PN2.0-A non-photo-oriented revision?

I've now had a few hours to explore the new PN. Mind you, I'm sure I haven't covered everything and I'm not saying any of what I'm observing was intentional on the part of the new site designers and conceivers. But it's my reaction to what's been done.

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I just discovered all the alerts I can create on the forum side of the site. These make things very convenient. They keep me very fully aware of what's going on in threads I'm interested in. I can be notified when a thread I've responded to gets a further response from someone, when a thread I started is engaged with, even down to specifically requesting an alert when an image is posted to a thread I'm following. THANKS! This truly gives me a way to stay engaged and aware almost minute by minute with what's going on in the threads I'm involved with. It's very community-minded.

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I have found NOTHING similar to this with regard to photos. Can I get an alert when someone makes a comment on a photo I've commented on, when someone I follow uploads a new photo or makes a comment on another's photo. We used to have historical lists of comments and followup comments which we could search and use to remind us of our own and other's comments. While alerts would be helpful, nothing can replace these valuable lists. It's curious that the same level of community engagement hasn't been given to the photo side of the site as to the forum side of the site.

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I understand that some people don't like the rigid text boxes in the new forums or the prominence of the avatars. I happen to agree but I can sort of grasp that others might like this and perhaps the rigid text boxes are a function of software that simply has to be lived with. But overall, I think the forums work pretty well visually.

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On the other hand, the photo side of the site, our galleries and portfolios, couldn't be uglier and messier and more distracting to look at. Yes, I like the darker background. It's more conducive to photo viewing, though I'd prefer it to have been a medium gray as opposed to blue. But the gallery introduction page, with the bubble photo hogging up all the energy, is just awful to look at. And, when I look at individual photos, I feel I have to work hard (and it's virtually impossible) to ignore all the colored boxes, buttons, links, and general garbage that accompanies the photo. The photo should be the thing. It should be much more isolated within the PN page it's on.

Hmm. I hadn't really looked at galleries (I'm mostly a forum person). While it's fairly muted, any form of coloured background will affect the eye's colour adaptation when viewing an image - this is why every photo editing package has a grey colour scheme. That feels like a rookie error, and one that I hope can be fixed when the rest of the issues are cleaned up.

 

I really want to be behind the dev team, but I'm a little concerned that we're a week in and I still can't see what I'm writing because "write your reply" is on top of it, and most of the interface on the mobile site still doesn't work. If everything's not going to get fixed quickly, it would be great to have some information about what's in progress. Good luck to them, anyway.

Fred - I think many of us are at the point of exhaustion and eventual resignation. I agree with you about the split between forum side and picture side. There may be some minor quibbles on the forum side but I think in general it works pretty well and may even be an improvement. The picture side is an unmitigated disaster: slow, full of bugs and doesn't at all fit the needs of those of us who frequently post pictures and comment. Navigating through folders is a nightmare. I have 142 folders in my portfolio (of which I can presently view the contents of about 6.) Even if I could access the pictures in those portfolios, scrolling through all the folders to find the one I want is ridiculous. Strangely enough, there is a drop down menu on your portfolio page that allows you to get to a single folder effortlessly; it's located in the menu at the left under photos>gallery photo sort. There's a green box there that when selected lists all your galleries. But from this location you can only change the order of the photos in a particular folder, you can't actually access the folder itself or the pictures within. It's very odd that there isn't a similar list in the Galleries option where it would be very useful and save an awful lot of time and scrolling. This is one problem. There are many, many others..

This site might be messy, but it can also be smart: it has put by itself

the category "underwater" on this photo:

https://www.photo.net/photo/17859022/try-me-345

By the way, how can we refet to a photo beside with its URL?

I've now had a few hours to explore the new PN. Mind you, I'm sure I haven't covered everything and I'm not saying any of what I'm observing was intentional on the part of the new site designers and conceivers. But it's my reaction to what's been done.

