New gallery experience ready to be tested

Dec 27, 2024

Hi Salvatore,

I've been using the new gallery over the last few days since you enabled it. Overall excellent and an improvement over the classic style. A couple of minor things I've noticed.

The annotations don't show on mobile (works fine on PC)
Unlike occasionally throws a bad request error.

If I find anything else I'll let you know here.

CS and a very Happy (clear) New Year.

Andy

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Dale Penkala

Dec 27, 2024

Like @Andy Brown I’m doing the same and have found it to be an overall good experience. I’m still getting used to a few things mainly where things are located but I do like what changes you’ve made Salvatore!

Great work!

Dale

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Dec 27, 2024

Andy Brown:
Hi Salvatore,

I've been using the new gallery over the last few days since you enabled it. Overall excellent and an improvement over the classic style. A couple of minor things I've noticed.
The annotations don't show on mobile (works fine on PC)
Unlike occasionally throws a bad request error.

If I find anything else I'll let you know here.

CS and a very Happy (clear) New Year.

Andy

Hi Andy,

just like it’s been with images on the new search page, you need to click on the mouse icon to toggle the annotations or another mouse-hover.

Mobile device don’t have a hover state, so this is the only way to trigger it if you do t want to have “first click to hover, second click to zoom in”.

If you have a better idea please let me know!

PS: I’ll take a look at the bad request error when removing a like, thanks!

Concise

Dec 27, 2024

Thanks Salvatore,

I don't see the three icons on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S23+ Android 14 One UI 6.1)

In the classic view a long press shows the annotations, is this not possible with the updated view?

CS, Andy

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Dec 28, 2024

Hi Andy,

does your phone have a pencil input as well?

AstroBin detects if your device supports hover mode and has a "fine pointer accuracy", which is something reported by devices that have a mouse or a pencil.

If the buttons are not displayed, as in your screenshot, then it means that the device is capable of the "hover" gesture, that I don't know how to trigger on your device.

What does this page say, when opened from your S23+, in the white area?

https://codepen.io/siovene/pen/VwJgWvM

Thanks!

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Dec 28, 2024

Hi Salvatore,

No pencil input AFAIK but here's the result from your query page. Hope that's helpful.

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Dec 28, 2024

@Andy Brown, thanks, that helped!

Can you check again how things are from your Galaxy S23 now? Is it fixed for you?

Thanks!

starfield

Dec 29, 2024

Small UI issue for me. When I visit someone else's page, it's hard to tell if I've liked the image before. The subtle drop shadow on the selected stat is really hard to see. I imagine you're trying for a depressed button look, but it's not popping enough for me to notice.

Overall I really like this new layout.

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Dec 29, 2024

Hi Salvatore,

1. When I click on 'change header image' it shows all my images in the staging area first, but without thumbnail images.

2. I personally like the 'large layout' view for my gallery. Is there a way to set it that way for everyone who visits my gallery? Or is it up to the visiter to pick the layout they prefer?

Cheers, Nico

Dec 29, 2024

3. On Safari (17.6) on MacOS (14.6), I am getting weirdly sized images when shared from the staging area:

4. I don't like this new 'Image Adjustments' tool I can find on hover. Why would I want the viewer to be able to mess up my carefully crafted image? Also, it works on Chrome/Safari. On Firefox (133.0.3) on MacOS, clicking the image adjustments icon kicks me back to my Gallery.

Cheers, Nico

Eddie Bagwell

Dec 29, 2024

The new Gallery Page with all the custom layout options is very nice. However, when in Table Mode I cannot click on the headers to put them in numerical order. Will this be enabled?

Another note regarding the search engine, when I make searches such as Abell or Sharpless catalogue targets, a slew of extra images come up that I'm not searching for. It makes it a little harder to find the images I would like to view. Is there a way to narrow the field a bit?

Thanks, Eddie

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Dec 29, 2024

Small UI issue for me. When I visit someone else's page, it's hard to tell if I've liked the image before. The subtle drop shadow on the selected stat is really hard to see. I imagine you're trying for a depressed button look, but it's not popping enough for me to notice.

Thanks, good catch!I'm going to go with this, I think it helps:

Normal (unchanged):

Before (toggled state, not obvious enough):

New (in addition to the depression, make the thumbs up darker):

Nico Carver:
1. When I click on 'change header image' it shows all my images in the staging area first, but without thumbnail images.

Thanks, I'll look into it!

