Kevin Raber's "Time for a Change"

[MarkL]

Thanks God you're going to abandon the visually stressful practice of making us read reams of white type on a black background just because it purportedly makes color images look better.

^This. The site really has been due a makeover. Without being rude it has looked very dated for almost all of it's online life. It doesn't bother me unduly as content is what I come for but as the subject has been raised...

As content has been mentioned I wish you'd stick to your strengths which are technical reviews or views by people that know their subject and their photography. The 'art' side of things hasn't been done well, isn't a great fit and is better found elsewhere.

[AFairley]

I usually hate web publication changes, but in this case, I like them.  A lot.  Big thumbs up here and kudos to all involved.

[Isaac]

Yet once again, the heart of my post is gutted, and turned into something it was never meant to be.

Your post is still as-it-was for all to see, just one-click-away from KLaban's quotation.

"To be generous, guiltless and of free disposition, is to take those things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets: there is no slander in an allowed fool, though he do nothing but rail; nor no railing in a known discreet man, though he do nothing but reprove."

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... My first post here in nearly 3 years, and already I have have someone disagreeing with what I’ve said...

Oh, no! Someone disagreeing!? How rude and unheard of. Alert the media (and moderators)!

[darr]

Kevin,

I applaud all the effort and work that is going into this site, what has already been accomplished since its inception, and I am looking forward to the remodeling up ahead.

As a woman, I too have sensed the small majority we make up, but hope we can help change this by contributing more.

The forum is the easiest place to contribute, but I have gotten a bit turned-off by some of its personality in the past. No one to point a finger at, but it appears some threads travel towards negative comments over time, and when I see this, I become disinterested and hesitate to participate.  I think the best medicine to help cure this, is to simply not take the bait (do not respond) and leave the negative commenter alone with his thoughts. Maybe this is a female thing some of us discover in motherhood, but it can help send a more positive signal. Not to point others to another forum, but the GetDPI forum IMO is a success because of its personality, and I do contribute there mostly in the Medium Format Digital forum.

Looking forward to LuLa's new footprint!

Kind regards,
Darr

[digitaldog]

Preview of the new site looks lovely!

[Earnster]

+1

[Earnster]

Fantastic news. Glad you are entering C21

[Earnster]

I too had the snarky replies when I criticised aspects of the site.
At least now it is all happenning...with the word often used on the net...finally

[dreed]

...
First there is a woman featured in the mock up Anna Possberg with an article on Time Lapse.  We have been featuring women as often as we can.  When the new site is up search for Jackie Ranken, Katrin Eismann and Eleanor Brown just to mention a few.  I'm all for adding more woman contributors and I have been seeking out and talking to a few.
...

Is it possible to get the grammar checking for comments too?

Because when I last checked, the word "woman" wasn't an adjective

Otherwise, the new style looks great and can't wait to take it for a test drive.

Oh except for one thing. Boxes. Boxes on images. Boxes on images in the lower right hand corner.

Don't do it.

Why?

You don't know what you'll be covering/obscuring.

Boxes seems to be a more recent "fad" in web development ("Hello Google Maps!") and is really not very well conceived. I've yet to find anyone that hasn't told Google to revert back to the old style Google Maps.

Maybe they make it easier for you when you're browsing via a tablet (I don't have a tablet so all that I can do is speculate there) but what they most definitely do is create clutter.

[Kevin Raber]

Pretty busy getting ready to leave tomorrow for Antarctica plus trying to launch a NEW workshop for this summer in Svalbard.  Sorry about the grammar.  I am not perfect.  As far as boxes on images.  The boxes on the home page image show you what images are there.  Roll your mouse over and you can see the data and title.  Click on the upper right corner and you get a full screen width image that is zoomed in so you can look at detail.  Roll your mouse out of the image and it goes to full frame.  You'll get the hang of it.  It's actually quite cool and we tried several variations before settling on this.  This method should answer the needs and wants of many people who have made suggestions.  There are a lot of other cool things.  Only a few more weeks.  While Michael and I are away the development team will be working on a large list of things to get done.  Sometime on the 14th of February we flip the switch.

