We've launched a number of changes to Photoblog, and the biggest one is the single column design for photoblog entries.

The single column design helps to simplify photoblogs, making it easier to build upon in the future. We've focused on making everything neat and orderly. Profile pictures in comments are now standard squares instead of irregular sizes.

Comments and commenting now appears on the front page of blogs. Clicking through to the entry page is no longer needed.

Previously, when you were browsing an individual entry page. Most of the archival options (e.g. latest entries, month links, categories) were hidden by default, and had to be expanded by clicking a link. These have now been moved permanently to an "Archives" link under the username that expands an archives box for jumping to particular dates.

The new design is meant to help us focus on the mission of Photoblog: to make preserving and recalling our daily memories as easy as possible. While other photo sharing services are focused on the photos themselves, we're focused on time. That's why our posts are associated with individual days, allowing you to remember what you did on any particular day in the past (as long as you Photoblogged about it).

The design also focuses on making photoblogs feel more like standalone websites rather than a small sub-site of a larger one. What's prominently displayed now is your profile picture and username, rather than Photoblog's logo (which was also redesigned, by the way).

Another possibility the new design allows for is larger photos on blog pages. The old design is what limited us to 500px wide photos, but now that we have room on both sides it will be easy to allow for wider photographs. This is something we're working on and will hopefully release in the near future.

Aside from the fact that there's only one column, you'll find that everything else is still the same. Everything you could do before on blog pages is still available (just rearranged). Many of you might not like this change at first. We do, however, feel like it was a necessary one to make for the long term survival of this service, and one that will open the door to many exciting new developments in the near future. We want to hear your thoughts, but please be sure to explore the new design before issuing a verdict!

How do we make the picture column larger than 500px? It looks so lonely there by itself... guess it'll just take some getting used to.

And can the font color for captions be something other than gray? Black would be a little easier to read.

Thanks for looking out towards the future of the service, guys; I've been a faithful user for 5 years!

I hate what u have done!

It´s good that we can upload bigger images, but now blog looks so ugly!! At least but pictures in the middle. At the moment everything is on left side.

It´s hard to see link for previos images. What we had before (little image and date) was much better. Visitors can´t understand that they can click on that small text and see older entries.

Hi yessi222. Which captions are you referring to? Looking at your photoblog, it looks like the text under your photos is still black.

Also, the larger images isn't available yet. We'll be releasing that sometime in the near future.

Hey blind, if you're seeing everything on the left side of the browser, you might need to clear your browser cache and reload the page. It looks like you might not be seeing the new design.

@in2it:

Yeah, losing the calendar on the left side will take a bit of getting use to, but everything for jumping around is still there under the "Archives" link.

yep, everything is ok now.
now all the changes are OK! Good job!

I think I'm being totally daft--how do I *post* now? I can't find a link for "Post a new entry" on my front page, under options, on the whole community home page (which is crazy difficult to get to now), on my archives page or anywhere.

I'm sorry, but please help!

dear michael

thanks for working on the new design!

as an old photoblogger, i definitely need some time to get used to it but i can see you are trying to make things more uniform in terms of design... giving up the old 2-column concept is probably the boldest step here and i think it will make things simpler on the long run.

however i see some detail issues, mostly related to the size of the fonts and icons.

- overall, fonts for comments and picture sub texts are TOO BIG. furthermore, since they are all same size now, there is no distinction between blog text and comments anymore, which was an important content distinction before
- the back/forward picture icons are too small. they almost succumb under the weight of the text fonts used there; i.e. they do not trigger any interest anymore, since they are hardly recognizable as picture motifs
- the breaks between the different content containers (top banner, navigation, photos, comments, etc) are more disturbing than helping. overall, a scrolling whole content container would help to see a blog entry as a whole unit.
- the photoblog logo has grown at least double in size... which from its position conflicts with the directly underneath icon of the blog owner - it also makes the top element too prominent on the whole page. [correction: this applies only for dashboard page, sorry for confusion, so i think it's ok]
- i personally liked the initial hiding of comments on each blog page... for me, it meant i could look at the "originally posted" blog entry as it was intended by the author; without being distracted too much by an often endless list of comments.

this just as a first feedback. i'm sure we're on the right track and every major change like you've initiated will call for a lot of reactions! thanks a lot for your continuous support of this site and it's marvelous mission! .-)

cheers
michael

@saramerry99: the "new entry" link is the first under your picture on the "dashboard"

It will take some getting used to, but I think it looks great so far... thanks!

a bit of fumbling at first, but yes, I like it too... only question I have is, how do we get to the dashboard from our latest entry, or to the dashboard from another blogger's entry.