Nico Carver:
2. I personally like the 'large layout' view for my gallery. Is there a way to set it that way for everyone who visits my gallery? Or is it up to the visiter to pick the layout they prefer?

Yes, it's a viewer's preference. When they toggle the view, the choice persists on the current device. If I made this as you suggest, i.e. a choice of the owner of the gallery, people would ask me how to change it, and why every other gallery is different, and this layout doesn't work on their device size, etc...

Nico Carver:
3. On Safari (17.6) on MacOS (14.6), I am getting weirdly sized images when shared from the staging area:

Thanks, hopefully I can reproduce it so I can find the fix!

Nico Carver:
4. I don't like this new 'Image Adjustments' tool I can find on hover. Why would I want the viewer to be able to mess up my carefully crafted image? Also, it works on Chrome/Safari.

It could be useful for instance to enhance the contrast temporarily to see the faint structures like spiral arms. As it's something that the viewer does very intentionally, it's not like they'd think less of your processing. Anybody can always download / screenshot your image and do it anyway.

Nico Carver:
On Firefox (133.0.3) on MacOS, clicking the image adjustments icon kicks me back to my Gallery.

Thank you so much for testing on multiple browsers! I'll check that.

Eddie Bagwell:
The new Gallery Page with all the custom layout options is very nice. However, when in Table Mode I cannot click on the headers to put them in numerical order. Will this be enabled?

Thanks for the feedback, I'll add sorting to the table!

Eddie Bagwell:
Another note regarding the search engine, when I make searches such as Abell or Sharpless catalogue targets, a slew of extra images come up that I'm not searching for. It makes it a little harder to find the images I would like to view. Is there a way to narrow the field a bit?

Make sure you're searching by "Subjects" and not by free text. If you search by free text, AstroBin searches across all fields, so you'll beg images for "My grandpa Abell imaged this Orion". And use autocomplete (by pressing TAB) when AstroBin offers it. And if you have a search that's completely out of whack, please let me know so I can see if I can do anything. Just the other day I improved the search results for Fornax A because there was an alias to "For A", so all images with "for a" in the description were matching

Dec 29, 2024 · Edited: Dec 29, 2024

Salvatore Iovene:
@Andy Brown, thanks, that helped!

Can you check again how things are from your Galaxy S23 now? Is it fixed for you?

Thanks!

Hi Salvatore,

The icons are now visible and the mouse over works on the first image I pick. If I then use the Arrow button to move to the previous or next image the mouse over icon doesn't display the annotations. I've checked this on my own gallery and others too.

Here's an example:

Many thanks,

Andy

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Dec 29, 2024

Andy Brown:
If I then use the Arrow button to move to the previous or next image the mouse over icon doesn't display the annotations.

Thanks! The fix is deploying.

Dec 29, 2024

Salvatore Iovene:
Andy Brown:
If I then use the Arrow button to move to the previous or next image the mouse over icon doesn't display the annotations.

Thanks! The fix is deploying.

Working perfectly now Salvatore 👌

Eddie Bagwell

Dec 29, 2024

Salvatore IoveneMake sure you're searching by "Subjects" and not by free text

This solved my issue. Thank you!

I released a new image to the public this morning using the new Beta and the acquisition date came up incorrect. Data acquisition date was Dec 18th and when posted came up Dec 17th. When I switched back to the old Gallery Version the date was correct at Dec 18th.

Also, is the "Stats" box on my Home Gallery Page going away with the new version?

Thank you.

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Dec 29, 2024

Hi Eddie,

do you mean this one?

https://app.astrobin.com/u/Starman609?i=al60o0#gallery

I see December 18th on both the new and classic UI, and the database confirms that you specified the 18th.

Tho I wonder if this is a timezone thing that should be removed since this a date and not a datetime.

What's your timezone and do you confirm that the dates are showing differently to you?

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Eddie Bagwell

Dec 29, 2024 · Edited: Dec 29, 2024

Yes, that is the correct image and it is still showing Dec 17th on my feed. I am in Time Zone UTC-5 (EST) in South Carolina, US.

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Dec 29, 2024

Salvatore Iovene:
It could be useful for instance to enhance the contrast temporarily to see the faint structures like spiral arms. As it's something that the viewer does very intentionally, it's not like they'd think less of your processing. Anybody can always download / screenshot your image and do it anyway.

