Smugmug visitors don't see customisation

[W.W. Webster]

If I enter Smugmug's general website (not my own), select 'browse', enter a part description or keywords to bring up one of my own photos or galleries, and then open that gallery or photo, my site is displayed in the vanilla Smugmug format, not in my customised format.

I don't understand what's going on. Is this a bug or is this normal, and if so, why? Could there be something defective about my customisation which causes it to be ignored for a general Smugmug visitor? I subscribe as Power user to get the customisation feature. It's annoying to discover, by accident, that this doesn't operate consistently, and particularly that visitors arriving at my site via Smugmug's main site never get to see my site copyright statement.

If I go directly to my Smugmug site from any one of ten different browsers I use to test the compatibility of my customisation, there is never a problem.

Help!

[Andy]

Standby...

[Andy]

Help!

You're entering from www.smugmug.com - finding "abn ambro" by keyword search - then if you click "view in gallery" you'll be here:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1207162/1/56822850

where your breadcrumb is, but still not your customization (notice the url). Once the viewer clicks your name or category, they then see your customization:
http://rosscollins.smugmug.com/Sports

I hope this helps.

PS: you might get more hits if you change it to "abn amro"

[W.W. Webster]

I hope this helps.Thanks for the quick response Andy, as always (and have fun in Orlando, by the way!).

You appear to be saying this is how it is supposed to work - is that right? If Smugmug is displaying what is, in effect, a page from my site, what sense does it make (let alone, what right do you have) to ignore the customisation I pay for on that site - forget about the 'breadcrumbs'.

Is there nothing I can do about this? Is this happening for all users with customised sites, and are they happy with this? I doubt it!

[Andy]

Thanks for the quick response Andy, as always (and have fun in Orlando, by the way!).

You appear to be saying this is how it is supposed to work - is that right? If Smugmug is displaying what is, in effect, a page from my site, what sense does it make (let alone, what right do you have) to ignore the customisation I pay for on that site - forget about the 'breadcrumbs'.

Is there nothing I can do about this? Is this happening for all users with customised sites, and are they happy with this? I doubt it!

I'm actually going to log it as a bug, let's see what happens.

when you keyword search from www.smugmug.com for grand central terminal, then in the results, if looking at SmugMug Style, you see "see photo in gallery" at that point you should be on my site with my customization.

[W.W. Webster]

I'm actually going to log it as a bug, let's see what happens.Thanks again. I didn't think that you, as a true pro, would want your site misrepresented this way either. I await the outcome with interest, and welcome the comments and support of others.

[Andy]

Thanks again. I didn't think that you, as a true pro, would want your site misrepresented this way either. I await the outcome with interest, and welcome the comments and support of others.

Dub, it's not misrepresentation. Let's be clear on that.
Your breadcrumb is there, clickable links to you.
I have no idea what onethumb will say or do about this, but I have logged it.

[Mike Lane]

Hmmm, I suppose I too would like to see the images be directed to user.smugmug.com rather than www.smugmug.com. I suppose I can see the argument being that if you're searching smugmug for photos it'd be better to maintain that user experience than to have a whole site design dumped on you. If you hit your back button to go look at other people's photos you may end up getting confused with the process.

So I guess nevermind. For usability of the search function (which, for me at least, doesn't result in all that many hits to my site I don't think), I think it's fine how it is.

Another public self-debate brought to you by Mike Lane.

[boyersmile]

Hmmm. If we are taking a vote, I vote that searches should end up on my site with my customization rather than the plain 'ole smugmug theme.

I understand that some users might be confused when switching from site to site when doing various searches. I also think some users will be confused no matter what. They may as well be looking at my customized page while in a state of confusion.:dunno

I also understand that they can see a link to my homepage through the breadcrumbs. I guess I have little faith in the average internet user because I don't think everyone understands what the breadcrumbs are for (and that is assuming they see them.) When I check my stats, I see a lot of people use the "back" button rather than using breadcrumbs for navigation. (if I ever have a chance to look over someone else's shoulder while they are surfing my site, I sometimes have to use all the restraint I can muster in order to keep from grabbing the mouse and showing them how to properly surf like a true internet junkie.):D

I do get a small amount of traffic through the main smugmug search page, but I hope to change that. I haven't really taken advantage of all the functionality of keyword searches yet, but I do plan on implementing this in the near future. I would have more of an incentive if I knew that people would end up looking at my site rather than a generic smugmug site. Yes, I know the important part is the pictures and not the site, but why else did everyone spend so much effort customizing their sites.

