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Saturday 26 January 2008

Unusable Flickr?

Is it me, or is Flickr's UI crap? More specifically: how do you navigate to view all pics in a set?
I have a Profoss set, and when looking at the first picture, how do I go to the next one? Is this mini-thumbnail lying silently and unnoticed on the right, the only way? What's more, this couple of thumbnail is certainly not intuitive: the left pic is the previous pic to the one displayed on the page, and the right one is the next. So when you go to the next picture, the one that was displayed goes the the left thumbnail, and the right thumbnail shows the new next picture. Let me tell you this is not intuitive, and certainly not for novice users.

And what if I want go to the 10th pic?

Compare this with Smugmug's interface, and you'll understand why people a ready to pay twice the price than what Flickr asks for their Pro account.
With Smumug, you get:
  • rapid access to pictures, not only to the next one
  • a layout adapting at the size of your browser window, showing the current picture in a bigger size when you maximise your window
Here's the gallery for my temporary account, which could become obsolete if I don't subscribe within 14 days.

Maybe Flickr's tools are more advanced (picture editor, stats), but what's the point if their interface is unusable for people not used to Flickr?

I'll keep using the free Flickr for now, but if I have to pay, I think I'll switch to Smugmug.

Any better suggestion?

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