I get that, but my issues with it are philosophical. I consider Astrobin a finished 'gallery' of my astrophotography art. Like a physical gallery I can work with the gallery owner (in this metaphor, the website) to present my gallery how I wish within reason. You give us many choices on upload for how the art should be displayed. For example, I can choose to have no mouseover annotations if I wish. For me, this 'Image adjustments' menu flies in the face of that. By adding it to the UI, it feels like you are encouraging end users of the site to experiment with my very carefully deliberated choices on saturation, brightness, and contrast. These are three of the major levers of astrophotography processing - no small thing. If someone wants to download my image and change those things, I understand they could, but by adding it the UI, it seems like Astrobin is sending end users a different message, one that doesn't respect the artist behind the work. For the same reason, I'm also against the new Zoom tool going so easily all the way to 8x (800%) zoom. How the image is sampled for presentation is another artistic choice I'm used to making when I display my work on Astrobin. For me, just because something is possible to do with an image on download doesn't mean it should be part of the Astrobin UI with no control from the artist / paying user over how their work is displayed.

Sorry if these choices have already been well mulled-over, but just thought I'd explain my reasoning for not liking it as clearly as I can.

Cheers, Nico

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Die Launische Diva

Dec 29, 2024

Salvatore Iovene:
It could be useful for instance to enhance the contrast temporarily to see the faint structures like spiral arms. As it's something that the viewer does very intentionally, it's not like they'd think less of your processing. Anybody can always download / screenshot your image and do it anyway.

I get that, but my issues with it are philosophical. I consider Astrobin a finished 'gallery' of my astrophotography art. Like a physical gallery I can work with the gallery owner (in this metaphor, the website) to present my gallery how I wish within reason. You give us many choices on upload for how the art should be displayed. For example, I can choose to have no mouseover annotations if I wish. For me, this 'Image adjustments' menu flies in the face of that. By adding it to the UI, it feels like you are encouraging end users of the site to experiment with my very carefully deliberated choices on saturation, brightness, and contrast. These are three of the major levers of astrophotography processing - no small thing. If someone wants to download my image and change those things, I understand they could, but by adding it the UI, it seems like Astrobin is sending end users a different message, one that doesn't respect the artist behind the work. For the same reason, I'm also against the new Zoom tool going so easily all the way to 8x (800%) zoom. How the image is sampled for presentation is another artistic choice I'm used to making when I display my work on Astrobin. For me, just because something is possible to do with an image on download doesn't mean it should be part of the Astrobin UI with no control from the artist / paying user over how their work is displayed.

Sorry if these choices have already been well mulled-over, but just thought I'd explain my reasoning for not liking it as clearly as I can.

Cheers, Nico

Hello Nico,

Your arguments make perfect sense to someone with background in arts as myself. However, my humble opinion is that if you wish a more controlled presentation of your artwork online, the proper medium is a personal webpage. And even then, for each screen, unavoidably there will be a different rendition of your images as each mobile phone/display manufacturer has decided what the "optimal" display settings are. Astrobin is (among other things) a social medium which can be useful for your content syndication needs. Salvatore has to weigh the needs of several users, be competitive, and also provide a novel product.

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Dec 29, 2024

You make an excellent point, @Nico Carver, and @Die Launische Diva pinpoints the issue perfectly: I need to balance the expectations of the photographer as the owner of their gallery and images, and those of the viewers.

Generally speaking, when I can solve this by making both personas happy, I prefer to do it of course, as it's in everybody's interest. Sometimes I need to choose.

For the prefered thumbnail size (small / medium / large) in the new gallery, I feel that it's an easy choice: the viewer should choose how to see galleries on AstroBin in accordance to their preference, their device, their eyesight...

For the image adjustments and 8x zoom, there's another philosophical aspect that comes into play. Nico's point of view makes sense: you want to have control on how your images are displayed. However, and here's the philosophical stance, users can still download your image and modify it (to increase saturation to 800% to see if there's a color imbalance or gradient, or to increase contrast to see if there's vignetting, for instance), and they can still download it and zoom it to their heart's content.

AstroBin cannot prevent that. Tho the question on your tongue is: should it facilitate it?

Honestly I don't know that.

From a pragmatic point of view, if many people will oppose the image adjustments, I'm happy to make it a setting on your profile or each image individually, to allow you to disable it for your images. Same for the 8x zoom: I could make it user configurable to limit the maximum zoom level.

Both features have been available since the late summer but only on search results, and I haven't heard any complaints.

If anybody wants to weigh in, I'm all ears!