<br><br>

I just discovered all the alerts I can create on the forum side of the site. These make things very convenient. They keep me very fully aware of what's going on in threads I'm interested in. I can be notified when a thread I've responded to gets a further response from someone, when a thread I started is engaged with, even down to specifically requesting an alert when an image is posted to a thread I'm following. THANKS! This truly gives me a way to stay engaged and aware almost minute by minute with what's going on in the threads I'm involved with. It's very community-minded.

<br><br>

I have found NOTHING similar to this with regard to photos. Can I get an alert when someone makes a comment on a photo I've commented on, when someone I follow uploads a new photo or makes a comment on another's photo. We used to have historical lists of comments and followup comments which we could search and use to remind us of our own and other's comments. While alerts would be helpful, nothing can replace these valuable lists. It's curious that the same level of community engagement hasn't been given to the photo side of the site as to the forum side of the site.

<br><br>

I understand that some people don't like the rigid text boxes in the new forums or the prominence of the avatars. I happen to agree but I can sort of grasp that others might like this and perhaps the rigid text boxes are a function of software that simply has to be lived with. But overall, I think the forums work pretty well visually.

<br><br>

On the other hand, the photo side of the site, our galleries and portfolios, couldn't be uglier and messier and more distracting to look at. Yes, I like the darker background. It's more conducive to photo viewing, though I'd prefer it to have been a medium gray as opposed to blue. But the gallery introduction page, with the bubble photo hogging up all the energy, is just awful to look at. And, when I look at individual photos, I feel I have to work hard (and it's virtually impossible) to ignore all the colored boxes, buttons, links, and general garbage that accompanies the photo. The photo should be the thing. It should be much more isolated within the PN page it's on.

 

Regarding the Bubbles in your Member Center: You can change it. Step 1: Go to a photo within Portfolio and pick a photo you'd like for your back drop. Go to menu on photo and pick "set cover photo". This will also be what visitors see when they visit your profile page.

May be a bit of a bug there...I followed the directions to get rid of the bubbles (twice), and each time I thought I was successful, but each time I left and reentered, the replacement image hadn't stuck. Now instead of the bubbles I just have gray. Not a big deal for me, but I thought I'd let you know. (Google chrome, Windows 10)

I agree, photo.net seems to turn more into a "push editorial content.net" site. That starts at the home page, which used to be community and image centered, now wastes its prime real estate on a stock-photo and low-quality articles from photo.net editorial staff. I could go into more details (I did in an earlier draft), but after trying out the new site for a few days left me tired and not all that interested in it any longer.

 

btw. The way to undo the ugly Christmas lights in my profile is about as straightforward as "finding the light switch in your new car - without a manual", right Glen?

 

At least the hacked post on the front page is gone, but now you seem to have issues with your security certificates... :-(

May be a bit of a bug there...I followed the directions to get rid of the bubbles (twice), and each time I thought I was successful, but each time I left and reentered, the replacement image hadn't stuck. Now instead of the bubbles I just have gray.

Same here on google chrome, but at least those bubbles are gone. Seems the cover photo stuck in firefox though. No idea what that banner is supposed to accomplish anyway. Flickr did the same thing a while back; don't see much relevance in it there either. Probably what designers nowadays consider "modern look" which is why everyone has to have it now. <br><br>I don't upload my images larger enough so that an upsize is needed for that cover image; it then looks rather blurry. Don't even know what the maximum size image is I can upload here; I was under the impression that 1600 pixels is the limit? <br><br> What actually happens when I "admire" a photo?

Edited February 11, 2017 by Dieter Schaefer

Leslie, I had the same issue. I went from colorful bubbles to a gray background. Probably better that way.

i've managed to change the background (safari, ios10, iphone)

What actually happens when I "admire" a photo?

Good question. I just went into your portfolio (nice cover photo there now!) and admired one of the pelican photos--did that show up on an alert for you?

