Flickr set to destroy groups.

[tunalegs]

We all have had varying opinions about the re"design" flickr instituted a month or so ago. Luckily, groups were left largely untouched, and still function as well as they ever did.

But it seems this won't last. Flickr has previewed a new layout for groups, and it ain't pretty.

For one - it's slow. Somehow even slower than the normal photostreams. Almost hilariously slow on my admittedly old laptop:

By the time I had copy and pasted the above into photoshop, some of the main group page still hadn't loaded:

And yes - that is the new main page! It's just a photostream! Justified, pseudo-endless scrolling horror! Where is the group description? The discussions? Yep you have to click on buttons to get to them. 😱

The discussion layout itself is also a mess, but I'm hoping they'll tweak it before it becomes mandatory to use the new layout.

As you probably guessed, yes they removed the options to change thumbnail size. It's only the most asked for feature EVER in the history of flickr, so it only makes sense flickr would be removing it from the site altogether, including groups.

Exciting stuff eh? :angel:

 

[reala_fan]

Yep...I don't like the "new VERY SLOW" Flickr....we need capitol, now, to create a new site, and take their business!!

Flickriver is still WAY better than Flickr...

 

[sevres_babylone]

I'm a little bit confused. When I clicked on show wall, the default I got was a list of discussions on the left, and the, yes scroll down, wall of pics on the right. It was only if I clicked on a tab that said to hide the discussions (sorry, I'm not sure what the exact wording in English is, because I have my default language set to Spanish) that I got it to look like yours. I don't find it especially slow.

Am I looking in the right place, or has flickr posted some link to the the future look?

 

[tunalegs]

I'm a little bit confused. When I clicked on show wall, the default I got was a list of discussions on the left, and the, yes scroll down, wall of pics on the right. It was only if I clicked on a tab that said to hide the discussions (sorry, I'm not sure what the exact wording in English is, because I have my default language set to Spanish) that I got it to look like yours. I don't find it especially slow.

Am I looking in the right place, or has flickr posted some link to the the future look?

They've got a big purple banner on your main group list to "opt in" to the new layout.

If what you're getting looks different, there may be a bug in there somewhere. What I got is what I posted above, and yes it was absurdly slow loading. Slower than normal photostreams for some reason.

 

[sevres_babylone]

They've got a big purple banner on your main group list to "opt in" to the new layout.

If what you're getting looks different, there may be a bug in there somewhere. What I got is what I posted above, and yes it was absurdly slow loading. Slower than normal photostreams for some reason.

Maybe a bug. I don't get a purple banner. If I go to:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/m42/
I get what looks like the old flickr group page, which a link on the right between the thumbnails and discussions saying "ver mas"

When I click on that, I get to:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/m42/pool/

where I see kind of what you get on your http://www.flickr.com/groups/m42/
in your example, except there is no banner. The pictures are displayed as in yours, with the endless scrolling, but above the pictures, to the right, there are options to change the size etc.

I can understand your frustration if these options have been taken away, and you are getting really slow loading.

 

[tunalegs]

Oh see, what I posted is the new group main page. Not the pool.

They are going to discard the group page, so that when you click on a group it takes you to the pool. There will no longer be a main page like we have now. And of course they have deleted the option to change the thumbnail sizes as well.

 

[back alley]

been using it all day...works fine...

 

[tunalegs]

been using it all day...works fine...

I'm still trying to find out how you leave a group.

I haven't even tried to delve into how it changes moderating a group, but see several people are having trouble with it.

 

[rluka]

There's a little tab to the left that say "About this group"
Mine is expanded by default and it has the group description, link to recent discussions, as well as the Leave Group button. 🙂


They probably see a metric mention that majority of the group's discussion board is like a dead town.
Then another metric from usage pattern mentioned that majority of the users are not bother looking into the pool, only interested in posting their photo to 60+ group to increase exposure.

Seems like the tile image in group list is set with the group's cover image. For now, it's still random placeholder image.
http://www.flickr.com/groups

 

[redisburning]

I opted in.

took a look, posted some feedback and opted out.

these people are ****ing idiots.

