Turn off Lightbox

[Shane Canfield]

Hi, I really DO NOT like the lightbox at all. Now all of my galleries, using smugmug display, automatically go to the gear thing and the lightbox display. I don't want this...some people may, I just want to turn this off.

How do it turn this OFF for my entire SM website. Thanks, Shane

[Andy]

Hi, I really DO NOT like the lightbox at all. Now all of my galleries, using smugmug display, automatically go to the gear thing and the lightbox display. I don't want this...some people may, I just want to turn this off.

How do it turn this OFF for my entire SM website. Thanks, Shane

It really helps to have your smugmug name for us to help you. I have to look you up, back soon.

[Andy]

Hi, I really DO NOT like the lightbox at all. Now all of my galleries, using smugmug display, automatically go to the gear thing and the lightbox display. I don't want this...some people may, I just want to turn this off.

How do it turn this OFF for my entire SM website. Thanks, Shane

So, in this gallery:

http://shanecanfield.smugmug.com/gallery/908190/1/42826381

When you say "defaults" to LightBox, that's not entirely accurate. Using the page navigation, I can scroll through your galleries, no LightBox. You do get LightBox when you click on an image. Prior, you'd have gotten an image popup window. If you try the behavior in other viewing styles (like traditional, for example) you'll see that you get to see -L on the page, not in LightBox.

Make sense?

[Andy]

LightBox in SmugHelp:

http://www.smugmug.com/help/viewing-online-photo-albums

[Andy]

Shane, I've been looking at your work! Beautiful work, man.

I loved this one:
http://shanecanfield.smugmug.com/gallery/908190/2/41319757/Large

[{JT}]

You preferred the old popup window instead?

Hi, I really DO NOT like the lightbox at all. Now all of my galleries, using smugmug display, automatically go to the gear thing and the lightbox display. I don't want this...some people may, I just want to turn this off.

How do it turn this OFF for my entire SM website. Thanks, Shane

[Shane Canfield]

It really helps to have your smugmug name for us to help you. I have to look you up, back soon.

Not sure what you mean about needing my SM name? All my data is below? Guess not...what is my SM name?

[Shane Canfield]

It really helps to have your smugmug name for us to help you. I have to look you up, back soon.

JT, yes like it was before...I liked that better. I can see how the lightbox would be good for many, I just want to not use it. I hope this does not sound like a judgement on the feature, its not. Thanks, Shane

[Andy]

Not sure what you mean about needing my SM name? All my data is below? Guess not...what is my SM name?

http://shanecanfield.smugmug.com/ is how I have to view your site when I need to be logged in and see for any irregularities that may or may not be there :D

[Andy]

JT, yes like it was before...I liked that better. I can see how the lightbox would be good for many, I just want to not use it. I hope this does not sound like a judgement on the feature, its not. Thanks, Shane

Are you expecting that visitors will use the LightBox to scroll through your gallery? That's not what it's for, it's to make one photo, "front and center" if the viewer would like a closer look.

[Andy]

How's this? (Made by devbobo)

http://andydemo.smugmug.com/gallery/1160423

[Shane Canfield]

Hi Andy, I'm not sure what the demo is doing? In the prelightbox days, in SM view, one clicked on the large photo on the right of tha palette and got a single large display photo with ordering info at the bottom and could move from photo to photo, in order, or go back the thumbs on the left and large photo on the right. I just think the lightbox thing does not fit with the feel of the rest of the website...it seems to take one to another website...I find myself needing to hit the back button. I often click the large photo because one would intuitively click on it to see the image bigger...but then to go the gear lightbox thing.... Maybe I'm weird or wired oddly, possible of course!

Again, its not bad and maybe 99% of SM folks love it...I just want to turn it off. Hopefully that is possible? Thanks for understanding. Shane


How's this?

http://andydemo.smugmug.com/gallery/1160423

[Andy]

Hi Andy, I'm not sure what the demo is doing? In the prelightbox days, in SM view, one clicked on the large photo on the right of tha palette and got a single large display photo with ordering info at the bottom and could move from photo to photo, in order, or go back the thumbs on the left and large photo on the right. I just think the lightbox thing does not fit with the feel of the rest of the website...it seems to take one to another website...I find myself needing to hit the back button. I often click the large photo because one would intuitively click on it to see the image bigger...but then to go the gear lightbox thing.... Maybe I'm weird or wired oddly, possible of course!

Again, its not bad and maybe 99% of SM folks love it...I just want to turn it off. Hopefully that is possible? Thanks for understanding. Shane

Click Large, you get single image view. Then try it :evil

What's intuitive to you may not be the same to your visitors. Either way, it's up to you, there are ways to disable but we're not sure yet what happens when you use such code - hacks and tricks like this are at your own risk..

Back in about an hour or two...

[smugbug]

I agree, I would prefer to have the option to turn off Lightbox for page styles other than Smugmug. How hard can coding that be? What bugs me is Smugmug keeps changing things on the site without allowing their users to keep the old styles.

