Enhance the photo galleries PLEASE......

exactus · 24 Apr 2016, 07:15 AM

While FM advertises that "you can easily publish digital photos as an online gallery
for your friends and family to view" the UI for the viewer is awful and much overdue for a makeover.

The galleries are hopeless to navigate on a smartphone. Why can't we have the arrows
that hover over the photos to move forwards and backwards available in other web sites rather than
those silly little green arrows at the bottom of the screen which are easily hidden by the 'Download'
hover popup?

Why can't we define a default opening view without creating an awkward-looking URL?

How does one create CSS stylesheets to improve the look of a gallery?

I don't think there has been one enhancemenat to the photo gallery functionality since I joined
Fastmail more than 11 years ago.

It's time for a change to the photo gallery please!

.

ChinaLamb · 24 Apr 2016, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exactus

While FM advertises that "you can easily publish digital photos as an online gallery
for your friends and family to view" the UI for the viewer is awful and much overdue for a makeover.

The galleries are hopeless to navigate on a smartphone. Why can't we have the arrows
that hover over the photos to move forwards and backwards available in other web sites rather than
those silly little green arrows at the bottom of the screen which are easily hidden by the 'Download'
hover popup?

Why can't we define a default opening view without creating an awkward-looking URL?

How does one create CSS stylesheets to improve the look of a gallery?

I don't think there has been one enhancemenat to the photo gallery functionality since I joined
Fastmail more than 11 years ago.

It's time for a change to the photo gallery please!

.

I literally had no idea this even existed...

somdcomputerguy · 28 Apr 2016, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exactus

How does one create CSS stylesheets to improve the look of a gallery?

https://www.fastmail.com/help/files/photogallery.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChinaLamb

I literally had no idea this even existed...

I'm glad I do!

EMD Forum Members Gallery - http://emdpics.somdcomputerguy.com
WVpics - http://wvpics.somdcomputerguy.com/
Snowpics - http://snowpics.somdcomputerguy.com/

- Bruce

edit:
Here is the CSS file I use for the EMD members gallery:
http://emdpics.somdcomputerguy.com/photogallery.css

eegee · 7 Nov 2016, 12:00 AM

Reviving this thread...

I've just been setting up a photo gallery for a family member's account...removing mail attachments *after* copying them into by-year albums going back to 2009. (The purpose of this was to reduce mailbox usage, and also make older and sometimes forgotten photos more readily viewable on a mobile device.)

After getting on top of the operation and vagaries of setting up a gallery page, I have a couple of comments/queries:

Setting up the title[=email subject], notes[=when/from who(m?)] and sort-order[=mmdd] for each photo was extremely tedious--*lots* of copying, pasting and correcting. How I wished for some sort of command line based way to automate this!
Is there some way of adding a favicon to the gallery page? It would be good to be able to have a customised icon which then shows up on gallery page bookmarks/shortcuts. If not, perhaps as a feature request we could choose from a collection of provided icons.

Any thoughts/ideas?

TheJapanese · 13 Nov 2016, 09:24 PM

https support would be nice.

rusl · 16 Nov 2016, 07:18 PM

There is HTTPS support for all Fastmail hosted webpages and photo galleries, but you need to use a special format for the URL. (This is mentioned in a previous thread on this forum)

If your photo gallery or webpage is at http://testpage.fastmail.com/ you reformat it like this:
https://user.fm/testpage.fastmail.com/ and it will have HTTPS (TLS). I presume Fastmail doesn't want to pay for wildcard TLS certificates for all of their hundreds of domains (very expensive), which is why HTTPS doesn't work in place for your regular alias domains. There might be other security and complexity reasons as well. But Fastmail does pay for a SSL/TLS certificate for user.fm then provides secure access that way. Pretty clever.

Enjoy my really boring testpage linked above as an example

[edit] Seems like http://testpage.fastmail.com redirects to http://testpage.fastmail.com.user.fm, which makes sense. Otherwise my testpage might be confused for something official from fastmail.com.

TheJapanese · 18 Nov 2016, 09:31 PM

Thx. Understood.

But so every website is also available as http, correct?

