed this feature this morning - THANK YOU! Love it. Since browsers are now doing substring search history in the location bar, it makes finding albums much easier.

[Andy]

What is the hang up on 30 characters?

Right now, I expect, performance reasons. We have a lot of galleries!

[Andy]

Andy, it's pretty simple.

Sorry, what's the API have to do with this? I'd really, really appreciate answers to my two questions, also - thanks!

[jfriend]

Sorry, what's the API have to do with this? I'd really, really appreciate answers to my two questions, also - thanks! Just that you already have the functionality internally for auto-creating a unique gallery name when none is specified or when the category name is too long or when the category name contains characters that can't be in the nicename. There are several reasons you already have this functionality. First, you auto-created nice names for every single category, sub-category and gallery in your entire system already. Second, the API allows one to create a category, sub-category or gallery without specifying a nicename, thus you must have the code to automatically create a legal one no matter what the other name was.

On the two questions, I presume you are asking for an answer from sirloop, but here are my thoughts on them.

Just stopping at 30 chars is better than what you have now, but is not the full solution. If one has multiple galleries in the same category or sub-category and the only place the full name differs is after the 30 char mark (which can happen if you have a long name and then a year afterwards), then this won't be creating unique nicenames for the user and they will have to manually intervene which is what folks want to avoid.

A character counter is just a band-aid. The code should just automatically create a unique and legal name without human intervention. So, that the human only has to intervene if they want to. That's the whole point of this issue.

[sirsloop]

Now, my question, from a 'can-we-improve-this' standpoint:

Should we stop at 30 automatically in the NiceName Box?

Should we give you a character counter so you know how many are left?

Would these be helpful?

yes

yes

yes

[Andy]

A character counter is just a band-aid.

I kinda thought it would be useful in typing up a nicename.....

[sirsloop]

ehh... it would be nice if you are typing in your own name. Adding that functionality is not hard. For anyone else, having it "legal" auto generate a nicename or allowing more than 30chars is probably going to be more important.

[Andy]

On the two questions,
Thanks! Talking to {JT} and Wade about some possible changes.

[mbrady]

Just stopping at 30 chars is better than what you have now, but is not the full solution. If one has multiple galleries in the same category or sub-category and the only place the full name differs is after the 30 char mark (which can happen if you have a long name and then a year afterwards), then this won't be creating unique nicenames for the user and they will have to manually intervene which is what folks want to avoid.

A character counter is just a band-aid. The code should just automatically create a unique and legal name without human intervention. So, that the human only has to intervene if they want to. That's the whole point of this issue.


It reminds of the situation when Windows 95 introduced long filenames (increased from the old DOS style 8 character filenames).

Old programs still had to support the old 8 character filenames, so for compatibility, it automatically created unique 8 character filenames for each long filename.
So for example:
"My Filename Document January.doc" was also "MYFILE~1.DOC"
"My Filename Document February.doc" was also "MYFILE~2.DOC"

Maybe with the default nice names, it could do something similar if it's hitting up against the 30 char limit and there would be a duplicate name if truncated to 30 chars?

[Allen]

Ever since NiceNames was implemented not one thumbnail shows in
Statcounter using a NiceName link.This is a major degrade. Am I
missing something? They do show for non-NiceName links.

[Andy]

Ever since NiceNames was implemented not one thumbnail shows in
Statcounter using a NiceName link.This is a major degrade. Am I
missing something? They do show for non-NiceName links.
Can you please show an example? Maybe Statcounter needs to update, I'm not sure?

[Allen]

Can you please show an example? Maybe Statcounter needs to update, I'm not sure? Here's each example
http://www.photosbyat.com/photos/639246030_cZULf-XL.jpg

http://www.photosbyat.com/photos/639246004_XZdaf-XL.jpg

[jfriend]

Ever since NiceNames was implemented not one thumbnail shows in
Statcounter using a NiceName link.This is a major degrade. Am I
missing something? They do show for non-NiceName links. I have the same issue. I presume that's because you're running a GreaseMonkey script on your local computer to add the thumbs to the statcounter display and that add-in script hasn't been updated to know about the new form of URLs that nicenames use. I've been meaning to look and see if there's an upgrade to that script and, if not, fix it myself but I won't have time to look at that for a little bit.

[Allen]

I have the same issue. I presume that's because you're running a GreaseMonkey script on your local computer to add the thumbs to the statcounter display and that add-in script hasn't been updated to know about the new form of URLs that nicenames use. I've been meaning to look and see if there's an upgrade to that script and, if not, fix it myself but I won't' have time to look at that for a little bit.
You are so right, the script needs to be updated, it's been so long ago I
forgot about that. Thanks John

[sirsloop]

apparently no changes have been made to nicenames because its annoying as ever to make galleries. :dunno:dunno

[sirsloop]

I figured out the solution!! :rolleyes:rolleyes

1. Open Notepad :bash
2. Pre-make every gallery name I need for this session of frustration
3. Copy and paste the gallery names into the new gallery name field so no minor editing needs to be performed there
4. Erase characters in the retardnames field until the error dissapears. :bash:bash

[jfriend]

apparently no changes have been made to nicenames because its annoying as ever to make galleries. :dunno:dunno I too am hoping for some improvements. The JS nicename generation function can't even keep up with my typing on a quad core CPU and then ends up dropping keystrokes. It is annoying. Thank goodness I create most of my galleries in StarExplorer where I don't see it.

[SamirD]

Should we stop at 30 automatically in the NiceName Box?