[Andy]

I agree, I would prefer to have the option to turn off Lightbox for page styles other than Smugmug. How hard can coding that be? What bugs me is Smugmug keeps changing things on the site without allowing their users to keep the old styles.

Hi smugbug,

Have you seen "SmugMug Classic?"
AFAIK, you can still have the "old way" :dunno

[renstar]

Are you expecting that visitors will use the LightBox to scroll through your gallery? That's not what it's for, it's to make one photo, "front and center" if the viewer would like a closer look.
This may or may not be what it was designed for, but in interface design they teach one thing: the way the user initially uses it is what it was designed for. If the user isnt using it the way you want, then it wasnt designed right. Everyone I know is uses it as a smooth way to browse through entire galleries. It is nice to not have the webpage re-render every time to switch. No one I know, myself included, even thinks to use slideshow or filmstrip.

The lightbox has wonderful potential to be the primary viewing method. Smooth transitions, captions, ordering info. All these things would make use of the potential of the lightbox. From an interface stand point, it is gorgeous, if crippled. I don't see any reason to make it deliberatly crippled (especially to force users to use the other views).

-russ

[renstar]

my previous post came off a little harsh, i didnt mean for it to be. i meant it to be more constructive, my apologies.

-russ

[Andy]

my previous post came off a little harsh, i didnt mean for it to be. i meant it to be more constructive, my apologies.

-russ
Not taken that way at all! We really love it when you tell it to us straight!

[Shane Canfield]

Not taken that way at all! We really love it when you tell it to us straight!

Which SM viewing styles do NOT have lightbox? smugmug does, which don't? I'll use one that does not have it until you guys set up an option to turn it off. Thanks, Shane

[Andy]

Which SM viewing styles do NOT have lightbox? smugmug does, which don't? I'll use one that does not have it until you guys set up an option to turn it off. Thanks, Shane

WE may not, too. Did you try the hack above?

Filmstrip and Slideshow do not use LB..

[Shane Canfield]

WE may not, too. Did you try the hack above?

Filmstrip and Slideshow do not use LB..

What does this mean, "WE may not, too."? I don't know what hack above you are talking about. Thanks, Shane

[Andy]

What does this mean, "WE may not, too."? I don't know what hack above you are talking about. Thanks, Shane

I posted this (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=237928#post237928) earlier in this very thread. A hack...

"We may not" means just that - SmugMug, may not make a way to not use LB - but others already have :D

[marlinspike]

I'm gonna throw in my 2 cents and say that I too preferred the old way, and quite frankly saw nothing wrong with it.

[Shane Canfield]

I posted this (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=237928#post237928) earlier in this very thread. A hack...

"We may not" means just that - SmugMug, may not make a way to not use LB - but others already have :D

Ok, well, I looked at that earlier but I don't have a clue what it is...I just don't have the computer background to figure out what the link to the hack demo is exactly or how to do something like that. I guess if SM does not allow LB to be optional, then I'm SOL...all I know is that its late, time to go to bed, and time to stop thinking about this. Let us know if and when the LB optional comes to pass, best, Shane

[Andy]

Ok, well, I looked at that earlier but I don't have a clue what it is...I just don't have the computer background to figure out what the link to the hack demo is exactly or how to do something like that. I guess if SM does not allow LB to be optional, then I'm SOL...all I know is that its late, time to go to bed, and time to stop thinking about this. Let us know if and when the LB optional comes to pass, best, Shane

Hi Shane,

The link was just to show you :D If you want to have that, I can show you how - it's a cinch.

Cheers :wave

[smugbug]

Why wouldn't you allow the option of disabling lightbox? Especially when it's still buggy and half-finished (e.g. weird Firefox 1.5 resizing on Windows). By the way, switching to "Smugmug classic" has nothing to do with the issue.

My main concern is that Lightbox enables when you choose to view images in their "Original size" for any page style. But for small, medium and large, you get the normal navigation style. Why the inconsistency? (I don't upload full-resolution images as my "originals", but instead my own resized jpgs at 1000 pixels wide. This is because I think "large" is too small to be the largest viewing size. Plus Smugmug's resizing algorithms suck).

[Andy]

By the way, switching to "Smugmug classic" has nothing to do with the issue.


No, but it was a response to your statement saying SmugMug doesn't allow you to have it the "old" way.

[Andy]

Why wouldn't you allow the option of disabling lightbox?

