Family Album

BDJ · July 8, 2015

SmugMug looks close to ideal for me to make my 2000 old family photos visible to distant family members.

BUT

It looks as though, while they can search for photos of "John", they can't search for photos of "John Smith". They will have to browse all the photos of John Smith, John Barker, John Davies etc.

This limitation to single search words must be a major drawback for anyone searching for photos.

Has anyone found a way around this?

denisegoldberg · July 8, 2015

Have you considered using the full names as keywords on your photos and exposing the keyword page on your site?

<your site url>/keyword

--- Denise

pilotdave · July 8, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

SmugMug looks close to ideal for me to make my 2000 old family photos visible to distant family members.

BUT

It looks as though, while they can search for photos of "John", they can't search for photos of "John Smith". They will have to browse all the photos of John Smith, John Barker, John Davies etc.

This limitation to single search words must be a major drawback for anyone searching for photos.

Has anyone found a way around this?

Can you describe how you're trying to do this? Are the names in captions, keywords, titles, or what?

It should work fine. Smugmug search isn't the best... sometimes it finds more than you want because it doesn't search for the exact phrase you typed in, and other times it doesn't find something it easily should. But there's no single word limitation for searches.

Dave

BDJ · July 10, 2015

pilotdave wrote: »

Can you describe how you're trying to do this? Are the names in captions, keywords, titles, or what?

It should work fine. Smugmug search isn't the best... sometimes it finds more than you want because it doesn't search for the exact phrase you typed in, and other times it doesn't find something it easily should. But there's no single word limitation for searches.

Dave

I use Graphic Converter to write "John Smith" without quotes in the IPTC metadata fields Caption and Keywords of my jpegs. I then upload the jpegs into my SmugMug album. When I search for "John Smith" in my album I get every John, regardless of surname. Is there a way of searching just for "John Smith" photos?

denisegoldberg · July 10, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

I use Graphic Converter to write "John Smith" without quotes in the IPTC metadata fields Caption and Keywords of my jpegs. I then upload the jpegs into my SmugMug album. When I search for "John Smith" in my album I get every John, regardless of surname. Is there a way of searching just for "John Smith" photos?

when you look at your keyword page do you see a keyword for John Smith (as opposed to a keyword for John and a keyword for Smith)? If the keywords page shows only the single words, can you tag your photos with the keyword "John Smith"? Then expose the keyword page on your site (<your url>/keyword).

You can see what a multi-word keyword looks like on my keyword page at http://www.denisegoldberg.com/keyword.

as an example on my site, I have photos of the Memorial Bridge tagged with both the full name and with the keyword bridges. I can search for either - one search returns all photos tagged with "bridges", the other returns just the photos that are tagged with "Memorial Bridge".

--- Denise

BDJ · July 11, 2015

denisegoldberg wrote: »

when you look at your keyword page do you see a keyword for John Smith (as opposed to a keyword for John and a keyword for Smith)? If the keywords page shows only the single words, can you tag your photos with the keyword "John Smith"? Then expose the keyword page on your site (<your url>/keyword).

You can see what a multi-word keyword looks like on my keyword page at http://www.denisegoldberg.com/keyword.

as an example on my site, I have photos of the Memorial Bridge tagged with both the full name and with the keyword bridges. I can search for either - one search returns all photos tagged with "bridges", the other returns just the photos that are tagged with "Memorial Bridge".

--- Denise

Denise, it's so kind of you to reply so fully. My keywords appear in my SmugMug keywords list as, for example, "Robert Harrill + (1 image)" and "Robert Gillespie + (7 images)" (my quotes). See attached. When I enter "Robert Harrill" (my quotes) in the search box I get the 8 Harrill and Gillespie images. I suspect from what you say that I can only search for pairs of words if I create them as tags. As I have laboriously IPTC-keyworded my 2000 jpegs I don't want to have to tag them all as well. Is tagging the only answer for SmugMug?

denisegoldberg · July 11, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

Denise, it's so kind of you to reply so fully. My keywords appear in my SmugMug keywords list as, for example, "Robert Harrill + (1 image)" and "Robert Gillespie + (7 images)" (my quotes). See attached. When I enter "Robert Harrill" (my quotes) in the search box I get the 8 Harrill and Gillespie images. I suspect from what you say that I can only search for pairs of words if I create them as tags. As I have laboriously IPTC-keyworded my 2000 jpegs I don't want to have to tag them all as well. Is tagging the only answer for SmugMug?