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Martin Junius

Dec 29, 2024

Hi Salvatore et al.,

Thanks for the great work on Astrobin, but I must confess that I'm not too happy with the new gallery. Looking at it from a Windows desktop with Firefox:

- Everything is overly large, especially the category icons and the image details sidebar compared to the image itself, also fonts in general
- Category icons don't show an image from the category?
- The image icons with mouse over are ok
- A "Delete" function in the … menu of the image icons is a bit dangerous, don't you think?
- The image details sidebar sort of overwhelms the image, especially landscape images
- Sidebar: some information is in dark gray, almost unreadable, why?
- Sidebar: (i) doen't link to the IOTD stats as in the old gallery, but only to the generic IOTD info page
- Sidebar: "Integration" and "Equipment" occupy far too much screen real estate, should be folded per default
- Sidebar: "Description" should be above "Integration", and is now too narrow for more extensive information e.g. inline images
- Sidebar: "Image in the same area" yields strange result, i.e. a lot of astrolandscape accompanying my deep sky image
- Image detail: sky map and histogram require clicking the icons only visible when hovering on the left, image side
- Adjustments doesn't work with Firefox, returns to the overview
- Smart folders and Equipment work in a somewhat strange way, I'd have expected a "filtered" gallery / category like view, not a sidebar opening with a list of images

Don't want to be rude, but right now I prefer the old version.

Martin

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Dec 29, 2024

Hi Martin,

thanks for the feedback!

Martin Junius:
- Everything is overly large, especially the category icons and the image details sidebar compared to the image itself, also fonts in general

Hmm I don't think so, and I haven't heard this one. Consider that the image viewer has been part of the search results for several months now for everybody except a few dozen people who opted out of the new search page. Can you send me a screenshot?

Martin Junius:
- Category icons don't show an image from the category?

I don't understand this one. Category icons?

Martin Junius:
- A "Delete" function in the ... menu of the image icons is a bit dangerous, don't you think?

You get a confirmation dialog after you click it, so it's fine. It's the same as on the image page. Click on the menu, click on Delete, click Delete again in the confirmation dialog. I get asked every week how to delete images, some people can't find it as it's now.

Martin Junius:
- The image details sidebar sort of overwhelms the image, especially landscape images

Can you send me a screenshot accompanied by the link to that image? I wonder if you have a particularly large or particularly small screen that I didn't test.

Martin Junius:
- Sidebar: some information is in dark gray, almost unreadable, why?

Which one specifically? Thanks!

Martin Junius:
- Sidebar: (i) doen't link to the IOTD stats as in the old gallery, but only to the generic IOTD info page

If you refer to the image's IOTD/TP stats, they're in the View menu.

Martin Junius:
- Sidebar: "Integration" and "Equipment" occupy far too much screen real estate, should be folded per default

Sorry but I totally disagree, and I think most people will also disagree. They both are the most important piece of information people on AstroBin want to see!

Martin Junius:
- Sidebar: "Description" should be above "Integration", and is now too narrow for more extensive information e.g. inline images

I disagree here too. Usually, the integration is more compact, and the description could be longer. First the data that one can see at a glance, then the long (or short) text that the user provided. Can you send me a screenshot of where it looks narrow to you? Thanks!

Martin Junius:
- Sidebar: "Image in the same area" yields strange result, i.e. a lot of astrolandscape accompanying my deep sky image

That's because it's based on RA/Dec, so landscape images will match a lot of RA/Dec ranges due to the FOV. I will make it so it only shows images with a similar FOV, thanks!

Martin Junius:
- Image detail: sky map and histogram require clicking the icons only visible when hovering on the left, image side

Yes, but I can't put everything on the page at the same time and not have it look like an angry fruit salad. If they're not behind a button, then they'll have to be below the fold and require scrolling an unknown amount depending on the length of the other data. At least this way they are in a predictable place.

Martin Junius:
- Adjustments doesn't work with Firefox, returns to the overview

I fixed that today, please try again!

Martin Junius:
- Smart folders and Equipment work in a somewhat strange way, I'd have expected a "filtered" gallery / category like view, not a sidebar opening with a list of images

Yeah, unfortunately this is not easy to do right in my opinion. If it's not a sidebar, and the images appear below the tags, that could be so low that users don't realize that they have to scroll. If the tabs appear on the side, then there will be a lot of wrapping text and this solution wouldn't work on mobile anyway.

Martin Junius:
Don't want to be rude, but right now I prefer the old version.

It's why I made it optional. I knew that it could not please everyone, tho so far I've received mostly very positive feedback! If you have time, please address my questions above so I can make improvements.

Thanks!