Another cart-related feature preview

Baldy · June 25, 2008

We have the nasty problems of:

1. Not everyone notices the current buy options.

2. When we want to add something like cards or books, we tuck them in places they shouldn't be, like the gallery tools menu.

So here's a proposal to solve those issues. Here's the logged-in view:

And the logged-out view:

Buying backups, cards, and photo books are currently only enabled for logged-in users, but of course in the future there will be things pros can sell that would be enabled on this menu logged out.

We plan on making these buttons styleable for customizers assuming this design passes muster.

Allen · June 25, 2008

Rather tall buttons. I know some will grip that it takes up too much
vertical space, they always do.:D

They are also many that are replacing the current ones with their own, they
might not be happy.

brjphoto · June 25, 2008

Yeah, I can live with that. Looks fine to me.

Andy · June 26, 2008

Allen wrote:

Rather tall buttons. I know some will grip that it takes up too much
vertical space, they always do.:D

Dealing with that now, I agree

They are also many that are replacing the current ones with their own, they
might not be happy.

this will replace them. They may have the option to replace this new button, we'll see.

pilotdave · June 26, 2008

I don't know what "from this gallery" would mean. I assume it does what "buy multiple photos" does now, but that's not too obvious. I think I'd rather see one "add to cart" button or something like that. Don't know why anybody would use the buy multiple photos feature. I'd think they would want to get a good look at the pictures and add them to the cart individually. Course that might be different if someone wants to buy 20 different pictures... I haven't run across that issue yet.

Dave

Glory2Jesus4Photography · June 26, 2008

brjphoto wrote:

Yeah, I can live with that. Looks fine to me.

I think that is a great start and if I read that right it looks like this may be where we could put a package together for customers to order.
I agree with Allen and Andy on the buttons But sense Andy is on it I have no worries that it will be just fine. All low profile and smooooooth

Baldy · June 26, 2008

pilotdave wrote:

I don't know what "from this gallery" would mean.

Maybe it should be Buy this photo and Buy multiple photos.

It's a common option for people to use, especially when buying wedding photos as the bride buys them all.

brjphoto · June 26, 2008

Baldy wrote:

Maybe it should be Buy this photo and Buy multiple photos.

Yeah, I like that better.

kygarden · June 26, 2008

brjphoto wrote:

Yeah, I like that better.

Ditto

jasonscottphoto · June 26, 2008

kygarden wrote:

Ditto

Me three

NWMtnGuy · June 26, 2008

I like this (though I agree that the buttons in the mock-up are a bit tall). One of my ongoing frustrations is that the current links to buy photos aren't as obvious as I would like, especially to a first-time visitor. I do have a couple of requests/suggestions:

1) I have changed the text on my current page so that instead of "buy" the text reads "order prints". Just my personal preference, but I think other people have probably done this as well. Will the text of the new buttons be customizable?

2) The placement and look/feel of the mock-up buttons adds more visual clutter to the page because they don't match the look of existing buttons or align with them. For example, there are already graphical buttons on my page for "share" and "slideshow". How about placing the "buy" and "cart" buttons next to these existing buttons using the same look/feel as the existing ones. This would make the page cleaner and the graphical elements would have a consistent look.

Dale

EDIT: I just looked back a the mockup and realized that there could be up to 5 buttons in this space already, though I think some of those only appear when logged in. Maybe there's not enough horizontal space left in that spot. I still like the idea, but think the graphical elements across the page should be unified. i.e. all the buttons on the page should have the same look/feel.

papajay · June 27, 2008

Baldy wrote:

Maybe it should be Buy this photo and Buy multiple photos.

It's a common option for people to use, especially when buying wedding photos as the bride buys them all.

Software developers must go nuts trying to decide what to call things in the fewest words possible without creating confusion. FWIW, I think "Buy this photo" and "Buy mulitple photos" is probably the right way to go about it this case.

But I can see how a first time visitor might think the "Buy multiple photos" link is there for them to buy several copies of "this photo" (as opposed to buying copies of not only "this photo", but other photos in "this gallery" as well). They can in fact buy serveral copies of "this photo" by simply hitting the "Buy this photo" link.

Longer (by 4 characters) "Buy this & other photos" is clear to me. But I'm biased, so kick it around or kick it out! (I'm OK with it, either way.)

swcolleen · July 1, 2008

brjphoto wrote:

Yeah, I like that better.

me four:)

jwalkeroh · July 2, 2008

I suggest:
a) keep the use of vertical space to a minimum as using up vertical space can cause the display of images to shrink, and I'd rather have larger images than larger buttons.
b) make the new buttons the same height as the Slideshow button to keep the style consistent.
c) keep the cart buttons on the same row where they already are.
d) don't allow the cart buttons and text to shrink so the customer always sees the same information. That's easier to document also. Here's a thread with more discussion:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=98150
e) keep the little cart icons around. I think most everyone recognizes a cart button/icon without words. Here's how I've incorporated it into my pages:
http://www.nikiwalkerphotography.com/gallery/4958232_STy9F#296857998_xd6Cp

Baldy · September 20, 2008

Okay, we tried to incorporate as much feedback as we could and have the next rev to present.

We've matched them with the upper buttons now both by making the buy button have the same look, and by abandoning pngs for the upper buttons and doing them with YUI, same as the buy and cart buttons.

