June 2005

I had a chance this weekend to upgrade my family gallery to version 2.0 of Menalto Gallery. There are a bevy of new features including MySQL back end, templating with Smarty, caching and shopping cart handling. I even got a phone call from my wife who said “I just wanted to say that I know I pooh-pooh-ed this upgrade but it is sooooooooooooo much easier to order pictures on-line now.” Talk about a success …

It took me about an hour or so to get it just like I wanted it. Out of the box, it was a little busy for my liking but after playing with a few things and even commenting out some components in the templates, I was able to get it back to a lean-and-mean interface. The other bonus was that I was able to combine our family gallery with that of my son’s which will ease upgrading in the future across both. I also like one-stop shopping for pictures. We were a little worried that all of the Živio pictures would innundate our friends so we kept them seperate. Fortunately Gallery 2 made it super easy to upgrade.

After I finished the upgrade, I set about letting my wife at it. Now you heard earlier about her rousing approval of the new version but it wasn’t always that way. I literally sat back and watched her use the interface. I’m not usability expert but I do think I can tell when somebody can’t figure their way around. Things like the banners at the bottom of the slideshow were confusing for her (are these buttons?) as well as the need to turn on more information instead of giving more up front during the slideshow. In addition, having pull-downs that automatically “jump to” and those that require that you click “Go” are just insane to have on the same page.

As far as features go, I would say that Gallery 2 has taken a huge step forward. However, in terms of usability, it is definitely a step back IMHO. That said, I’m still running it …

I left my hotel in Stuttgart at 4:25am CEST and arrived in Seattle at 11:27am PST (a total of 14 hours of travel) and it actually wasn’t that bad at all. I got lucky and got to fly in an Airbus A330 which was a brand new plane for NorthWest on this route (Amsterdam to Seattle). The nicest treat about these was the personal entertainment system at each seat. You got a 5″ to 6″ screen with on-demand movies, games and music. Although I didn’t do it, it said you could also e-mail from the interface … my lord. In any case, time flied as I watched all of those movies I wouldn’t rent but would be willing to watch for “free” even if they are edited for the plane ride.

I also got another chance to see the Amsterdam airport. As we were flying in I started seeing all of the bike/walking paths in Holland and that its the country that walks. So having an airport where people are expected to walk just fits that country. I’m a moron. Anyhoo, once I remembered that, it made a lot more sense. It’s all about perspective I suppose.

I’m beat … off to bed I go.