I've just uploaded two images, one 10,278 px wide, the other 2,289 px wide. They're still scaled at 500 px wide or 800 px when enlarged, i.e. exactly the same as before. Where's the difference?

Please clean up the forward/back arrows and title by making them smaller / rearranging them. It looks untidy.

It's certainly a 'cleaner' general design, with teething-trouble inconsistencies (see Michael's comment above) that I'm sure you'll fix soon. Thanks for the hard work you've put in.

it will get take some getting used to and i do miss the calendar and archives actually being on peoples blogs but overall i think it looks good!

Marjorie- click your name next to where it says signed in as... and that will bring you back to the dashboard.. it took me a minute to figure that out too

@michaelczhang

When you get a second you might want to take a look at your code for sending messages, not sure it's working the way you would like... ;)


Eric

ok, ignore that last one, issue seems to be resolved now.... quick work guys! ;)

@michaelczhang ... Great job !!! Love it, but will take some time to get used to it !
herbert

Just tested the friend function with bumpusdogs. He's now in my friends' list. Underneath his name is a "Befriend" link which returns you to the 'friend request dialogue'. Just thought I'd mention it. (I'm on Firefox 7.0.1 for mac at present.)

Thanks Jenny... it might be a good idea Michael, to make all instance of the username bring you to the dashboard/homepage... or have a button call home/dashboard. There is one on the dashboard, which seems redundant, but not the user's blog, which seems like an oversight.

Where are the navigation buttons on the photo page?

New design... Strange, I must take time to be used. New photoblog so new design for my page too ! Thanks Photoblog for take care of our photos I love it !

Good job up-dating the blog. I'm an long time user too, but it didn't take too long to figure out the changes. Actually, it's really nice to have a change. Many thanks.

Oh, and I LOVE the archive section and how you can select images via country & see all the small images that have been uploaded since the year dot! Great.

WOW!!! Very interesting! Great job! I like it! Thank You!

My only critical is the absence of the photoblog's icone (in higt in left) for return on front page when you are on a personel blog

MartinBlank, sorry, but I don't understand what is the probleme, can you explain me?

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. We'll be implementing many of them in an update shortly

@revenant:

The new layout paves the way for us to introduce wider blog photos in the future. It'll be something new we'll probably launch soon. As of right now, there is no difference with the size of photos yet.

Right. Thanks for the prompt reply and good luck with the implementations.

@saramerry99:

Creating a new post is done through the "New Entry" page on your dashboard, which can be opened by clicking the link in the upper right hand corner of each page (or your username there on blog pages).

I like the new layout, i usually dont like change but i think its smart and has been bought up to date, was a bit odd at first but overall impression is good. I like the new logo too

Hi Michael,

would it be possible to view the pictures as a horizontal slideshow instead of having to click on the date?

First, sorry if this has been mention and I missed it,. I think the icon photos for the previous and next post should be larger. They are need to be at least the size of the profile pic and probably a little larger.

so far i have figured it out, BUT i can't find where I used to go to check and see if i had any comments on my photos. It used to tell me if and how many people had commented. is it there and i cant find it? is it gone? will it come back?

I do not seem to be 500 pixels greater upload photos.

Best wishes at first dear and gentle @Michael, Mike and friends.

Thanks a lot for being U are: the most special and talented community creating and sharing photos around the world. I joined Photoblog since 2007 and I really feel so good here due the aesthetical and human qualities of the members in general. Design has been nice and friendly since the begining for me.

