apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Looks good to me!

Oooh, pretty! Much better with the ad bar off to the side. I like that I can change the size of pics and the hide/unhide thumbnails is good too. BIG improvement. The slideshow didn't advance automatically for me though, is it supposed to?

Looking good - I like having the thumbnails on the bottom.

is there a way to make the borders smaller on the images? seems discracting. I know we have to have ads or this wouldn't be free... but ugh! I wish the whole space could be more designed like the rest of the site??! no?

Doesn't fit on the screen. No slideshow option?

i miss being able to use my keyboard to go to the next picture.

I think it's ok, it's clearer than before. The only thing is the background colour and the picture's frame: I would use any other color than grey and I would do a thiner frame...you asked for my advice!

I'm just happy it works for me!

I agree on the thinner border and different background color- I like the way the pictures popped off the black of the old site. It works for me though which I like.

It's better than it was.

is there a way to set it up so that when you click back on your browser, you go to the last page you were on, instead of paging back through 20 photos?

First, THANK YOU for doing somethign to improve the current slideshow method. I have been having a lot of trouble with it.


Comments: it would be great if it would all fit on one screen w/out any scrolling.
The "show thumbnails" feature (on my computer anyway) shows all the thumbnails for 5-ish seconds and then they all disappear again. Something is amiss.

So much better! I love the links at the top to the other sites, and the more subtle link to the original post. I maxed it out and the entire picture fit on my browser (however, I'm running the max resolution on my screen). I'm curious where captions would go (on the side would be great, so I don't have to scroll down or make the pictures smaller!), but people rarely caption their photos anyway (although I wish they would--I like having the details paired with the photos instead of in a dense paragraph on a separate page). I'm also glad it *doesn't* go straight to slideshow! I'm not a big fan of slideshows, especially because I often open the photos in a new tab and finish reading the post first. Thanks for updating the gallery!

Great! I couldn't get the pictures to come up consistently on the previous gallery. All the pictures were there and they showed up!!! I am so happy (now that I can see them on my computer at work - Oh!).

If you want to spiff up the background color and borders that would be fine. I am just soooo happy to have the pictures really show up.

This is a small thing but is there any way to make the thumbnail row along the bottom static, regardless of the orientation (portrait or landscape) of the photo you're looking at? It would be a lot nicer if everything didn't bounce around when switching between thumbnails. Also, I miss the old black background. Ad placement on the side is appreciated.

i wish i could get the next/last photo by using my arrow keys...that's pretty standard, no?

also, i do wish there was a slideshow option.

but, at least the ads are where they're supposed to be!

I'm with peaceyall -is there any better way to get back to the original post after looking at the photos?

Way way better.

I second the not fitting on screen and no slideshow option.

I'd rather see the thumbnails on top, so they don't keep fluctuating vertically.

I really like using the arrow key to go forward, I hope you can incorporate that.

Looks great..much faster.

ha... finally we can watch and enjoy the house tours again, thnx! major improvement.

and having already been labeled as ' lazy' in sc2008, well... and automated slide show would be even nicer... haha.

great job though, looks slick, and if you could get rid of that obituary border, even better ;-)

I don't like the white bar on the top with the grey, but I like the grey because a neutral color in the backround is better to look at photos, it doesn't distract... I don't know if it's me but the photos are a bit over the top white bar and it's not pretty... the photos should fit the screen, I agree. and also the keyboard option to move is much better. I also would like to be able to have the choice between the slide show and the manual one...
thanks for your work!

Huge improvement! However, I have to scroll down the screen to see each and every photo, which makes me less likely to actually view the entire set of photos. Also, the vertical ad bar to the left overlaps some of the photos.

As others have mentioned, it's a relief not to have to deal with an automatic slideshow. I always prefer to see a set of thumbnails and then choose which to view and when. Much better, thanks!

This is quite nice. Just two things, echoing some other comments:

1. It would be nice if the thumbnails didn't jump around.

2. When the image is in portrait orientation, I have to scroll down a teeny bit on my monitor (at high resolution), and I'd rather not have to do that.

Gallery is the WORST program to use in the world of web 2.0!!! Get with the program guys -- you're a DESIGN blog afterall!

yes!yes!!YES!!!

Seems very disjointed visually from the rest of the site. It's making the graphic designer in me cringe a bit. It seems to take longer to load on my computer than it used to when the background was black, but that could be an isolated thing. I really liked the automatic slideshows from before. I must be really lazy, because since you've disabled the slideshows a month or two ago I don't even look at the housetours anymore, which is one of my favorite parts. I missed the captions for the photos too, as it gave me a tiny bit of background on each image. Thanks for listening!

Certainly an improvement. But not there yet :)

Consider AJAX technology to eliminate the screen refresh and improve your use of screen real estate. It would enhance the user experience, usability, and you might actually make more space for banner impressions.

Good luck!

It seems to work fine, no problems here :)
But I, too, liked to change from one photo to the next with my arrow keys.