I went from colorful bubbles to a gray background

I just checked your portfolio--I can see a really nice b&w of clouds; but I still can't see anything in mine. Maybe the changes are visible to everyone but the person who made them?

I manged to change the ugly bokeh to one of my own photos in firefox on a mac but that was a couple of days back. Some days the new car drives itself and other days I can't get it out of the driveway.

did that show up on an alert for you?

Nope. Can't find any indication of you having admired an image of mine. Though there is a tab "Admires" on the Profile page; maybe some behind the scenes counting and the display will show the most admired image first? There is no entry though when the time frame is set to "last 24 hours". Like so many things, that feature doesn't seem to work yet. <br><br> I just admired the image that you have selected as your cover photo - which to me is visible in firefox and chrome. Mine now also showed up in the chrome browser.<br><br>Also "faved" one of your images, doesn't seem to show up under my Favorite Photos yet though (can't tell, the aperture has been spinning for a while now). It's there now, when I get to that page a different way.<br><br>Those looking for comments they made on images in the past may want to click on the "comments" entry on their profile page. Gives me all the images I have commented on, with the comment visible without actually having to go to the image directly.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Dieter Schaefer

Dieter - I tried what you suggested above. I am a rather serial commenter (over 21,000 comments - actually the total was closer to 35,000 but somehow 14,000 comments must have "been disappeared". The comments don't seem to be in chronological order and also include the mandatory comments that you had to make whenever you posted one of your pictures to the Critique Only forum. It does not take the place, in my opinion, of a simple listing of comments made which was much easier to use. The same goes for comments received on one's pictures and follow up comments. In all three cases, lists were easier to search and finding individual or new comments far less time consuming.

Jack, I was just glad to have found any. I am not certain but feel that my number also had been higher on the old site. I have not done much commenting in recent years, so maybe there was a cutoff date and comments made before that date have not made it to PN 2.0. I recall that there were lists on the old site but it has been ages since I had looked for some old comments I'd made. <br><br> I have, however, made some 5000 forum contributions and shudder at the thought that to retrieve a particular one, I have to load them 10 pages at a time! Progress seems to consist of making things harder, not easier.

It's all a bit like trying to solve a puzzle...

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Thanks, Dieter - I do see the new image now on my profile page, which is a relief, but not on my portfolio page. I don't see any indication of an "admire" associated with the moss photo, but I do see two heart-thingies under the Storm Waves photo--maybe that means it was faved. And thanks very much for the info on the Comments button! Like Jack says, it's not perfect, but I think it's a whole lot better than nothing. I'd been misled when I'd explored it before since I hadn't realized that the introductory statement for the critique forum was counted as a comment, so I'd assumed that it was a list of comments on my own photos rather than comments I'd made.

 

<br><br>I still haven't found a way to be notified of comments others make on my photos that are not in the critique forum--they show up under the photo, but if you don't know it's there, you don't look for it. Comments for one's own photos submitted to the critique forum do show up under the Critique button, but most the comments on my photos weren't on photos that went through critique. Anyone found any clues for that?

I just checked your portfolio--I can see a really nice b&w of clouds; but I still can't see anything in mine. Maybe the changes are visible to everyone but the person who made them?

Funny enough, now a few hours later I can see the changes on my site too. Maybe it just takes forever.

Thanks, Glenn. I appreciate that and will try it. Do you have any response to the main part of my post, though? I'm fearful that PN as I knew and used it is now gone forever. Not just the look . . . that I can get past and might even get used to. But the functionality that enabled me to interconnect with fellow photographers' photographs in an individualized and personalized way, a way that allowed me to stay in touch not only with the community as a whole but with individuals and their photos and their comments on photos. A site that used to enable me to have an ongoing conversation with various individuals about specific photos back and forth. Please read the rest of my post and let me know if you understand what has been lost in this redesign and whether it's possible to recreate some of that in this new version. If not, fair enough. But a bunch of us would like to know just how significantly the site as we know it is gone. Thanks.