Debbie Cleek Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Hi everyone - I just switched a setting on the backend that changed the look of the front page of the Gallery from "Traditional" to "Social". The forum software provider suggested we try this look because it includes a list of all the sub-galleries going down the right hand side, possibly making things easier to find in the gallery? I know I have my preference - but I'd like to know what you think? Does this make things easier to find or is it too much info, too busy, etc? Do you like one of the two looks better? Please leave me your thoughts in the next day or so. If we like this look better we might be able to make some modifications to it to make things look a little differently (like having the newest albums appear bigger for example). But I don't want to spend the time making it pretty if it's not really helping. Thanks for your thoughts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teecee Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Personally, I think I prefer the "Traditional" setting. I don't look for recent albums at all; I think it's just as easy to find the "most recent images" by using either of the methods explained in the tutorial: How to View the Latest Gallery Images. In addition to that, the most recent images are always in the photo strip on the main forum page. There are no gallery category thumbnails at all now. I think the gallery category thumbnails were clearly labeled before and though the categories list is there now, if I do want to search from a list, I find it just as easy to use the categories list from the Quick Navigation>Gallery button. Just my thoughts Debbie, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoky Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I think it looks pretty cool! It might just be me.... but if I were arranging it, I'd put the Recent Images section above the Recent Albums. I always look at the one, but not the other. I'd also put the Challenges and Crops and Events Galleries above everything else on the right side for easy access. Not that I don't check out the Design and Creative Team Galleries, etc., but I just put a wee bit higher priority on the galleries that I'm trying to find and upload to and leave comments in. I don't think I'm the only one who's been having trouble finding such and such gallery. Or maybe I am! Anyway, just my two cents. Thanks so much for all the effort you and Wendee and April have put into this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AggieB Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 This does look like it was a lot of work. I think I like it. I think the links down the side will be very helpful. Like Therese, I'd put the albums at the bottom, but that's a minor thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyladybug Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 IMHO, I really liked the traditional view--it was one of the things I really appreciated with the upgrade. The new "social" format seems overwhelming and fussy for me to look at, and I don't find that I want to browse the gallery in this format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimes1 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I think I would vote for the traditional view. I like the larger images in the categories. If we were to stay with social, I agree that putting the recent images above recent galleries would be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimes1 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Also may I add that when I look at the gallery I'm usually prompted more by the layout than the category it's in, so the list along the side isn't as exciting to me as the thumbnails of each category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-M Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I personally preferred the Traditional. I enjoyed the large images for taking you to the different galleries and found that easier than scrolling down a long list to find the right challenge gallery. Just wondering what is meant by "Recent Albums" as I can see mine there and it definitely is not recent. Thank you for trying to change things. But I am sure we all realise... you cannot always please everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westina Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 The Traditional view is my preference. I like seeing large Category thumbnails on the gallery homepage. I probably would not browse by member's individual albums as I prefer to look at layouts posted in the Category folders. I also like to View New Content to see the most recent images posted chronologically. Wish the thumbnails on that view were a little larger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnBK Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I definitely prefer the traditional one. I doubt I will ever browse the gallery if it stays this way. You asked, I answered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValerieT Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I prefer the traditional layout, however I can see that some parts of the social one will be good for some, e.g. the galleries list done the side. If you stay with the social one then like others have said it would be better with the recent images at the top and the recent albums under (or removed altogether). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie-Christine Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I also prefer the traditional layout. I like seeing the recent images and also feel that these would be better at the top and I don't think it would be necessary to have the recent albums as I personally don't look for images using recent albums. I think the galleries list should stay as I feel that I got used to it now and have started using this a lot more often. Hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy M Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 The Traditional view is my preference. I like seeing large Category thumbnails on the gallery homepage. I probably would not browse by member's individual albums as I prefer to look at layouts posted in the Category folders. I also like to View New Content to see the most recent images posted chronologically. Wish the thumbnails on that view were a little larger. Ditto, everything Tina said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elisha Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I like the traditional for the reasons previously stated. Thumbnails seem to small in the social view and the long list of categories makes for a lot of empty space when scrolling to the bottom to see recent comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatlady Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I like the traditional much better...easier to see and the last uploaded appears first, I like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorac Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I like the Traditional look and choose that. However, if the Social look is going to be kept I would make a couple of changes. 1) put the recent images on top with recent albums underneath, 2) take away the recent comments at the bottom. 3)take away the categories list along the right hand side. Either way, I love the larger thumbnails. I just want to say how much I appreciate everything that you gals have done to try and keep everyone happy. Unfortunately, not everyone will be happy with everything. So, majority rules. So say I. Went back and took another look at the category list along the side. Kind of like it now, but it is very long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariJ Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Thanks for trying this, Debbie! I have to agree that this version feels way too busy. I usually visit the gallery looking for a specific gallery to post a layout in. In this version, I have to scroll through that long list of designer & creative team names (which I rarely need) on the right to get to the posting galleries. And right now there are NO visual or thumbnails for any of the posting galleries. The only thumbnails are for member galleries and recent images and I don't think either are necessary, especially if it means having none for the challenge/posting galleries. I think it was better before when there were large photos/thumbnails for each gallery category. My only issue with that version was that it was too streamlined from the original one, so I had to go into those few categories to find what was inside. I'd love to see the previous version with the larger thumbnails for each gallery category, but with listings/links for what was inside each one included under the thumbnail, making it easiest to find where to post a layout -- without having to click INTO that gallery. Thanks as always for listening! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AggieB Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Can I say that I really like the list on the side, although maybe it is a little big. I always found it hard to find a gallery to post a layout in in the old format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Becster Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I expected not to like it, but I kinda do! However, I know change is hard and since there have been so many other changes for folks to deal with maybe we should leave well enough alone for a while and stick to 'traditional'. It's too bad we can't have a choice (as in "click here for traditional' or 'click here for modern') as to how we wish to view the gallery, you know? But having run web sites myself, I know what goes into trying to set something like that up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhbren Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I also like the traditional arrangement better. I can see the use of the list - it might make finding a particular sub gallery more efficient, but I had little trouble finding what I needed with the larger gallery categories, and I much prefer the larger images. Marilyn's suggestion seems helpful, if it's possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferZ Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I prefer the Traditional, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SodScrap Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Debbie- I LOVE that you ask for our thoughts and opinions!!! Thank you for including us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgb Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Along the side, could Expand/Collapse arrows be added to the Categories listing like File Browsers have? That way the list wouldn't be so long. Also, reoder the list like peole have suggested with Challenges and Crops on top. (The more active categories). In the Traditional View, it makes sense to me to have the recent items on top then the other categories at the bottom. Thanks for making the images bigger in the Recent Gallery Images strip in the Forum!! Thanks for letting us give input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyndals Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Thanks for asking, Debbie. I vote for the traditional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie Cleek Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 Ok - It sounds like overall the preference is for the Traditional view. If we can find a way to make a hybrid of the two, where we have the traditional view with the addition of the sub-galley list along the side we will. Thanks for looking and for giving me your thoughts, I will go ahead and set if back to "Traditional" for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teecee Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Thanks for your help with this and all the hard work you do Debbie! Scrap Girls is the Bestest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-M Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Thanks Debbie and those helping behind the scenes. I do prefer the traditional and I find that the names on each album tells us what is in each... like all the challenges are in the challenge section. I am guessing that is the most used section for all the normal members and possibly the weekly/monthly which we hopefully all know is where to share layouts created for a chat challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.