Navigating this Site

Getting The Most From This Site

Why Smugmug ?

The underlying engine for this site is SmugMug. The reason I selected it is as my hosting site is due to the incredible power, flexibility, and features. I wished I could take credit for many of the nice features, but they’re there for any smugmug user. Check out all the features by clicking everything. There’s a lot of cool stuff here. The site itself is backed up by one of the best online user communities at Digital Grin. Much of the design, help, and actual coding assistance is available from the dgrin community. I couldn’t help but to mention that when you need technical support – the folks at smugmug are simply incredible. I’m sold on them…as you can tell.

The next major reason is the number of high-quality photographers who host on smugmug. Behind this site are many thousands of photographers who host their images. All of that content, along with their expertise is available to you as a user. Be sure to check-out the communities under either the “Advanced Search” or “Communities” links from the navigation menus. Enough of my free advertising…..Keep reading for the good stuff!

Navigation

The design of this site was for simplicity and speed. The menus at the top of each screen are designed to “fast path” you to where you want to go. For example, if you know the gallery you want to see, use the menus as they drop down to take you directly to it. As an alternative, you can click on the main categories, and the system will use more of the traditional “smugmug” method where individual galleries, then sub-galleries are displayed. Also for convenience, some of the image screens will show you the gallery paths where you can click up 1 level or 2 depending on where you want to go.

Subscriptions

One of the really nice features is the ability to subscribe to this site’s content via the feeds capability. This allows you to be notified anytime I add or change content – all without giving up your email address. Personally, I have a homepage setup through “my.yahoo.com” where all of the different sources I use regularly on the web feed content into. Pretty cool way of keeping up to speed without having to surf every site. Feeds are accessible in the “Quick Links” portion of the menu, or from the individual gallery and image pages. The difference is the link from the menus allow you to subscribe to the entire site, recent photos, or recent videos. The link available an For more information, click on the feeds link.

Ratings & Comments

On almost every image in my galleries, you’ll find the ability to rate them with a thumbs up or thumbs down rating scheme. Your thumbs up votes actually determines what images get populated on my “Voted Most Popular” gallery page. Add the ability to provide comments on every single image – and you’ve got a great learning tool for me along with the ability for you to provide your expertise or opinion for everyone to share. So please do take the time to tag what you like or dislike and let me know why with comments.

Searching The Site

There are 2 search options. At the top of each screen is a search bar where you can enter whatever text you want to, and have the site search for images that match. The 2nd option is located under the “Galleries Home” menu tab and is a more advanced search. This option will allow you to search based on your own keywords, or search based on keyword I’ve used to categorize each image. In addition, you search based on date ranges that an image was taken, review recent photographs I’ve uploaded, and also view communities that I subscribe to. Communities are a way of like-minded photographers to share common photographs for everyone to view. This keeps you from having to search every individual photographer or web.