Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Maybe I'm Old? And That's Fine.

Flickr just changed it's user interface this past week, and it was pretty dramatic. I'm not a fan of change, and I know I'm not, so I gave myself a bit of time to get used to this. And I just can't. I tried - infinitely scrolling (and waiting for things to load in that scrolling....), not having comments as readily available, everything being an icon. And then I discussed my Flickr frustration with my husband, and he pointed out the problem to me (it should be mentioned that he's a tech guy): the new Flickr is made for tablets & iPads. no one is making things for computers anymore. WHAAAAAAAAAAAA. Yes, I understand that everyone has tablets. Yes, smart phones are the norm. Touch screens? EVERYWHERE. But the back-end "work" side of these things are done on actual computers, I think? I don't know about you, but I'm one of those assholes that get emails on my phone and don't reply because I DON'T WANT TO TYPE ON THAT GODDAMN TINY KEYBOARD LET ME WAIT UNTIL I GET HOME. I also think that I may be one of the few people who still loved the comment aspect of Flickr and the community of that? And I *know* people through that. And I think the comments are the afterthought - they are pushing "favoriting". Fine. It was easy and lovely to see and be a part of this commenting community and I think it will be lost. I also had a really shocking thing happen with this new FLickr - the giant pics, the ones that are yelling at me? When things were in thumbnails there was no problem of running into a GIANT IMAGE OF A BLEEDING FOOT that happened to be in my photostream. It was just a thumbnail! AND NOW IT'S MY WHOLE SCREEN!!!! I think Flickr was just re-vamped for a new tech-"generation" but it should be configured more for the current "generation" that is on there. Flickr has LOYAL customers, they should cater to them a bit. I can't get into my confusion about the changes in Pro terms right now. I'm so so so baffled.

3 comments:

  1. i happen to like the new format but like you i fear the loss of commenting (which ive noticed has declined significantly before the change). i think our best bet to keeping it alive is keeping on participating? I'll comment on your shit if you comment on mine ;)

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  2. I completely and totally agree. I am baffled about how to use the new Flickr. I kind of hate it. I have kept pics there since 2006, so I think they've got me suckered for life, and I don't like it, I don't like it one bit.

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  3. I have yet to encounter anyone who thinks the "new" Flickr is useful. Feh.

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