Would like to have a https only website.

somdcomputerguy · 18 Nov 2016, 09:48 PM

Most probably. PHP is not supported/available, and I believe any .htaccess file support/availability would be the same. I haven't actually tried anything though. Fastmail's password file protection feature is the most 'Web 2.0' thing I've ever needed for Fastmail's 'HTMLness', apart from some 'CSSage'.

- bruce

rusl · 19 Nov 2016, 05:04 PM

PHP is not supported. Re-writes and other stuff using .htaccess isn't supported. Nor is any SQL, databases, or other server-side scripting and processing. It's just hosting of static content. They don't offer HTTPS-only. If you want "HTTPS only" on a static content site you can host it at Fastmail under your own domain name and then use a free Cloudflare account, which provides HTTPS between your visitor's browser and the nearest Cloudflare CDN edge point. This is not total HTTPS from your visitor's browser to the Fastmail server, however. Fastmail doesn't provide a powerful set of website hosting services, just basic static website hosting with low bandwidth limits.

I think we've strayed from the topic here.

Berenburger · 19 Nov 2016, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exactus

While FM advertises that "you can easily publish digital photos as an online gallery
for your friends and family to view" the UI for the viewer is awful and much overdue for a makeover.

The galleries are hopeless to navigate on a smartphone. Why can't we have the arrows
that hover over the photos to move forwards and backwards available in other web sites rather than
those silly little green arrows at the bottom of the screen which are easily hidden by the 'Download'
hover popup?

Why can't we define a default opening view without creating an awkward-looking URL?

How does one create CSS stylesheets to improve the look of a gallery?

I don't think there has been one enhancemenat to the photo gallery functionality since I joined
Fastmail more than 11 years ago.

It's time for a change to the photo gallery please!

Yes, please. Come on FastMail. Time for a Christmas present.

janusz · 19 Nov 2016, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exactus

It's time for a change to the photo gallery please!

I see certain similarities with another request "Significantly more file storage quota", to which one of the replies was "Fastmail is NOT a cloud file storage service" (see this thread)....

Berenburger · 20 Nov 2016, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janusz

I see certain similarities with another request "Significantly more file storage quota", to which one of the replies was "Fastmail is NOT a cloud file storage service" (see this thread)....

I'm not. This is about to modernize the look and feel of the photo gallery, not about more or less storage.

BritTim · 20 Nov 2016, 12:02 PM

I think the similarity (and I agree) is that it is asking for Fastmail to invest in an area that is not its core competency.

Personally, if I was going to press for enhancements, it would be in the area of email: things like bringing the sieve support up to date with key modern extensions.

paul29 · 25 Nov 2016, 11:37 AM

I think FM's galleries/websites are a cool feature and I like their low-tech look and I use them. However, they are sort of an extra to the email service. There's tons of cheap general purpose web hosting available everywhere now. So I keep expectations low for the web sites. It's nice to be able to conveniently put up a few static pages or photos without having to use your own domain name, and that's about it.

TheJapanese · 28 Dec 2016, 09:52 PM

Really would like to see some improvement over here.

Do have so much space available with my account and want to share much pics with my family. Best and easy way is with fastmail and the galleries.

But only with SSL-only Integration.

The workaround with https://user.fm/testpage.fastmail.com/ is quite nice. But I would like to see a native solution.

24 Apr 2016, 07:15 AM	#1
exactus Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 120	Enhance the photo galleries PLEASE...... While FM advertises that "you can easily publish digital photos as an online gallery for your friends and family to view" the UI for the viewer is awful and much overdue for a makeover. The galleries are hopeless to navigate on a smartphone. Why can't we have the arrows that hover over the photos to move forwards and backwards available in other web sites rather than those silly little green arrows at the bottom of the screen which are easily hidden by the 'Download' hover popup? Why can't we define a default opening view without creating an awkward-looking URL? How does one create CSS stylesheets to improve the look of a gallery? I don't think there has been one enhancemenat to the photo gallery functionality since I joined Fastmail more than 11 years ago. It's time for a change to the photo gallery please! . Last edited by exactus : 24 Apr 2016 at 09:37 PM.