Only two things by now. First one: the larger of lines for tittle don´t let use the capitals aesthetically when there are more than one line as U can see on my latest post. It´s only a subject of measurement on design I think. As second subject, the previous and next photo icon above would be a little bit larger and contents the filled image but not a portion. It would be more atractive for inner and external visitors.

Hope the best for all with these changes for an interesting evolution! U r the best!

♥ Photoblog.com!

I like the new layout and look forward to seeing the larger images once you bring that in. In general I think it looks cleaner and less fussy. However, I agree with comments about the previews pictures for the previous and next posts need to be larger. As things stand they are all but invisible unless you know what you're looking for. PB members will spot them but I'll be amazed if friends who don't use PB will find them at their current size.

Thanks for your efforts though and for asking what we would like to see for the future.

@Nayah:

What pictures are you referring to?

@kitegypsy:

If you have new comments, there will be a notification box on your dashboard (what we used to call the home page).

@davidcardona:

Oh wow. We'll certainly have that fixed in the next update (probably tomorrow).

In theory, the single layout "looks" nice. In practise, visitors have to "click on Archives" before they even become aware that a) there's a calendar view and b) there's an archive.

I came to PBlog precisely for the calendar view. Its removal is enough to make me search out alternative solutions. Pity.

Interestingly, the change message says that PBLOG aims to focus on time. How does hiding the only time related function, the calendar, achieve this.

Is it me or did the photos get smaller too? Even when enlarged.

Just some minor bugs to higlight:
Clicking on one's account name used to open up the account settings page; now it sends to your latest blog. Clicking on one's name after "signed in as" returns you to the front page where the new word "dashboard" appears (which appears to do nothing). The edit entry function is now accessible only from the 'dashboard' page, which means correcting typos and other mistakes is much more cumbersome. I can resize the comments text box (I think you need to lock that), but the character attributes and link icons have disappeared.
I hope these are on your list of urgent fixes. My suggestion is to include an 'edit this entry' function above the blog page next to "archives" and fix the inconsistent ergonomics of seeing your account name twice with two different functions on the same page.

But I do have a wider question. In your announcement is a very clear change in marketing for the site to daily photoblogging. This is of course your right, but you're going to change the universal "one-size-fits-everyone" appeal that attracts everyone from P365ers to more "serious" photographers in favour of this time-focused, visual daily blogging approach. In my opinion,this will take the site further down market. It's everyone's individual choice to join or stay in a site, but it would help, if you have time and the inclination, by sharing with us who your target audience is. It now seems far more specific, and that may cost you some members who enjoyed its general approach.

Also, I'm not quite sure about the purpose of asking for input from members, as this new layout must have been developed before the message went up and, as you've taken pains to point out, nothing substantive has changed.

Don't mean to sound harsh, but I've just read your announcement more carefully and would appreciate some clarification. Good luck (again) with the changes.

Oooooh, I don't like this. Sorry!! I want 2 columns back. Now you can't see previous pics and days and such. NO GOOD! And the page looks way to empty, it feels like having tunnel syndrome. PLEASE put it back the way it was. Why change a winning formula?!

I don´t like it. I miss my calender on the left side (why is the calender in the archives?!) Maybe I am missing something, but how is this layout better?

Sorry Fellows....the changes are not good!
Please put it back the way it was with just a few minor changes.
I think this is going to cost you some members.....
It is not user friendly!

@michael I meant the pictures to go to the previous or next post

As an aside, I fully agree with other paying customers. To fundamentally change the layout and functionality of a paid service, without discussion, and force it upon your user base is very poor form. Particularly when that user base is largely a community of amateur photographers (in other words, a community of people stimulated by visuals).

Will you be offering refunds to the people that are no longer receiving the service in the format that they paid for?

C'est juste la page de présentation qui a changé. On peut toujours télécharger les photos et les supprimer sans problème! Pour moi, il n'y a pas grand chose de différent! Lorsque je visionne les photos d'amis sur leur page, cela me parait étroite!

Mais je vous remercie car le changement est à mon niveau!

I too miss the calendar by the side - no more overview and easy access. This is a small disaster, I really hope you'll change this!!!
/Hanna