smugmug new features - April 15th, 2005

[onethumb]

This is the Bobe edition. Happy Birthday, and hope that nose feels better! :)

Most of the work for this release was in the shopping cart, but let me get the other features out of the way first:

- API fixes and enhancements. Not too many of these, but there'll be a post on the other forum.

- Slideshow. Look ma, no jaggies! It's possible this feature might strain our servers more than I'd like, so I'd consider it a trial run, but I'm optimistic.

- Enhanced the search stuff. Better UI, faster searches. There's still more work going on here, but we're making some progress.

- Image protection extends properly to Keywords. This was a bug that was fixed.

- Removed a little more owner info in "HideOwner" enabled galleries so it's even more anonymous.

- Bulk Caption/Keywords tool has longer data entry lengths. Go crazy.

- The Mac Java uploader returns. Embarassingly, we're not sure why it disappeared.

- Logging out as a Guest works more appropriately (no longer shows you "guest photos" when you log back in as yourself).

- The "Clean" option for non-Pros had some bugs. Fixed.

- IMG alt tags had bugs in some places. Erradicated, I think.

- Added more IMG title tags (alt tags technically aren't correctly used for IE. title tags should be) in the places we fixed alt tags.

- META keywords & description now picks up your gallery's keywords and description to enhance your Google/Yahoo/MSN/Jeeves/etc position and relevance.

- We tried to enhance the Password protection ala the flaming threads here on dgrin, but JT veto'd them. ;)

- Enhanced caching for photos, stylesheets, and javascript files somewhat.

- Made the beta pre-fetching code only appear for firefox browsers.

WHEW! There are more, but they're probably not big cuz I'm drawing blanks. On to the cart changes:

- The cart is now cookied! If your browser or computer crashes, your cart remains intact - currently for up to 31 days! (We may lower it to a week if the load is too high).

- The interstitial "added to cart!" pages have been nuked. Drops you right into the cart.

- Cart navigation to continue browsing has been added, making it easy to return from whence you came.

- There's no 2nd step for the cart anymore, all color and cropping is done on Step One.

- "No-crop" feature makes a triumphant return! Not only that, but it has a neat preview just like cropping!

- Cart uses less images to do the cropping and no-cropping previews, and thus, is faster - particularly on large carts over a modem.

- No more tanning salon, and no more crappy auto-adjust. World-class auto-color correction is in place, and is on for Standard and Power User accounts by default.

- Pros can toggle on a per-gallery basis whether they'd like True or Auto color. True is default for Pros. (We're currently retroactively applying that setting to all your existing galleries, too, so wait a few minutes before you panic. :)

- The order of the cart remains static now. New items are at the top, easy to modify and change.

- non-US state/province is no longer required for foreign customers. It's optional.


WHEW. Nice update, we hope. As always, there might be little gotchas, so let us know in this thread. Bugs & kudos only - if you want to suggest feature changes or debate the usefulness of these changes, please start new threads.

Don

[onethumb]

- Pros can toggle on a per-gallery basis whether they'd like True or Auto color. True is default for Pros. (We're currently retroactively applying that setting to all your existing galleries, too, so wait a few minutes before you panic. :)

Finished. If your galleries aren't set right, now is the time to panic. :)

Don

[minoltaman]

Wow, you guys do work hard around here. Looks like I picked a good night to stay up as I saw some of those changes go live while I was trying the old autotan thingie. It was there and then it was gone. I did some reading on the new auto color thingie and it does sound pretty sweet for many I assume. Anyway, thanks for all of the hard work and nice changes and the new additions everyone.

-don

[Nikolai]

:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap :clap
Thank you, guys! Very impressive amount of changes!:thumb

And - finally! - no crop!!! :lust

I do appreciate your hard work (but this won't stop me from bugging you on API issues:-)!

Cheers!:1drink

[Nikolai]

Just had to tell ya..:-):thumb

[BenA2]

Great new features. I love the new streamlined cart and crop preview.

Unfortunately, as a standard user that takes a lot of time color correcting my photos, I'm dissapointed that you're not allowing standard and power users to set the True/Auto default for each gallery. I'm guessing that most of my friends and family who buy prints off my site will completely ignore this option, thereby forcing all the prints to be color-corrected, even when I don't want them to be.

Please consider expanding this gallery option to all users.

Thanks and keep up the great work,
Ben

[Erik Olsen]

This is the Bobe edition. Happy Birthday, and hope that nose feels better! :)


Don

Hi Don,

The continue browsing button dissapears after selecting the adjust crop button. I think it needs to be seen at all times within the cart. That way folks can make their way back to the gallery if needed.

[{JT}]

The continue browsing and Previous button are context sensitive to what you have just come from doing. Adding and updating after just adding will bring up the links - but other actions such as refreshing and coming back from crop will not. We continue to inform the user that they can click on a photo to take them back to that gallery.

Hi Don,

The continue browsing button dissapears after selecting the adjust crop button. I think it needs to be seen at all times within the cart. That way folks can make their way back to the gallery if needed.

[wellman]

Great new features. I love the new streamlined cart and crop preview.

Unfortunately, as a standard user that takes a lot of time color correcting my photos, I'm dissapointed that you're not allowing standard and power users to set the True/Auto default for each gallery. I'm guessing that most of my friends and family who buy prints off my site will completely ignore this option, thereby forcing all the prints to be color-corrected, even when I don't want them to be.

Please consider expanding this gallery option to all users.

Thanks and keep up the great work,
Ben

I'd also like to see power-users have the option to default their color settings to true. Better yet, give us the option to eliminate auto completely. I spend (too much) time getting the colors just right on my calibrated monitor, and I'd like "the grandparents" to have one less dropdown to click.

I understand the vast majority of people need auto. Perhaps true-colored orders could ship with a little piece of paper explaining that if true was selected and the colors are bad, take the issue up with the photographer. :-)

Thanks for the great service you guys provide.

[Andy]

I'd also like to see power-users have the option to default their color settings to true. Better yet, give us the option to eliminate auto completely. I spend (too much) time getting the colors just right on my calibrated monitor, and I'd like "the grandparents" to have one less dropdown to click.

I understand the vast majority of people need auto. Perhaps true-colored orders could ship with a little piece of paper explaining that if true was selected and the colors are bad, take the issue up with the photographer. :-)

Thanks for the great service you guys provide.


Appreciate the suggestion, wellman! We really appreciate the feedback. No promises on if or when, but I'll make sure everyone sees this.

Prices still haven't gone up, though they will... the best way to have this would be to upgrade now before the price change.