If you uploaded the photos with IPTC keywords the tags should be there already. From the help page at http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93290:

If you added keywords in a program like iPhoto or Photoshop before adding the photos to SmugMug, we'll do our best to find and automatically apply them. Specifically, we look for keywords in the IPTC keywords field.

I wasn't recommending that you add a keyword element to a page. While it should contain the same entries, what happens when you open /keyword on your site? Are the name pairs shown? I suspect they are based on your screen shot. If you click on a name pair do you get only the expected photos? If you do have you considered adding the /keyword page to your menu so your viewers can open the keyword page, find the name, and click to see the photos?

I just did some experimenting from the keyword page on my site. I looked at the keyword "fog": http://www.denisegoldberg.com/keyword/fog/. I can click +massachusetts in the Combine with section to see only photos tagged with both fog and massachusetts. If I type "fog massachusetts" in a search box I get the same photos.

Unfortunately I don't have examples of the 2-word "name" keywords that you are describing. I would need to see the behavior on your site.

Are you willing to post a link to your site to allow us to understand what you are seeing and possibly suggest an alternative?

--- Denise

BDJ · July 12, 2015

denisegoldberg wrote: »

If you uploaded the photos with IPTC keywords the tags should be there already. From the help page at http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93290:

I wasn't recommending that you add a keyword element to a page. While it should contain the same entries, what happens when you open /keyword on your site? Are the name pairs shown? I suspect they are based on your screen shot. If you click on a name pair do you get only the expected photos? If you do have you considered adding the /keyword page to your menu so your viewers can open the keyword page, find the name, and click to see the photos?
I just did some experimenting from the keyword page on my site. I looked at the keyword "fog": http://www.denisegoldberg.com/keyword/fog/. I can click +massachusetts in the Combine with section to see only photos tagged with both fog and massachusetts. If I type "fog massachusetts" in a search box I get the same photos.

Unfortunately I don't have examples of the 2-word "name" keywords that you are describing. I would need to see the behavior on your site.

Are you willing to post a link to your site to allow us to understand what you are seeing and possibly suggest an alternative?

--- Denise

Hello, Denise. I really feel I'm getting somewhere. I found my keyword list, corresponding to yours, using my site URL/keyword/ as you did and they came up as did yours, viz pairs of names such as "Robert Harrill". When I clicked on a pair, up came the single photo with the keyword "Robert Harrill". Yes! (I couldn't find that particular keyword list using my Smugmug menu.)

So it looks as though I could ask family viewers to find photos by selecting from what will be a rather lengthy list. It would be so much better if the Search box would find name-surname pairs. Is that ruled out, do you think? My site is briantest.smugmug.com/Harrill-Family/ which you're welcome to look at. My grandson found it on his PC today which was encouraging.

I have the feeling that a customized simplified SmugMug could be what Family Historians have been looking for as a means of making their photo collections freely available to family members world-wide to view, print etc.

Brian

denisegoldberg · July 12, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

Hello, Denise. I really feel I'm getting somewhere. I found my keyword list, corresponding to yours, using my site URL/keyword/ as you did and they came up as did yours, viz pairs of names such as "Robert Harrill". When I clicked on a pair, up came the single photo with the keyword "Robert Harrill". Yes! (I couldn't find that particular keyword list using my Smugmug menu.)

So it looks as though I could ask family viewers to find photos by selecting from what will be a rather lengthy list. It would be so much better if the Search box would find name-surname pairs. Is that ruled out, do you think? My site is briantest.smugmug.com/Harrill-Family/ which you're welcome to look at. My grandson found it on his PC today which was encouraging.