One thing I liked about the old version that I don't see here is the total number of pictures in the gallery. I liked knowing how far I had yet to click and whether it was worth it to click to the end. Can we bring that back?

An excellent Gallery Program, and it was easy to move from one picture to the next. Thanks and keep up the outstanding work.

Not bad, but I prefer the picture not overlaying the AT bar up top. It's a bit distracting. The borders are also a bit too thick. Lastly, I think if AT is going to be in the middle, change the main bar on all of the webpages as well to coordinate and streamline the new design.

Looks better! I understand ads are a huge part of what keeps AT going, and they're much better on the side than the top.

Before, I really liked being able to use my arrow keys to navigate so that's a little bummer.

Echoing everyone's comments, the gallery and the main page are still not cohesive. Bringing some of the elements from the main site would help a lot (dotted border...same top nav...white bg...)

When I look at the horizontal pictures, the ad on the left side of the screen overlaps the picture a bit.

I don't like the numbers in the thumbnail boxes, but it's not a big deal.

a huge improvement!
but:
1. it didn't show any captions, where will those live?
2. maybe make the thumbnails smaller
3. what size screen are you designing for?

hrmm. this gallery is better but it looks jumbly, not in line with the rest of the site's streamlined design. the big borders are distracting. is there a way to view the pictures in the original post, so you don't have to click back 30 times to get back where you were?

I love the grey background, it's great for viewing pictures and easy on the eyes.

I agree with peaceyall, you need to be able to just hit the back button to get back to your last page before the slides. Other than that, it looks pretty good!

the links at the top to go back to the main site don't show up in my browser properly...I sort of stumbled onto them

The thumbnails don't come up for me. I also like to know how many slides there are .. otherwise its good. I do like a black background.

MUCH BETTER!

I do wish, though, that it had been designed to match the rest of the site. Is there a reason for the inconsistency of style?

much better, but i really miss the no-hands slide show option.

Photo 19 is upside-down.

Would like to see something like "19 of 40" so I know how many pictures I've seen and how many more to expect.

Like the option to show or hide thumbnails.

i enjoy how you've provided a link that takes the viewer back to the original post. pressing "back" thousands of times was rather tedious. i would change the color scheme, perhaps a cream background? something a bit warmer than gray definitely! this website is too happy for gray.

Awesome. My only thought is that it would be nice to see how many photos there are total during the slideshow (i.e. 6/35) so you know if you want to finish it or not.

I agree with many of the other comments- much more simple for me. I love the links to the various at sites at the top. Thanks for the improvement!

Yeaaa... so excited to be able to see all of the pictures! It's been really frustrating lately. Thanks!

not being able to use the arrow keys anymore to progress through the photos is a real bummer. also, at the start of each show, it appears that there are only three photos in the show until you start moving through them; it's not clear how many photos there actually are unless you click to show thumbnails. maybe bring back the '1 of 38 photos' feature? all else looks good!

Perfect except no keyboard scrolling through pictures

I very much appreciate not having to scroll up or down in order to advance the pictures or view the results.
Refreshing.

looks great on my screen. love the layout, thumbnails and controls. very nice!

I give it an A just because I finally can see something on IE!

I'm not sure what people mean by no arrows, because I see arrows and am arrowing through the pix.

One comment: I can only see what number picture I'm on in the slideshow, but can't see what the total number in the slideshow is - that would be very helpful to know.

Better than before, but even at the smallest resolution it doesn't quite fit on my MacBook screen. It's kind of annoying to have to scroll down to see the thumbnails at the bottom of the screen.

I prefer to see thumnails of ALL photos at once rather than just 5 and I dislike them at the top since this shoves the full size image down so I need to scroll. Along the side as in the past is much better.

I got to see ALL the pictures for the first time since the last switch--hooray!

PLEASE keep the arrow key functionality! I'd definitely miss that if it was gone.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Much better! Only gripe for me is that the "next" button moves around if you move from a picture with caption to a picture without caption (or vice versa). That means I have to move the mouse, rather than just click to the next picture.

720x540 option photos (on Julie & Andrew's House Tour) aren't centered on under the white nav bar.
On the Austin House Tour I noticed that the photo sizes varied (not just portrait vs. landscape). Some sort of standard would make for nice, uniform galleries. :)
Other than that, looks great!

I looked at it on Firefox 2.0.0.14 (Mac OS X 10.4.11) and Safari 3.1.2 (Mac OS X 10.5.4)

I like having all the thumbnails and the enlarged version on the same page - saves a lot of clicking back and forth. I agree with the few comments up about having the thumbnails along the side - would make for easier navigation.

I don't know if it's my computer, but the pictures are loading slower than in the old version...

It would be more user friendly if you were able to see how many pictures are in the gallery (4 of 23). And also being able to get directly back to the original post is key.

Fits fine on my screen and loads way faster than before. I like the new look although I agree the borders on the thumbnails seem a tad large. I like it :)

From a design POV, The colors do not match the rest of your site. The ad placement on the left is very distracting and repels me rather than entices me to select a placement. Otherwise sparse and uninspiring.

