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Eager to Unveil - 5 Problems That Stop Me
Darter02
Registered Users Posts: 947 Major grins
I am eager to unviel my new site but there are five key issues that are stopping me at this time. I am mainly writing this post so I can tie all my issues together in one spot, and let SM know what is holding me back.
In no particular order of importance:
1. Neither the HTML Block, or the Text Block seem to format HTML correctly.
Here's the thread about that.
2. Statcounter would be essentially useless, and Google Analytics doesn't seem to work anymore. These are tools I use to determine where my advertising dollars go, what images/galleries seem to be popular, and general marketing strategy. I am not a large company, and after being closed for over a year while we moved from PA to WI, I use these tools a lot as I am starting back up. While I can understand SM's stance on disabling java due to the headaches of customer support, I think allowing users who want it should be given the option of using "at their own risk, and voiding support."
Statcounter thread
Goggle Analytics thread
3. The whole copy, deleting, collecting of images went from being an easy thing to do, to a slow, one at a time process. I don't expect this to be fixed for me to launch, but I do feel this needs to be addressed.
Delete Copy Kills Original.
Thread about Collecting.
And another thread about this.
4. The Favicon is broken. Not a deal breaker, but I never really liked that smiley face. No offense.
Favicon thread.
5. While I don't use a guestbook, I do use commenting as a tool. My customers, which are mainly brides, comment under photos they want changes to. If they have to sign in using FB or signing up for SM this is unacceptable. I read that SM is disallowing annon comments to "protect the children." If a user cannot police their own photopages I do not see why their lack of moderating, and controlling their own site should impact my use. I need commenting to be as it's been, where my customers can easily leave comments under their images. I will say this could be a deal breaker for me. I need that functionality in order to do my job. If I am not understanding something here, please enlighten me.
"Protect the Children" from bad comments mentioned in this thread.
In no particular order of importance:
1. Neither the HTML Block, or the Text Block seem to format HTML correctly.
Here's the thread about that.
2. Statcounter would be essentially useless, and Google Analytics doesn't seem to work anymore. These are tools I use to determine where my advertising dollars go, what images/galleries seem to be popular, and general marketing strategy. I am not a large company, and after being closed for over a year while we moved from PA to WI, I use these tools a lot as I am starting back up. While I can understand SM's stance on disabling java due to the headaches of customer support, I think allowing users who want it should be given the option of using "at their own risk, and voiding support."
Statcounter thread
Goggle Analytics thread
3. The whole copy, deleting, collecting of images went from being an easy thing to do, to a slow, one at a time process. I don't expect this to be fixed for me to launch, but I do feel this needs to be addressed.
Delete Copy Kills Original.
Thread about Collecting.
And another thread about this.
4. The Favicon is broken. Not a deal breaker, but I never really liked that smiley face. No offense.
Favicon thread.
5. While I don't use a guestbook, I do use commenting as a tool. My customers, which are mainly brides, comment under photos they want changes to. If they have to sign in using FB or signing up for SM this is unacceptable. I read that SM is disallowing annon comments to "protect the children." If a user cannot police their own photopages I do not see why their lack of moderating, and controlling their own site should impact my use. I need commenting to be as it's been, where my customers can easily leave comments under their images. I will say this could be a deal breaker for me. I need that functionality in order to do my job. If I am not understanding something here, please enlighten me.
"Protect the Children" from bad comments mentioned in this thread.
0
Comments
in with something to add a comment. Duh, the password already makes it secure.
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Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Wedding galleries are simply unlisted until the bride is happy with it, and then it's public. Business customers are PW protected. I don't want people to have to sign into Smugmug, or have to use facebook to leave comments. Again, I think it's wrong to implement such a system simply because some other users can't police their own sites. Their lack of vigilance should not impact me, or my clients.
Cool beans! Thanks!
This is from the thread I linked to. For me it's all about the ease of use for my clients. Hopefully something can be sorted out that is simple enough for a bride with no tech skills to use. I've had a few that I had to literally walk through using the old system. I also have a few anti-fb customers.
Here's another sample of the formatting problem I am having.
