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Hey there, CEO & Chief Geek at SmugMug here. Seems like we do all of those things with the exception of always-on-HTTPS (which we're actively working on as I t

Hey there, CEO & Chief Geek at SmugMug here. Seems like we do all of those things with the exception of always-on-HTTPS (which we're actively working on as I type this). You sound like exactly our target customer, so if you've got some time, I'd love to understand what these things are. I'm sure there are nuances here that I'm missing or not fully understanding. Thanks!

jwr 11y ago
I don't think I am your target customer. Or perhaps you think I am, but it certainly doesn't show in your product. I just checked and here's what I wrote to you in our support discussion from 2013 (when you introduced Sharegroups, which I thought would solve my problem): > "I'm not sure you thought this out — I can't be expected to manually add every new gallery to the sharegroup (which is not an easy process if you have >50 galleries), and then rearrange them manually (something I already did within my folder anyway) using the old interface." There are a number of problems with SmugMug. The most important one is the amount of work I have to do to add each new event (gallery). I had to fight the category system (I don't even want categories), remember presets (will that one work?), manually rearrange galleries, and perform a number of other chores. And there were minor annoyances, such as that at the end of it all, SmugMug still insisted on placing "Powered by SmugMug" branding on my pages. For comparison, so that you understand, these are the steps I have to take right now (with my software), starting from a folder full of images exported from Aperture/Lightroom: * run a script that converts/resizes/prepares images, * upload the whole resulting directory to my server. That's it. There is nothing more to do. Galleries get sorted automatically, date ranges are automatic, featured photo is chosen either randomly or based on a "featured" keyword. Galleries are named after directories by default. Galleries are reverse-sorted by date. There are no categories. Family and friends can log in, view pictures, search galleries. Oh, and it also supports retina images, and works very well on mobile devices. I think if you want to address use cases like mine, you have to realize that those photos are not the center of our lives, they are just a tiny part of life. I am not a pro photographer obsessing over how I want to categorize my galleries and how I will sell my pictures. I want to spend the absolute minimum of time dealing with placing them online.

jwr 11y ago

I don't think I am your target customer. Or perhaps you think I am, but it certainly doesn't show in your product. I just checked and here's what I wrote to you in our support discussion from 2013 (when you introduced Sharegroups, which I thought would solve my problem): > "I'm not sure you thought this out — I can't be expected to manually add every new gallery to the sharegroup (which is not an easy process if you have >50 galleries), and then rearrange them manually (something I already did within my folder anyway) using the old interface." There are a number of problems with SmugMug. The most important one is the amount of work I have to do to add each new event (gallery). I had to fight the category system (I don't even want categories), remember presets (will that one work?), manually rearrange galleries, and perform a number of other chores. And there were minor annoyances, such as that at the end of it all, SmugMug still insisted on placing "Powered by SmugMug" branding on my pages. For comparison, so that you understand, these are the steps I have to take right now (with my software), starting from a folder full of images exported from Aperture/Lightroom: * run a script that converts/resizes/prepares images, * upload the whole resulting directory to my server. That's it. There is nothing more to do. Galleries get sorted automatically, date ranges are automatic, featured photo is chosen either randomly or based on a "featured" keyword. Galleries are named after directories by default. Galleries are reverse-sorted by date. There are no categories. Family and friends can log in, view pictures, search galleries. Oh, and it also supports retina images, and works very well on mobile devices. I think if you want to address use cases like mine, you have to realize that those photos are not the center of our lives, they are just a tiny part of life. I am not a pro photographer obsessing over how I want to categorize my galleries and how I will sell my pictures. I want to spend the absolute minimum of time dealing with placing them online.