Back-end I would tidy up the code, external link your javascript. I think there are better 2.0 Ajax solutions available then the method you have chosen to display you slideshow.

I give it a C

Ed

Much better than before (using IE at the office - where I always had troubles before)

Thanks for the fix!

I don't usually do the slideshow, I like to click at my own pace... one of the reasons I often put house tours off until later and pretty much miss them altogether, but I don't want to be in a hurry. I think the interface was about the same, but I prefer the new graphics look. I didn't need the numbered thumbnails. I didn't notice anything about sizing, but one thing I hated was the scrolling. Maybe I should try another one before I say the old ones were kind of better. I wish the thumbnails were on the side. I like to know how many there are before I go, but I don't need that numbering system you picked at all.

I'm trying another one - hiding the thumbnails at the top makes a HUGE improvement. Putting them on the side if you could (and still optionally), would be better. There should be some indication how many slides are in total, it only tells you which one you are on. I still don't like hiding the thumbnail of the slide you're viewing; it's "fancy" but not clever. Inside the slideshow, I do not see a link back to the article itself. Forcing the viewer to finish an unknown amount of slides before they can return to read or make comments is like putting a fish in an Aalto vase.

Big improvement over the interim gallery. That being said, I miss the arrow key functionality and the option to have an automatic slideshow (of varying speeds like they have on flickr).

I admit to being lazy but I'm already moving and clicking the mouse at work a million times a day, it would be nice to just be able to sit back and watch. Also less chance of developing RSI.

I think this is a great improvement over the current feature.

I really liked the following:
*having the tour navigation, thumbnail on/off, and image size all available on one line - they are easy to see and easy to understand in this location
*having the return navigation to various AT sites at the top
*gallery at the bottom with an indication of where you are in the set

The following aspects kind of bothered me:
*the main picture didn't fit on the screen
*I think I preferred the ad banner on the right rather than on the left
*not crazy about the shade of gray for a background color. I preferred the black background best of all - the colors in the images really popped for me with a black background and I found it easier to see the image

I didn't try the slideshow.

Same as others have said:

1. the border around the pics is ugly
2. I would like to use the keyboad to advance (Flickr-like)
3. automatic slideshow OPTION would be nice, but I'd like it to be something you can click on, manual usually works best, but SOMETIMES...

This is a LOT better than the most recent one, although I've never had serious problems with any of them, in the most recent one the ads sometimes overlapped the photos (Mac Firefox).

Ha! The new one doesn't have a "back to the post"-button? That's essential!

Oh, SO much better on a tiny laptop....awesome.

It no longer advances using the arrow keys, though, which I liked. I'm on Firefox v3 on a Mac.

Looks pretty good. Would be great to have photos numbered when viewing only the pics sans thumbnails. That way at "7 of 26" I'd be able to gauge how much longer I could drool over each shot. On my pc now, will check it out on the mac to see if there is a difference. Aesthetically, seems rather clean to me but as with all slideshow type presentations, it is annoying when you have to scroll to see the full image. LOVE that you solicit opinions and suggestions on stuff like this!!

Love it.

Especially the fact that the thumbnails at the bottom are a bit larger so that you can see what the next photo is supposed to look like. On the previous gallery often it would be blank or very hard to determine what was coming/if it was over.

The style of the new gallery is also more put together, like what you would expect a design centric blog to be. Way to go AT!

I feel as if the layout was designed for my grandmother. With the numbered thumbnails and the borders it's as if it's screaming "THIS IS THE PICTURE HERE GRAM, NOW HIT THIS TO GO TO THE NEXT PICTURE...NO THAT, YEAH BESIDE THE NUMBER."

I'm also still doing a lot of scrolling (although at least I can view the images again). If any captions are provided with the images, where is the room for them??

If AT can design their home sites well, there must be a better solution than this angelfire template!

Bug found- When I click on thumbnails, they appear, then disappear. ie6.0 on windows XP.

I hate that I have to scroll down to view the whole photo, even for the landscape ones.

The heavy borders seem a little over the top. Okay, a lot over the top. Especially when it is a light-filled delicate room photo!

I agree with others, the look doesn't match the main site too well. Are you using a different designer for it??

If you are overhauling the gallery- I have always wished there were keywords associated with the photos, so I can view all the photos for, say, kitchens across all house tours! That would be incredible! If it is too hard to add keywords to all the photos, maybe you could add a function so that users can add labels to the photos.

Much better, but seemed much slower to use. Ended up just going to thumbnail view since each page took too long to load.

I missed this post and I've been wondering what was up!

First, this is not working for me at all. I don't really have a problem with the format, but the pics aren't loading for me. I click the slideshow link, and it might show the first pic then I click the next but can't see any of them.

Also, when I click the Show Thumbnails option, it shows them really click, then they disappear.

I've basically just given up trying to see any slideshows on this site which really sucks. I actually preferred the way it was before.

very SLOW...

I find the navigation method very frustrating, and the small thumbnails too small. I prefer slideshows like SimpleImageGallery that are fast and easy to navigate.