Here's what the dark version look like:

And here's light:

Baldy · September 20, 2008

Here's an example of what they look like with themes:

Here are some customizations you can do:

http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/New+Buttons+September+2008

As for wording, we're still working on that. It seemed so obvious to say Buy this photo and Buy multiple photos, but people are not understanding that Buy multiple photos really means buy other photos from this gallery.

Hmmm...

We're actively putting these buttons through their paces on our test servers and jumping through IE6 hoops, etc. I'll post in the customization forum too that this change is coming soon. Any help you can provide to get the word out will be appreciated.

I know you won't be shy with questions & feedback!

jfriend · September 20, 2008

Baldy wrote:

Here's an example of what they look like with themes:

Here are some customizations you can do:

http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/New+Buttons+September+2008

As for wording, we're still working on that. It seemed so obvious to say Buy this photo and Buy multiple photos, but people are not understanding that Buy multiple photos really means buy other photos from this gallery.

Hmmm...

We're actively putting these buttons through their paces on our test servers and jumping through IE6 hoops, etc. I'll post in the customization forum too that this change is coming soon. Any help you can provide to get the word out will be appreciated.

I know you won't be shy with questions & feedback!

Thanks for the wiki and the PSD file. I have some of my own buttons in my customization that were carefully done to match your old ones. I will want to redo those to match the new YUI buttons when that hits. Do you know approx when we're going to see this live? Is it days, weeks, months from now?

Andy · September 20, 2008

jfriend wrote:

week

it's in hard-core testing now on our internal systems, as Baldy said. We want to get this out in our next release. that's hopefully in the next week or so but you never, ever know

Soon, I'd say, is a fairly good bet

Baldy · September 20, 2008

papajay wrote:

Software developers must go nuts trying to decide what to call things in the fewest words possible without creating confusion. FWIW, I think "Buy this photo" and "Buy mulitple photos" is probably the right way to go about it this case.)

We just changed to Buy "This photo" and "Photos in this gallery" on our test servers to see how that goes.

{JT} · September 22, 2008

Bump.

Pretty much down to no bugs stopping the new buttons from going out - anyone else have comments?

onethumb · September 22, 2008

{JT} wrote:

Bump.

Pretty much down to no bugs stopping the new buttons from going out - anyone else have comments?

ETA is this Thursday night. You never know with software, though...

savannahga · September 22, 2008

The "create a book" option, can that be turned off, I don't want anyone creating a book of my pics besides me. Or is that option only seen by me
when i'm logged in?

Andy · September 22, 2008

savannahga wrote:

The "create a book" option, can that be turned off, I don't want anyone creating a book of my pics besides me. Or is that option only seen by me
when i'm logged in?

Only you, logged in (as it is right now, too, in the Add To Cart interface )

sbressler · September 23, 2008

{JT} wrote:

Bump.

Pretty much down to no bugs stopping the new buttons from going out - anyone else have comments?

I think they look great and as I never really liked the wording as it is, I'm glad to see it changing - a definitely improvement in usability. Nice work guys!

NWMtnGuy · September 23, 2008

Thanks for all the hard work!

Dale

Andy · September 26, 2008

They're live!

RogersDA · September 26, 2008

Andy wrote:

They're live!

Cool - now to figure out how to move them so they show up correctly.

pilotdave · September 26, 2008

Andy wrote:

They're live!

I'm a little late, but I'd recommend holding off on the book and framing buttons until you guys actually offer those things. Right now, those buttons don't really do anything useful. I know my visitors don't see them. I would prefer not to as well. One day when they show up and actually open up a book creator or a framing designer, I'll be able to get excited.

Dave

Andy · September 26, 2008

pilotdave wrote:

I'm a little late, but I'd recommend holding off on the book and framing buttons until you guys actually offer those things. Right now, those buttons don't really do anything useful. I know my visitors don't see them. I would prefer not to as well. One day when they show up and actually open up a book creator or a framing designer, I'll be able to get excited.

Dave

Well, they work for you, as gallery owner - and lots are already using them - they've been active for months, just in a different view (in the cart)

pilotdave · September 27, 2008

Andy wrote:

Well, they work for you, as gallery owner - and lots are already using them - they've been active for months, just in a different view (in the cart)

As best as I can tell, the book button gives me information about blurb and a link to them. It has nothing to do with buying the photo below the Buy button or adding it to a photo book. I know blurb very well and have created a couple books (and sold a bunch of copies of each).

The mounting and framing button, at best, links me to fotoflot and enters my smugmug username in the login box. Again, nothing to do with the picture or gallery where I clicked the Buy button.

I'd expect a button that says "create a book" to lead me to a book creator, where that picture gets added to a book that I can buy. You just link me to someone else's site where i can start the process from scratch.

I'd expect a "mounting and framing" button to lead me to an option where i can choose to buy that picture mounted or framed. You just link me to someone else's site where i can start the process from scratch.

I understand that you have partnerships with these companies and want to advertise them. I just don't need an ad for companies that I already know about hiding under the buy button on every page of my site.

It's no big deal... just saying that I think you should save those buttons for when they have true meaning: When you have incorporated those features into smugmug.

Dave

Andy · September 27, 2008

pilotdave wrote:

It's no big deal... just saying that I think you should save those buttons for when they have true meaning: When you have incorporated those features into smugmug.

Dave

I think you are missing the point

They *are* incorporated. This is how we're selling mounting and framing; books. For now. One day you might find more and even cooler options

Another cart-related feature preview

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