Originally posted by dcshooter The last two interface redesigns at Flickr have added a ton of clutter, and it's funny, since they were obviously intended to produce the "clean," "tablet-like" experience that is so popular among webdevs/designers these days. It also adds a ton of overhead with correspondingly longer loading times. (500px is absolutely horrible in this regard, too).
The funny thing is, the old Flickr interface, while aging, was much better - the image was displayed at the top of an uncluttered page with lots of whitespace, and could be easily re-sized as the user saw fit, while meta-info was separated at the bottom of the screen and could be simply reached by scrolling down. But now that scrolling has apparently become anathema, everything is crammed in one page, and other image sizes are hidden behind a hard-to-find popout that takes you to a page that is pretty much identical to the original multi-size page!
A lot of Flickr users have been complaining about the updates, and while some problems have been fixed to one extent or another (groups are useable again, single imag eview is somewhat better), things are still a hodgepodge, and its simply not as easy to use any more. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has said that she wants Flickr to go more in the direction of a social media site than a photographer's site, but right now, it's stuck in limbo between them and is frankly doing worse at both.
I couldn't agree more. It wasn't until flickr started making major changes to their interface that I began to fantasize about something different. Then when I finally decided that I was going to go on this crazy journey of building something myself did I realize that the possibilities are endless--I can literally build in any features that I or other users want.
So I guess a follow-up question would be "what is the most important thing for you in a photo exploration site?" For me, it's an intelligent interface, an emphasis on connecting people who take the photographs (groups, discussions, comments), and a bit of room to let photos breathe.
---------- Post added 11-24-14 at 06:34 PM ----------
Originally posted by Miguel I think Smugmug and Zenfolio should meet the needs of most folks, especially those who don't mind paying some money to gain benefits. These are photographer-centric sites and have been around long enough to have solved most of the problems with online galleries that their tens of thousands of customers have identified. They are customizable to a fair degree as well.
I have never liked Flickr's interface and the associated social photography culture.
Thanks for this. The smugmug/zenfolio route is not what I am trying to do here... Those fall into the category of "totally unconnected gallery sites," and what I'm most interested in is the interconnectivity of content. I guess I'm after more social/discover-something-new users.
Originally posted by 6BQ5 Moving over to another site would require me to either migrate everything over or run two systems. That's more work than I want to do. So, not in a bad way or anything, I will stick with Flickr while it works.
I'm sure there are other users who feel the same way. It will definitely be a challenge to figure out how to get people to try something new.
Originally posted by flaviopetrone I think that you could find interesting 1x.com .
Thanks for the tip. I hadn't used that one before, though I think I have visited it for other purposes. Any other sites you use regularly that haven't been mentioned?