7 Nov 2016, 12:00 AM	#4
eegee Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Posts: 1	Reviving this thread... I've just been setting up a photo gallery for a family member's account...removing mail attachments after copying them into by-year albums going back to 2009. (The purpose of this was to reduce mailbox usage, and also make older and sometimes forgotten photos more readily viewable on a mobile device.) After getting on top of the operation and vagaries of setting up a gallery page, I have a couple of comments/queries: Setting up the title[=email subject], notes[=when/from who(m?)] and sort-order[=mmdd] for each photo was extremely tedious--lots of copying, pasting and correcting. How I wished for some sort of command line based way to automate this! Is there some way of adding a favicon to the gallery page? It would be good to be able to have a customised icon which then shows up on gallery page bookmarks/shortcuts. If not, perhaps as a feature request we could choose from a collection of provided icons. Any thoughts/ideas? Last edited by eegee : 7 Nov 2016 at 12:04 AM. Reason: spelling

16 Nov 2016, 07:18 PM	#6
rusl Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 78	There is HTTPS support for all Fastmail hosted webpages and photo galleries, but you need to use a special format for the URL. (This is mentioned in a previous thread on this forum) If your photo gallery or webpage is at http://testpage.fastmail.com/ you reformat it like this: https://user.fm/testpage.fastmail.com/ and it will have HTTPS (TLS). I presume Fastmail doesn't want to pay for wildcard TLS certificates for all of their hundreds of domains (very expensive), which is why HTTPS doesn't work in place for your regular alias domains. There might be other security and complexity reasons as well. But Fastmail does pay for a SSL/TLS certificate for user.fm then provides secure access that way. Pretty clever. Enjoy my really boring testpage linked above as an example [edit] Seems like http://testpage.fastmail.com redirects to http://testpage.fastmail.com.user.fm, which makes sense. Otherwise my testpage might be confused for something official from fastmail.com. Last edited by rusl : 16 Nov 2016 at 07:32 PM. Reason: New information available

18 Nov 2016, 09:48 PM	#8
somdcomputerguy Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Rupert, WV Posts: 879	Most probably. PHP is not supported/available, and I believe any .htaccess file support/availability would be the same. I haven't actually tried anything though. Fastmail's password file protection feature is the most 'Web 2.0' thing I've ever needed for Fastmail's 'HTMLness', apart from some 'CSSage'. - bruce Last edited by somdcomputerguy : 20 Nov 2016 at 07:08 AM.

19 Nov 2016, 05:04 PM	#9
rusl Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 78	PHP is not supported. Re-writes and other stuff using .htaccess isn't supported. Nor is any SQL, databases, or other server-side scripting and processing. It's just hosting of static content. They don't offer HTTPS-only. If you want "HTTPS only" on a static content site you can host it at Fastmail under your own domain name and then use a free Cloudflare account, which provides HTTPS between your visitor's browser and the nearest Cloudflare CDN edge point. This is not total HTTPS from your visitor's browser to the Fastmail server, however. Fastmail doesn't provide a powerful set of website hosting services, just basic static website hosting with low bandwidth limits. I think we've strayed from the topic here. Last edited by rusl : 19 Nov 2016 at 05:05 PM. Reason: Clarify

13 Nov 2016, 09:24 PM	#5
TheJapanese Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 79	https support would be nice.

18 Nov 2016, 09:31 PM	#7
TheJapanese Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 79	Thx. Understood. But so every website is also available as http, correct? Would like to have a https only website.

20 Nov 2016, 12:02 PM	#13
BritTim The "e" in e-mail Join Date: May 2003 Location: mostly in Thailand Posts: 3,090	I think the similarity (and I agree) is that it is asking for Fastmail to invest in an area that is not its core competency. Personally, if I was going to press for enhancements, it would be in the area of email: things like bringing the sieve support up to date with key modern extensions.

25 Nov 2016, 11:37 AM	#14
paul29 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 166	I think FM's galleries/websites are a cool feature and I like their low-tech look and I use them. However, they are sort of an extra to the email service. There's tons of cheap general purpose web hosting available everywhere now. So I keep expectations low for the web sites. It's nice to be able to conveniently put up a few static pages or photos without having to use your own domain name, and that's about it.

28 Dec 2016, 09:52 PM	#15
TheJapanese Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 79	Really would like to see some improvement over here. Do have so much space available with my account and want to share much pics with my family. Best and easy way is with fastmail and the galleries. But only with SSL-only Integration. The workaround with https://user.fm/testpage.fastmail.com/ is quite nice. But I would like to see a native solution.