Simon Hawketts’s Photo Blog

Flickr changes

By Simon Hawketts ·

I've had a bit more time to think about the changes to Flickr. On the whole I don't like them, and I don't think I'm alone. My views have dropped to about 1/3 of their normal daily average since the change, and I noticed that the upload graphs from popular camera models have also taken a sharp decrease. Interestingly, uploads from iphone and samsung smart phones have increased over the same period, which probably indicates the type of use Flickr are now hoping for.

The thing I miss is the details of each picture in the photostream; the number of views, title, description etc. and the list of sets. The detailed picture page has been spoiled by moving the metadata out of the picture area and below the fold in the page. I think if these elements were visible I would be quite happy with the changes. I generally like the more modern look with the configurable banner, but the whole site looks a bit messy now.

Because I have a pro account and don't want to lose the price advantage of keeping it I've changed to an automatically renewing subscription, but it doesn't renew until September so I'm looking at alternatives. I've bought a 3 month subscription to ipernity so I can give it a proper trial, and I also started a 14 day trial with smugmug, but my first impressions with smugmug were not good. I don't like the fact that theme changes don't seem to apply across the whole site, and it's quite expensive. To be fair, I don't think it's aimed at the amateur photographer interested in social feedback.

Ipernity does look like a viable alternative. In styling it is very like the flickr of a few weeks ago and is similarly priced. I'm added a few photos and albums every few days to see how I get on with it.

Comments (9)

  1. adamrobertyoung
    I'm not digging some of the changes to Flickr either. 500px is another option, but I'm not sure I'd make the switch - I find Flickr really useful as a host for images for my blog with one-click to copy the HTML or BBCode (I can keep them hidden from my photostream and still place them in the blog).

    Comments (1)

    1. Simon Hawketts
      Yes - I've got a 500px account but I find the system they use for building a pictures score means that you only get credit in the first few minutes of a picture being posted. I also found too many people commenting 'I've faved you pic please fav mine' which all becomes a bit pointless. I'm trying to find one picture hosting system over the next three months so I can settle on that.
  2. Jim Grey
    I like the bigger default photo size on the new Flickr, and I don't mind scrolling a bit to see the data that used to be alongside the photo. Flickr is a site for the masses. The masses have gone to phone cameras. So Flickr is following. Moreover, it's a trend in the entire software industry (in which I work) to move to one Web interface for all devices, and Flickr's really moved in that direction here.

    Comments (1)

    1. Simon Hawketts
      You could be right - my casual view of the usage stats in flickr suggests that you are. I also work in web development but we tend to use different styles in the view layer to support all devices. Hopefully Flickr will make the small changes necessary to keep their photographic community on board.
  3. Suzanne et Pierre
    I also don't really like the changes made to Flickr...I don't find it as user friendly and I don't like that the descriptions I take pain to write on each picture I post is almost hidden from view and people have to know to page down to read them. I also don't like the choices they made for what they think I want to see on my homepage - I wish I could customise it! (Suzanne)

    Comments (2)

    1. Simon Hawketts
      Yes - customization would solve a lot of my problems too. I'm hoping that the huge level of discontent will motivate flickr to make some changes because it's a lot of work to move everything to another site
    2. Jim Grey
      I trust that they will.
  4. GrowlTigger
    Found this post and the comments very informative. I am only beginning to share photos on my photo and nostalgia blogs, Flickr did appeal to me as it was, but not so sure now. Also looked at 500px, but didn't like the way they did things, although appeared to be more good photographers there. I will keep an eye on how things develop before making a decision, but thanks for your thoughts.