I have the feeling that a customized simplified SmugMug could be what Family Historians have been looking for as a means of making their photo collections freely available to family members world-wide to view, print etc.

Brian

Hi Brian -
You might want to add a menu content block to entire site that contains at least the /keyword page. You could also include a contact link. (Both assume you have a Power account at the minimum, a basic account doesn't include this ability.)

To include a contact link, see help page at http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/1248294-how-do-i-create-a-contact-page-. The contact link will bring up a form for your viewers to send you a message.

I just compared the results using keyword vs. search for john harrill. Via keyword I see one photo, via search I see two. The second photo that is returned doesn't show any keywords but does show in the caption "John Douglas Harrill". I suspect that's why the photo was returned on search. So even though you didn't tag that photo with the name, the name is in the caption.

--- Denise

BDJ · July 12, 2015

denisegoldberg wrote: »

Hi Brian -
You might want to add a menu content block to entire site that contains at least the /keyword page. You could also include a contact link. (Both assume you have a Power account at the minimum, a basic account doesn't include this ability.)

To include a contact link, see help page at http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/1248294-how-do-i-create-a-contact-page-. The contact link will bring up a form for your viewers to send you a message.

I just compared the results using keyword vs. search for john harrill. Via keyword I see one photo, via search I see two. The second photo that is returned doesn't show any keywords but does show in the caption "John Douglas Harrill". I suspect that's why the photo was returned on search. So even though you didn't tag that photo with the name, the name is in the caption.

--- Denise

My goodness! If you're on the West Coast, you are up early. I lived in Berkeley and with almost guaranteed sunshine I was always up early, too.

The problem is best exemplified by "Robert Harrill". Search brings up the one Robert Harrill photo plus all the Robert Gillespie photos. Such a shame that doesn't work. I don't really want to enter names without spaces. I know that works but... I'll think about using keyword list when I get into "production". Pl let me know if a solution is found.

Brian

denisegoldberg · July 12, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

My goodness! If you're on the West Coast, you are up early. I lived in Berkeley and with almost guaranteed sunshine I was always up early, too.

The problem is best exemplified by "Robert Harrill". Search brings up the one Robert Harrill photo plus all the Robert Gillespie photos. Such a shame that doesn't work. I don't really want to enter names without spaces. I know that works but... I'll think about using keyword list when I get into "production". Pl let me know if a solution is found.

Brian

No, I'm on the East Coast...

Unfortunately I can't answer your question. Hopefully someone who works for SmugMug will notice this thread and add some comments.

--- Denise

BDJ · July 12, 2015

denisegoldberg wrote: »

No, I'm on the East Coast...

Unfortunately I can't answer your question. Hopefully someone who works for SmugMug will notice this thread and add some comments.

--- Denise

I'm grateful to you for getting back to me. Many thanks.

Brian

rainforest1155 · July 14, 2015

Brian,
I believe I've already answered you on this in the case you've sent to the HelpDesk. If you have any further questions on it, feel free to write back on the HelpDesk so we could take a closer look. But I feel that there might be not a way to do exactly what you're looking for. The search looks through all the information on a photo and if the multiple persons have the same first or last name, it's normal for those to also come up in search.
What you might be able to do is to remove the search field and instead present visitors with a keyword list to pick out the name they'd like to see photos displayed for.

In addition, you could consider adding a search content block of your own to any page and then setting it to "results page - keyword gallery". That way, it would send people to the specific keyword gallery for the term they entered. However, this would only work if the visitor enters the name exactly as your keyword is named. If there's no keyword for the term entered, they'd be displayed a blank keyword page.
You can find the search content block in the customize > content and design > discovery section.

BDJ · July 20, 2015

rainforest1155 wrote: »

Brian,
I believe I've already answered you on this in the case you've sent to the HelpDesk. If you have any further questions on it, feel free to write back on the HelpDesk so we could take a closer look. But I feel that there might be not a way to do exactly what you're looking for. The search looks through all the information on a photo and if the multiple persons have the same first or last name, it's normal for those to also come up in search.
What you might be able to do is to remove the search field and instead present visitors with a keyword list to pick out the name they'd like to see photos displayed for.