Should we give you a character counter so you know how many are left?

Would these be helpful?Yes, Yes, and yes. Especially if these can be implemented immediately. These would help immediately while a better solution is designed.

[SamirD]

One suggestion I would like to see for the feature is to generate the name once the field is exited vs on-the-fly. I'm finding that I have to type gallery names instead of cut and paste for a system generated nicename to auto-generate.

The heart of the issue is the human intervention. Right now it is required, adding time to our workflow. If it becomes automated in a way that we have to adjust it very little, nicenames would be a feature that adds something without taking anything away.

[jfriend]

One suggestion I would like to see for the feature is to generate the name once the field is exited vs on-the-fly. I'm finding that I have to type gallery names instead of cut and paste for a system generated nicename to auto-generate.

The heart of the issue is the human intervention. Right now it is required, adding time to our workflow. If it becomes automated in a way that we have to adjust it very little, nicenames would be a feature that adds something without taking anything away. I would consider that a bug if it doesn't generate a nice name after a paste operation. You should file that in the bug forum. All changes to the edit field should update the generated nicename.

As a work-around, I presume you could hit space/back-space after the paste.

[Bass10]

When editing the nice names for categories and subcategories it forces an uppercase first letter.

Nice names for galleries allow nice names with a lowercase first letter. I want my urls to be all lowercase.

Is this a bug or the intended functionality?

[jfriend]

When editing the nice names for categories and subcategories it forces an uppercase first letter.

Nice names for galleries allow nice names with a lowercase first letter. I want my urls to be all lowercase.

Is this a bug or the intended functionality? That seems like a bug to me. You should be able to type any legal nicename there I would think - that is after all the point of editable nicenames, giving you control. Perhaps you want to file this in the bug reporting sub-forum so the bug meister sees it.

[SamirD]

I would consider that a bug if it doesn't generate a nice name after a paste operation. You should file that in the bug forum. All changes to the edit field should update the generated nicename.

As a work-around, I presume you could hit space/back-space after the paste.Thank you for the heads up. I'll file the bug. Space/back-space doesn't fix it. In fact, I really can't get auto-nicenames to work except when first creating a gallery.

[Andy]

That seems like a bug to me. You should be able to type any legal nicename there I would think - that is after all the point of editable nicenames, giving you control. Perhaps you want to file this in the bug reporting sub-forum so the bug meister sees it.not a bug. Smug Sorcery has decreed that it must be capital letters for Cat names and Sub cat names.

So, while on Smug, the letters must be capped, if you wish, you can use

http://yourname.smugmug.com/yourcategory/yoursubcategory

and it'll work fine :)

[jfriend]

not a bug. Smug Sorcery has decreed that it must be capital letters for Cat names and Sub cat names.

So, while on Smug, the letters must be capped, if you wish, you can use

http://yourname.smugmug.com/yourcategory/yoursubcategory

and it'll work fine :) Can you explain why? Is this to discern a nicename URL from a category URL?

Also it would be nice if a note to this effect was in the screen where you can edit nicenames so people wouldn't think it was a bug.

[Andy]

Can you explain why? No, I can't, I'm sorry.

Also it would be nice if a note to this effect was in the screen where you can edit nicenames so people wouldn't think it was a bug.Thanks!

[Allen]

I have the same issue. I presume that's because you're running a GreaseMonkey script on your local computer to add the thumbs to the statcounter display and that add-in script hasn't been updated to know about the new form of URLs that nicenames use. I've been meaning to look and see if there's an upgrade to that script and, if not, fix it myself but I won't have time to look at that for a little bit. :ear :D :bow

[Allen]

I have the same issue. I presume that's because you're running a GreaseMonkey script on your local computer to add the thumbs to the statcounter display and that add-in script hasn't been updated to know about the new form of URLs that nicenames use. I've been meaning to look and see if there's an upgrade to that script and, if not, fix it myself but I won't have time to look at that for a little bit. Any news on this?
:hide

[Loïc Fontaine]

not a bug. Smug Sorcery has decreed that it must be capital letters for Cat names and Sub cat names.


That is really a pity to have a Nicename that is case sensitive.
By definition (cf smugmug/help) "The NiceName gives your gallery a clean, easy-to-remember URL."

Our customer having to remember that some letters are uppercase is not what I would call "easy-to-remember URL". It is very common to most of internet users that an url is not case sensitive.

I would be very interested to understand the reason behind that strange choice. :rofl

[Andy]

That is really a pity to have a Nicename that is case sensitive.
By definition (cf smugmug/help) "The NiceName gives your gallery a clean, easy-to-remember URL."

Our customer having to remember that some letters are uppercase is not what I would call "easy-to-remember URL". It is very common to most of internet users that an url is not case sensitive.

I would be very interested to understand the reason behind that strange choice. :rofl

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/galleries/Landscapes-for-Sale

try that

then this

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/Galleries/Landscapes-for-Sale

same result :D

[Art Scott]

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/galleries/Landscapes-for-Sale

try that

then this

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/Galleries/Landscapes-for-Sale

same result :D

:dunno:dunno maybe I am blind but these links look exactly the same......so they should get the exact same results.....no?????

[Loïc Fontaine]

Andy,
So in fact you mean that Cat and Subcat are not case sensitives. :huh
Ok fine then.

I also understood via the help desk that I would better not use "Photos" as category name as it is already a reserved name used by admins.
Thanks for the quick help service that SM is providing. :thumb