 

[tunalegs]

There's a little tab to the left that say "About this group"
Mine is expanded by default and it has the group description, link to recent discussions, as well as the Leave Group button. 🙂


They probably see a metric mention that majority of the group's discussion board is like a dead town.
Then another metric from usage pattern mentioned that majority of the users are not bother looking into the pool, only interested in posting their photo to 60+ group to increase exposure.

Seems like the tile image in group list is set with the group's cover image. For now, it's still random placeholder image.
http://www.flickr.com/groups

Yes unfortunately it seems that if you closed the sidebar - it stays closed even with the new design that doesn't have a main page. I close them in every pool because the sidebar is annoying and pointless with the current design. With the new design it will just be annoying. 🙂

Strangely enough, flickr's new emphasis on the photos means we see a lot less photos.

I mean look at that. It's just pathetic.

The group's main page - we see only two full photos without scrolling. One of them won't load. Only two topics visible in discussions before you have to click on "more discussions". This is really amusingly sorry.

 

[back alley]

w/o the 'about this group' thing showing i get 4 to 5 images...with it i get one less image...what are you using for a monitor, what size? mine is 22 inches..wide screen.

 

[tunalegs]

w/o the 'about this group' thing showing i get 4 to 5 images...with it i get one less image...what are you using for a monitor, what size? mine is 22 inches..wide screen.

Well that's the point. There's no longer a main page for groups. The sidebar becomes the "main page". If you click on a group you've never been to before, you will get that sidebar and maybe four photos. Not very inviting.

With the sidebar closed you get several more images, and that is fine. But then you have no info.

The current group homepages give you twelve images and six discussion topics, which will tell you at a glance what to expect in the group.

Really if they just downsized the banner it could be much better.

 

[jarski]

went also to opt in to have a look. not slow at all, good logical layout. but as before, some kids here obviously disagree again.

 

[tunalegs]

went also to opt in to have a look. not slow at all, good logical layout. but as before, some kids here obviously disagree again.

I'd be interested in hearing what is good and logical about it. 😉

I see some people saying they like it, and yet, nobody is saying why.

It's very odd given the widely held sentiment that flickr slowed and stalled because Yahoo failed to develop the social side of the site, that now Yahoo seems to be pushing the social aspect of flickr even farther back on the shelf. I don't really know what they're aiming for with this.

 

[mdarnton]

Sigh. First world problems. . .
I like it.

 

[back alley]

i think the whole re-design of flickr is way more attractive than the old format/style...it still does pretty much what it did before only now we have to access it differently...it's new learning but nothing major.

 

[Black]

Saw and tested the new Groups outlay last night. Didn't like it. It took a second or two longer to identify the groups and I didn't even notice the groups that had new posts at all.

Like all the other changes to Flickr as of late, is not the best, is it? I can understand that they want to freshen things up and it seems to me that none photographers are guessing what photographers would like to see. Bigger pictures? Of course. Well, no - not necessarily.

As much as I am nostalgic and love retro stuff, I don't want to go back to the days of having 56k dial up modem speeds, waiting for an eternity for a page to load up. Thats just silly.

I'll continue to use it, however, as its taken me circa six years to establish the few contacts I have, the faves and groups etc 🙁

 

[rluka]

1028 x 1024
Got 4-6 pictures with sidebar, 9 without the sidebar.
plus minus if someone posted vertical or panoramic picture into the pool.


The justified layout is justifiable (at least for me) because other than giving larger thumbnail to browse the pictures, it also compensate the lost of regular white spaces with a randomness. That, or some other thing that came up because the pictures are close to each others.
IMO, it looks best if the pictures in the pool have varied sizes.

But others might look at it differently.


The worse side, such as that damned "infinite scroll and wait" is well documented in the Flickr help forum 😀

 

[j j]

i think the whole re-design of flickr is way more attractive than the old format/style...it still does pretty much what it did before only now we have to access it differently...it's new learning but nothing major.

True. But weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and thinking up hyperbolic thread titles is much more fun than working out how to use something.