In addition, you could consider adding a search content block of your own to any page and then setting it to "results page - keyword gallery". That way, it would send people to the specific keyword gallery for the term they entered. However, this would only work if the visitor enters the name exactly as your keyword is named. If there's no keyword for the term entered, they'd be displayed a blank keyword page.
You can find the search content block in the customize > content and design > discovery section.

I'm surprised that SmugMug has come this far without being able to handle two-word keywords but perhaps my interest, old family photos, where one would often search for photos of "John Smith", for example, is rather niche. Perhaps a family-photo version of SmugMug would sell, though. There are plenty of us about. I've tried PhotoShelter and Flickr which can all handle "John Smith" but I'd prefer SmugMug. I'll watch your space.

Allen · July 20, 2015

All my family galleries are behind one top level folder password and I add specific keywords, names, to each photo.
When the PW is entered all these name keywords are added in the keyword cloud.

pilotdave · July 21, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

I'm surprised that SmugMug has come this far without being able to handle two-word keywords but perhaps my interest, old family photos, where one would often search for photos of "John Smith", for example, is rather niche. Perhaps a family-photo version of SmugMug would sell, though. There are plenty of us about. I've tried PhotoShelter and Flickr which can all handle "John Smith" but I'd prefer SmugMug. I'll watch your space.

Multi-word keywords work fine. What doesn't work well is the regular search box. I think you might have better luck using a search content block set to return a keyword gallery (under "results page" in the content block settings). When set that way, it will only return exact keyword results. If photos are tagged with "john smith" and "john jones," a search for "john" will return no results. Someone would have to enter the full name to see results... unless those photos also include keyword "john" and the last names separately.

Dave

BDJ · July 23, 2015

pilotdave wrote: »

Multi-word keywords work fine. What doesn't work well is the regular search box. I think you might have better luck using a search content block set to return a keyword gallery (under "results page" in the content block settings). When set that way, it will only return exact keyword results. If photos are tagged with "john smith" and "john jones," a search for "john" will return no results. Someone would have to enter the full name to see results... unless those photos also include keyword "john" and the last names separately.

Dave

Thanks, Dave, but I will have several thousand keywords and I can't see family scrolling through those. Yes, clicking on keyword "John Smith" gets only the photos whose keywords include "John Smith" but what a shame that Search won't do that. Mr MacAskill, any chance of a fix?

pilotdave · July 23, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

Thanks, Dave, but I will have several thousand keywords and I can't see family scrolling through those. Yes, clicking on keyword "John Smith" gets only the photos whose keywords include "John Smith" but what a shame that Search won't do that. Mr MacAskill, any chance of a fix?

No I'm not saying to use a keyword list. I'm saying you can change the search tool's settings to do exactly what you want.

Dave

BDJ · July 24, 2015

pilotdave wrote: »

No I'm not saying to use a keyword list. I'm saying you can change the search tool's settings to do exactly what you want.

Dave

Well, Dave, thanks to you I got there in the end. I can now search for "robert harrill" and his sole photo comes up without the photos keyworded "robert gillespie". Amazing! I would now like to delete the default Search block but that does not seem possible. Is it?

Brian

pilotdave · July 24, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

Well, Dave, thanks to you I got there in the end. I can now search for "robert harrill" and his sole photo comes up without the photos keyworded "robert gillespie". Amazing! I would now like to delete the default Search block but that does not seem possible. Is it?

Brian

Yup, you can disable the default smugmug header which contains the search box. Your site will look better workout it too.

Dave

denisegoldberg · July 24, 2015

BDJ wrote: »

I would now like to delete the default Search block but that does not seem possible. Is it?

As pilotdave said it is possible to remove that. It may not be obvious how to delete it though.

To remove the smug header:
> Click customize... content and design
> Click the settings button on the right of the CUSTOMIZE SITE line
> Set SmugMug Header to Off.

--- Denise

Family Album

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