Expanding pictures

Hey MP, new arrows for clicking through photos is great. However, would still like to be able to click on the photo to blow it up full size. Hopefully this is possible. Being able to look at a route photo in detail to discern where it goes is really helpful.

Thanks!

click on "full size" below the picture

Word. Missed that. Thank you sir/madam!

I usually lurk but the new picture/gallery system is just so bad in terms of user experience, i had to comment.

• Usually when viewing thumbnail/pics, it's intuitive to click a smaller photo, to get the larger one. Having it go to the next/prev image instead confuses the user, esp if they didn't notice "View full size" link.
• The next/prev buttons are built on and dependent on javascript being enabled, with that off, it breaks. Not sure why a simple <a href=""><img /></a> tag wouldn't have worked. Placing it left/right of the image allows the thumbnail to be linked to a bigger picture as well.
• View full size link, opens the image in a NEW window. Users' natural intention is to click back when faced with a "new" page or popup. Instead they're forced to look around for the right tab/close button to get back to the previous page.

Note: these are just slight annoyances on desktop. The UX experience is even worse on mobile.

• I.e a new window, would force the user to make several "mouse clicks" just to even close the window and get back to the previous window.
• Forced to zoom in and click on the "view full size" link vs clicking the big and obvious picture.

khoa wrote:I usually lurk but the new picture/gallery system is just so bad in terms of user experience, i had to comment. * Usually when viewing thumbnail/pics, it's intuitive to click a smaller photo, to get the larger one. Having it go to the next/prev image instead confuses the user, esp if they didn't notice "View full size" link. * The next/prev buttons are built on and dependent on javascript being enabled, with that off, it breaks. Not sure why a simple tag wouldn't have worked. Placing it left/right of the image allows the thumbnail to be linked to a bigger picture as well. * View full size link, opens the image in a NEW window. Users' natural intention is to click back when faced with a "new" page or popup. Instead they're forced to look around for the right tab/close button to get back to the previous page. Note: these are just slight annoyances on desktop. The UX experience is even worse on mobile. * I.e a new window, would force the user to make several "mouse clicks" just to even close the window and get back to the previous window. * Forced to zoom in and click on the "view full size" link vs clicking the big and obvious picture.

+1 on this... new design is counterintuitive

Set the browser to open links in new tab not new window

rocknice2 wrote:Set the browser to open links in new tab not new window

That's not the point. The point is that the link doesn't open in the same window, forcing the user to close the tab/window in whatever way they usually do... ctrl+w, scanning for the new tab/"x" button, etc.

If it was the same window, well, all I gotta do is click the back button, or I can literally move one finger to click the back button on my mouse (or phone).

Basically there are now (unintended) extra steps added that are also counterintuitive to browsing a typical image gallery.

frankly, i'm with khoa

this @#$%^ a pain in the @#$%^

i click 'back' on my opened picture every time, sometimes twice, it's just not intuitive

i dont know what the ultimate goal of mp is, but if it is to get users to their content the fastest, they're failing

i started training my brain to click 'full size' but why scroll search aim click when the method of the past (clicking the image) is the way to go? just revert. we have the forward and backward picture thumbnails on our right to tell us if we want to browse (speaking for desktop users) my 2c

I actually like that the full size opens in a new tab. That way I can read the post or route description that the photo pertains to and go back and forth between tabs to analyze.

I find on my phone it real easy to swipe back and forth between tabs and discard any tabs I don't need anymore with a single tap & swipe. KitKat rocks.

khoa wrote:I usually lurk but the new picture/gallery system is just so bad in terms of user experience, i had to comment. * Usually when viewing thumbnail/pics, it's intuitive to click a smaller photo, to get the larger one. Having it go to the next/prev image instead confuses the user, esp if they didn't notice "View full size" link. * The next/prev buttons are built on and dependent on javascript being enabled, with that off, it breaks. Not sure why a simple tag wouldn't have worked. Placing it left/right of the image allows the thumbnail to be linked to a bigger picture as well. * View full size link, opens the image in a NEW window. Users' natural intention is to click back when faced with a "new" page or popup. Instead they're forced to look around for the right tab/close button to get back to the previous page. Note: these are just slight annoyances on desktop. The UX experience is even worse on mobile. * I.e a new window, would force the user to make several "mouse clicks" just to even close the window and get back to the previous window. * Forced to zoom in and click on the "view full size" link vs clicking the big and obvious picture.

• The back/forward clicking is extremely similar to Facebook (which also uses a separate "full size" link), which serves more "photo pages" than the rest of the non-porn web combined. I don't think most users will find this unintuitive once adjusted to a change.
• Virtually all pages on MP, and the entire web, require javascript now days. It is required in this case (instead of normal hrefs) due to the way topo photos can be toggled on and off within the same page.
• I agree with you. I have changed it to open in the same window.

I see what you're trying to get at with the facebook ui. Although i don't see a "full size" link anywhere, even with JS turned off. It's all thumbnails that link to a bigger sized image. THe difference is that they use the arrows on their "full screen"/biggest images, and MP has it on the "medium" sized images, which brings this interesting topic up.

I think maybe the best way would be a compromise where clicking the center of the image brings up the full sized image. With the prev/next arrows intact working like they are now, on each either side of the picture.

I also see the reason for using JS now. I was just suggesting that non-JS fallback methods are always a good thing to employ. Though of course that can be a pain to do for sure.

Thanks for the feedback and taking my ideas into consideration

I would very much prefer the left and right margins to operate as each half of the image does now, but clicking in the center of the image to bring it up to full size. Having to change into clicking a separate link is unintuitive and has so far been very hard to get myself to do consistently.