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need documentation on new themes
NaturePics
Registered Users Posts: 32 Big grins
I've been a SmugMug customer for several years. I used to recommend SmugMug to others who needed reliable photo storage. I have not recommended SmugMug since the new SmugMug was rolled out. I now add very little content to my SmugMug site.
I have tried the preview of new designs several times. I am never able to understand what's involved in the different designs. I see thumbnails with different picturews in each one. Am I choosing between layout methods? Are some designs displaying a thumbnail for each category and other designs showing a thumbnail per folder? Are some designs displaying thumbnails of images chosen at random from my collection?
I don't want to make a decision based on how a single design looks. I want to fully understand how it works.
When you make a major change like this and attempt to force users to stop using the design they understand and like, you owe them some adequate documentation of their options. The trial and the superficial and breezy material in the SmugMug help are not useful.
Do you have proper documentation describing how each new design works? How about a link?
I have tried the preview of new designs several times. I am never able to understand what's involved in the different designs. I see thumbnails with different picturews in each one. Am I choosing between layout methods? Are some designs displaying a thumbnail for each category and other designs showing a thumbnail per folder? Are some designs displaying thumbnails of images chosen at random from my collection?
I don't want to make a decision based on how a single design looks. I want to fully understand how it works.
When you make a major change like this and attempt to force users to stop using the design they understand and like, you owe them some adequate documentation of their options. The trial and the superficial and breezy material in the SmugMug help are not useful.
Do you have proper documentation describing how each new design works? How about a link?
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Templates are not really needed, it's just easier for new people to start a basic layout. If you find something you don't like, simply change it. The only thing i am missing is a "share" feature so people can create their own templates and share them with others.
Some help from SmugMug:
How do i use the new designs?
Where do i start with customization?
What themes can i use?
More help can be found here.
A documentation which describes which template uses which theme, colors, design elements or background images would be nice, but i think that would be way to much with all the settings and changes you can do. You can try a template using the preview before you choose the template to customize it. You can even save different templates with different customizations and switch between them until you are happy.
Once you know how to customize a template you won't go back to one of the default templates. Or do you really want your own site to look like hundreds of other websites that use the same default template? Don't think so
phaserbeam has pointed you to some excellent help pages. In addition, you might take a look at the tutorials at http://school.smugmug.com/SmugMug-Tips.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
I asked about the differences between the designs. You have not responded to my questions. You have blown off my questions and told me that you aren't willing to explain the designs.
Your documentation tells me to just pick a design. I asked for information that would allow me to make a choice. I don't want to blunder blindly trying one design after another without knowing what the differences are.
If the templates really don't matter, why did SmugMug offer 20+ designs and describe the transition away from the Legacy system in terms of selecting a design?
So you are too lazy to document what the designs involve and you put the burden on the user who knows nothing about the reasons for the designs. You could have constructed a simple description of each design describing the choices made in that design.
You have told me that the designs are rather meaningless and that it is up to me to wade through the customization material to get to the point where I can have a site as functional as what I had.
I looked at the links you both provided. I had already found some of those pages and read them. I see lots of articles about specific narrow topics but nothing that guides me through the process.
Here's one breezy article
"How do I use the new designs?
The first thing you'll see when you start a SmugMug Trial is a starter template design so you can get your site running ASAP. But you aren't limited to that design! You can change it and customize it at any time.
Our talented design team has created more than 20 beautiful, ready-to-use designs for you to choose from—and at no extra cost! These designs contain all the elements you need to get a beautiful photography website right out of the gate.
Can't quite decide which design you want? Don't worry, you can always change your mind and choose another later. So pick a design, play around, and if you find you don't quite like your first choice, go back and select a different design to play with. You can change your design as often as you like, even months or years from now.
You can also save all your custom designs so you can cycle through them if you want. Create special themes for holidays, life events, or seasons, and select them whenever the right time comes around. Refresh your site any time with just a few clicks!"
Zero information about picking a design that is close to my needs. Zero information on the practical process of migrating.
I made some galleries as journals so that I could tell a story with text and pictures. Some were collections from an outing presented in the SmugMug thumbnails + 1 larger picture style. I had other galleries where I parked individual photos for reference from other websites and forums. I'd simply like to replicate that functionality.
SmugMug used to be a welcoming place. Now it seems to be a place with arrogant developers who show contempt for their own users. I wrote software for a living for many years. Your idea of supporting customers stinks.