Ok, I thought I was going to just add my $0.02, but I think I probably added about $0.90 more than everyone else wanted to hear. :soapbox

Thanks,
Miles

[rainforest1155]

Hmmm. If we are taking a vote, I vote that searches should end up on my site with my customization rather than the plain 'ole smugmug theme.
Another vote for that. My galleries should always show my customizations if I enabled them regardless of from where the user hits them.

smugmug.com/gallery/123456
should be presented in the same layout as
username.smugmug.com/gallery/123456
or
customdomain.com/gallery/123456

Thanks,
Sebastian

[Mike Lane]

Another vote for that. My galleries should always show my customizations if I enabled them regardless of from where the user hits them.

smugmug.com/gallery/123456
should be presented in the same layout as
username.smugmug.com/gallery/123456
or
customdomain.com/gallery/123456

Thanks,
Sebastian

I disagree. I think the ability to hide the owner of the page is a good thing. So www.smugmug.com/gallery/123456 should not have customization.

[rainforest1155]

I disagree. I think the ability to hide the owner of the page is a good thing. So www.smugmug.com/gallery/123456 (http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/123456) should not have customization.
But you've no control over what address google is using to display the search results. This way I guess I miss many of the referrers, which show me from where people come in my statistics.

Have a look at http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/993845 and click on another picture there - what's the benefit of hiding the customization? The next link the visitor clicks will bring him straight to my site. Then the suprise of the sudden change of layout is even greater. Why not give him the right layout straight when he comes from the search result page? He wouldn't have to view the gallery in the smugmug layout first.

On the other hand galleries in communities will always use my custom layout ( for example (http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1176878) ). That's exactly what I want for all galleries - I want to decide about the use off my customizations no matter where the user comes from.

Anyone with me on this?

Sebastian

[W.W. Webster]

I want to decide about the use off my customizations no matter where the user comes from. Anyone with me on this?Thanks Seb, that's my point.

On further investigation, the problem I've reported is only a matter of consistency. If a visitor to smugmug.com goes to browse, selects a category, and then finds and clicks on my gallery, he will see my customisation. If he finds a gallery or photograph by using the browse -> search function, he gets the selection presented with the vanilla Smugmug template.

Any visitor to my site, or to any gallery or photograph posted to my site, however they got there, should view my galleries or photographs through my customisation. I think this is a bug actually, and shouldn't take a great deal of soul-searching or recoding to fix.

[Andy]

Thanks Seb, that's my point.

On further investigation, the problem I've reported is only a matter of consistency. If a visitor to smugmug.com goes to browse, selects a category, and then finds and clicks on my gallery, he will see my customisation. If he finds a gallery or photograph by using the browse -> search function, he gets the selection presented with the vanilla Smugmug template.

Any visitor to my site, or to any gallery or photograph posted to my site, however they got there, should view my galleries or photographs through my customisation. I think this is a bug actually, and shouldn't take a great deal of soul-searching or recoding to fix.
As I said, I've logged it... Thanks.

[W.W. Webster]

As I said, I've logged it... Thanks.Andy

I'm simply reporting the inconsistency I have subsequently discovered on further analysis!

[Dfroemke]

So,

I have to echo the comments about showing customization if your photos are found thru a search of SM or Google.

My site is customized (nothing fancy) and I want friends who Google keywords on my site to find the customized version. Never should SM show up.

Can't wait till that's remedied.

[Andy]

Anyone with me on this?

Sebastian

Mike's talking about HIDE OWNER.

[rainforest1155]

Mike's talking about HIDE OWNER.
See, that option's is already there for people wanting to do this. So why omit my customizations at first when someone uses www.smugmug.com/gallery/123456 (http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/123456) - even though the click on any picture brings them up again.

I already elaborated why I want to have my customizations shown no matter what link the visitor uses. I hope I made myself clear up there. If not holler and I'll give it another spin. :wink

Thanks,
Sebastian

[Andy]

I already elaborated why I want to have my customizations shown no matter what link the visitor uses. I hope I made myself clear up there. If not holler and I'll give it another spin. :wink

Thanks,
Sebastian

Yep - and I've noted this - but they're different animals - thanks.