We're extremely open, smugbug. I'm amazed at what folks can do with their SmugMug sites every day :D So, have it your way:


Put this in your CSS:

#lightBoxStage {display: none !important;}


Put this in your Javascript:


addEvent(window, "load", hackPhotoBox);

function hackPhotoBox()
{
if(IsClass("singleImage"))
{
re = /(javascript:)openLB\(([0-9]+)(,'Original'),'(Original)?'\)/;

divTag = document.getElementById('sizePicker');
aTags = divTag.getElementsByTagName('a');

for (i=0; i<aTags.length; i++)
{
if (re.test(aTags[i].href))
{
temp = aTags[i].href.replace(re, "$1popupPhoto()");
aTags[i].setAttribute("href",temp);
}
}

divTag = document.getElementById("photos");
if (divTag)
{
divTags = divTag.getElementsByTagName("div");
for (i=0; i<divTags.length; i++)
{
if (divTags[i].className == "photo")
{
aTags = divTags[i].getElementsByTagName("a");
aTags[0].setAttribute("href", "javascript:popupPhoto();");
}
}
}
}
}

function popupPhoto()
{
re = /\/([0-9]+)\/(Original|Large|Medium|Small)(\/)?$/;
re.exec(window.location);

//go get image info from ajax
postArray = new Array();
postArray['tool'] = 'lightBoxImage';
postArray['ImageID'] = RegExp.$1; //ImageID;
postArray['size'] = "Original"; //reqSize;
postArray['pageType'] = pageType;
postArray['pageTypeDetails'] = pageTypeDetails;
postArray['siteUser'] = siteUser;
closeLB();
ajax_query(popupHandler, webServer+'/hack/RPC/gallery.mg', postArray, true);
}

function popupHandler(response)
{
var imgUrl;
response = response.split(/[',\s]/);

imgUrl = response[1];
window.open(URLDecode(webServer+imgUrl), 'ssFull410982', 'scrollbars=0,status=0,resizable=1,width='+screen. width+',height='+screen.height+',top=0,left=0');
}

function IsClass(sClass) {
sClassName = document.body.className;

re = new RegExp(sClass + "( |$)")

if (!sClassName)
return false;
return re.test(sClassName);
}

[Andy]

Plus Smugmug's resizing algorithms suck).

Thanks for the feedback! I see you feel strongly about this. Maybe you would be willing to read this thread (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=22094&highlight=display+artifacts) and provide some some more detailed feedback there. Thanks!

[smugbug]

Unfortunately I'm a basic user right now. So I must upgrade to power user just to do that?

[Andy]

Unfortunately I'm a basic user right now. So I must upgrade to power user just to do that?

That's correct.

[Sheaf]

Unfortunately I'm a basic user right now. So I must upgrade to power user just to do that?

We are taking a close look at the feedback here. Our goal is quite simply to make the best experience for everyone. We certainly don't want to force you to upgrade your account just because of this one feature.

Whenever our engineers come up with a new feature, the entire company usually weighs in on it and we go through the testing process. If we feel that it hinders rather than helps the majority of smugmug users, we either throw it out or make it an option.

As far as the Lighbox goes, we feel that most users appreciate it. We're working on possible solutions for those who don't. The downside of simply making everything an option to turn on and off is that it would result in enormous option menus and actually hinder gallery customization.

Regardless, we're very grateful for input on the matter. A great deal of the changes and innovations of Smugmug come as a result of feedback on this forum.

[smugbug]

I think I could probably live with Lightbox as long as some crucial improvements are made (I posted earlier on this somewhere). Namely, much faster operation, no blank box between navigations, and bigger navigation buttons. (When I click on an image thumbnail, or click to choose the next image, I don't want to see a black screen/box - just show whatever was on the screen while the next thing is loading). Then it should be pretty good.

[Shane Canfield]

We are taking a close look at the feedback here. Our goal is quite simply to make the best experience for everyone. We certainly don't want to force you to upgrade your account just because of this one feature.

Whenever our engineers come up with a new feature, the entire company usually weighs in on it and we go through the testing process. If we feel that it hinders rather than helps the majority of smugmug users, we either throw it out or make it an option.

As far as the Lighbox goes, we feel that most users appreciate it. We're working on possible solutions for those who don't. The downside of simply making everything an option to turn on and off is that it would result in enormous option menus and actually hinder gallery customization.

Regardless, we're very grateful for input on the matter. A great deal of the changes and innovations of Smugmug come as a result of feedback on this forum.

I understand that, but this change is a biggie and it would be good to have an option here. Why not have one setup to be SM LB and one SM Old Style. That's one more option. In addtion to the many other comments here, one major problem with it is that is about viewing and not ordering. This was said before, but when in lightbox, you can't order. Any other SM view allows you to order. I don't feel strongly about lots of items in SM but this one is a really a big deal, it has caused me to consider alternatives--which I really don't want to do. Sure, I'm only one pain the butt customer so maybe no big deal, and perhaps even a good thing. Just being straight, thanks, Shane

PS Thanks to Andy for the hacks, but they don't really work. When you put that code in, no lightbox appears but the screen jumps when you click, very weird and not good.

[Andy]

PS Thanks to Andy for the hacks, but they don't really work. When put that code in, no lightbox appears but the screen jumps when you click, very weird and not good.

Thanks for your continued feedback! We're watching and listening, as you can see.

BTW, Hacks are just that. Hacks. They get tweaked all the time :D