I appreciate that both of you bothered to answer my request. I don't think that either of you put much effort into seeing my problem and responding to that. I certainly feel worse about SmugMug aqfter reading your replies.
I'll probably make one more effort at moving to the new SmugMug. However, I'll start to look for an alternative. I'll be making negative recommendations to friends and to people who ask for recommendations on the internet.
I'm sorry you didn't find anything helpful in the replies. I will not respond to further questions from you since it's clear that you don't like my answers.
Before I sign off though... you might find this tutorial helpful in simply migrating your legacy site to new smug - http://school.smugmug.com/SmugMug-Tips/Get-the-Legacy-Look.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
You bring up a number of valid concerns. As Denise mentioned, neither she nor phaserbeam are SmugMug Support Heroes but I will have one of the support heroes contact you to go through your concerns at the detail you are looking for.
There are perhaps 3 terms that will be useful to understand based on some of what I've seen you ask above:
1) Designs: this is the initial layout of your entire site. It helps set where your logo goes, will you use a header bar on the top or will you use a bar on the left, where do your social icons go, where your navigation menu will reside, etc. This can be customized but we offer several starter designs to help you get going. We cannot guess what every person will want to use but there are a number of varying designs that are close to what people want and then can be changed to your specific desires.
2) Themes: This is look and feel of your site ... some people call it the "skin". It includes your color scheme, font choices, and background images. We provide a number of built-in themes to choose from and obviously let you customize these to your liking. You can also change themes across various parts of your site. For example, your entire site could use a grey and blue color scheme but if you have a "Halloween 2013" gallery you could set it to an orange and black theme to make it feel like Halloween.
3) Gallery Styles: This is the layout of your gallery images. You can set a default gallery style as well as customize each gallery to its own gallery style. You can chose from the SmugMug layout (thumbnails/image), thumbnail only, journal, or our new Collage styles.
To try to answer some of your questions in greater detail:
When you go to select a design and you click "Preview" we try to show you what your site would look like in that design. When you preview a design you start by looking at its homepage. Different designs display the homepage (and thus the content on it) differently and it's based on our "Content Block" system.
Think of a "content block" as a widget. You could have a widget that displays a single photo, or one that displays multiple photos. You could have one that shows all the folders contained in a folder, or one that only contains all the galleries in a folder, or even one that shows all contents in a folder. You could have a widget that shows links to your Social Media pages, or a widget to include a search box on your page. These content blocks are what make up your page.
Now back to the designs: each design chooses different content blocks for your homepage layout. Some designs might use a "Folders" content block so they show you a list of folders (for example: I have a SmugMug site that contains all of my photos I share with my family. My homepage has folders for each year (2014, 2013, 2012,...) and then they can click on the year to see all the galleries of photos from that year). Another design might use a "Multiple Photos" content block so it shows you a grid of folders (for example, if someone wants their homepage to show off the most recent 30 images). Another design might just have a fullscreen slideshow and a menu with nothing else on the page. This explains why you see Folders on some designs, images on other designs, etc.
Lets say you like the overall layout of one design but you don't like the way it shows images on the homepage. Perhaps you'd rather it show folders on the homepage instead of the most recent photos. All you have to do is replace the "Multiple Photos" content block with a "Folders" content block by drag-and-dropping and you're all set.
We do not have any documentation that says "this design will display your homepage as a list of folders" or "This design will display your 30 most recent photos on the homepage" since you can customize this behavior when you make the site yours.
Sometimes the best way to learn a new tool is to dive in and start using it. We won't publish any of your New SmugMug changes until you decide to "Unveil" your new site to the public. You can always choose a new design or start-over.
I would love to continue to help answer your questions as well as put you in touch with one of our Support Heroes.
-Aaron
Former SmugMug Product Team
aaron AT aaronmphotography DOT com
Website: http://www.aaronmphotography.com
My SmugMug CSS Customizations website: http://www.aaronmphotography.com/Customizations
thanks for replying. My right arm is immobilized due to a fracture in my elbow and my left hand does not work well either. I will not work on my Smugmug site for some time.
That sounds awful! I wish you a speedy recovery! Please let me know when you're ready and we'll get someone to help!
Former SmugMug Product Team
aaron AT aaronmphotography DOT com
Website: http://www.aaronmphotography.com
My SmugMug CSS Customizations website: http://www.aaronmphotography.com/Customizations