On Wedding Service page I have a Text Block with the exact same HTML formatted text, with embedded images, and formatted lists. I used what I believe to be standard HTML coding to get it to work on Blogger.
On Blogger it looks like this:
On SM, using the Text Block:
On SM, using the HTML Block:
The actual HTML code I am using on all three:
(I used the periods as spacer just for this post as the spaces on my notepad didn't transfer.)
I just need to find out what is up with the HTML problem I am having. As a Batman fan I can't believe I'm hoping that the Joker character will throw me a line...
Let's sit tight and give the SM folks some time to collect the right answers and get back to us. They've been awesome at responding to the forums so I'm sure they'll catch up soon. I know they basically didn't sleep for 2 weeks leading up to the announcement and now they're still not sleeping with all the questions people like you and I are asking them. Between the forums and Smuggy E-Mail support they're inundated. I'm eager to get my new site online (and like you I have 3-4 things holding me up) too but we have to remember to be patient and give them time to fix the bugs. In the mean time we still have working legacy sites (that up until a week ago we were very happy with!).
Former SmugMug Product Team
aaron AT aaronmphotography DOT com
Website: http://www.aaronmphotography.com
My SmugMug CSS Customizations website: http://www.aaronmphotography.com/Customizations
As I said in the other thread, that's only part of the problem. The spam was out of control for many people with the old system, and combined with email notifications was making our email deliverability drop like a rock as people understandably began to mark our emails as spam when the included comment was a spammy one. CAPTCHA just isn't a completely effective deterrent.
That's why so many sites now require some form of authentication to leave comments. We're looking at the problem closely, but it's not simply a matter of people not policing their comments.
I am going to start looking for new service.
Truly frustrated here.
I believe the right way to approach this is to understand what you're hoping to embed and provide them in a better way. We've been hearing about things like Vimeo, Google Maps, and Wufoo forms and we want everyone to have those options too, just not via iFrames.
Please explain to me, as I truly am unaware, how placing an iframe on Blogger and then having a Feed box, on SM holding that iframe is a breach. I really do not know as I am NOT an IT person.
I want my calendar and map available to my clients. It's a simple as that. The only way to do this is via iframe.
I think I'll stay off the forum, and my site for a while.
Same here. I wonder if it's possible somehow to have our own completely separate home page (with HTML, JAVASCRIPT, FRAMES, whatever, etc.), while still pointing our custom domain to smugmug.
PicturesOfVancouver.com · EddieFernandesPhotography.com
So, can you tell us if you ARE implementing them and on what schedule? And what is the "better way"?
As to my original issues.
They fixed the problem I was specifically having through not only showing me a better way to format my code, but also debugging the system. Do I still run into snags using the blocks? Yes, but nothing I haven't been able to sort out.
Both issues fixed, and I was able to link my web developer's tools back up within hours of them implementing a change today.
I still find the collecting images process to be a pain in the ass the way it is now. I believe it will change as I've see a lot of other folks not liking it either. I'm being patient.
I just asked the help desk to fix mine, and they did it. I have no idea if there is still an issue for users or not.
I have to admit, I am waiting to see what happens here. I still get a vague ill feeling when I think about the consequences if this isn't addressed. My last bride was none too happy to not be able to leave comments. She doesn't like facebook, and will not sign up for SM.
I was pretty pissed about loosing my map & calendar, as I know people use them. Instead of pulling my hair and jumping around I just took a break from this. I then solved that issue by modifying my blogger acount to match the look of my site here. It wasn't easy either. But I will say this, it spurred me to create a better synergy between my Blogger, G+, Google Local, and Google Business Pages. Hell, I even use a feed from Blogger right on my front page, and today even added a Sign Up thinga-mah-jiggy to my front page, under it. It's gotta all help SEO right? Everything linking up?
So, while there are still a number of things I hope will change, in addition to what is listed here, I am willing to try to use the new site. Hell, I am even enjoying it. It may not look like much, but I try to comb out new details every chance I get.
Eh... I'm tired, I have been processing images ALL DAY since 5AM my time... I'm out...