More news around the 12th of February.

Kevin

[stamper]

Pretty busy getting ready to leave tomorrow for Antarctica plus trying to launch a NEW workshop for this summer in Svalbard.  Sorry about the grammar.  I am not perfect.  As far as boxes on images.  The boxes on the home page image show you what images are there.  Roll your mouse over and you can see the data and title.  Click on the upper right corner and you get a full screen width image that is zoomed in so you can look at detail.  Roll your mouse out of the image and it goes to full frame.  You'll get the hang of it.  It's actually quite cool and we tried several variations before settling on this.  This method should answer the needs and wants of many people who have made suggestions.  There are a lot of other cool things.  Only a few more weeks.  While Michael and I are away the development team will be working on a large list of things to get done.  Sometime on the 14th of February we flip the switch.

More news around the 12th of February.

Kevin

Kevin if they weren't picking on the grammar then it would be something else and if you were perfect they would pick on that too. I just wonder if the detractors are capable of hosting a web site and forum that is capable of pleasing some, never mind all of the members? 

[dreed]

Kevin if they weren't picking on the grammar then it would be something else and if you were perfect they would pick on that too. I just wonder if the detractors are capable of hosting a web site and forum that is capable of pleasing some, never mind all of the members? 

For some of us, poor spelling/grammar is really distracting. Others have also brought up the subject of spelling/grammar errors in articles on LuLa. I've found that for people that do not have English as their first language, correct spelling and grammar is even more important.

Sometimes I'm reading through an article engrossed in the writing, only to come across an error. Thoughts then usually go along the line of "WTF?!", I skim the rest of the article and don't go back.

If it doesn't make any difference to you, well good for you.

[Kevin Raber]

Dreed,  It does make a difference.  But, we don't catch everything and we are only a few people.  I have some ideas on how to improve things in that regard but I have to see if I can implement it.  In the meantime if you see something that needs attention then drop me an email I'll see that it get corrected. 

Kevin

[BJL]

Let me join the chorus of enthusiasm for the forthcoming redesign; I cannot recall a website redesign that received so much enthusiasm and so little criticism from its forum's old guard!

But in the spirit of polite, non-trolling disagreement:

... when I last checked, the word "woman" wasn't an adjective

The curmudgeon in me agrees, but my pragmatic side accepts that this has become a common usage -- perhaps because the more technically correct "female" can come across as a bit clinical and dehumanizing.  (It is like my quixotic complaints about the displacement of both the noun "effect" and the verb "affect" in favor of a redefined "impact".)

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... my pragmatic side accepts that this has become a common usage -- perhaps because the more technically correct "female" ...

Pardon this English-as-second-language member for interjecting, but isn't the issue here much simpler, i.e., a typo, or auto-correct that corrected the intended "women contributors" into "woman..."

[ErikKaffehr]

General comment…

My english is decent, I guess, but not good enough to be upset about grammar. In general, I am more concerned about bad information than misspelling and bad grammar.

My take is that LuLa makes a decent work on both issues, decently good info and decently good language.

Best regards
Erik

Pardon this English-as-second-language member for interjecting, but isn't the issue here much simpler, i.e., a typo, or auto-correct that corrected the intended "women contributors" into "woman..."

[jjj]

Michael, I really doubt that dysfunctional folk with a poison axe would last long here.

The evidence says otherwise. I have had people write nasty abusive posts to me over long periods of time and yet they are still present.
I can't see their hate filled bile as I now block them, but they seem to carry on upsetting others. Ho hum.

You know, I’m starting to believe in all that “Law of Attraction” B.S. that has been spreading over the last decade or so. My first post here in nearly 3 years, and already I have have someone disagreeing with what I’ve said, just because it doesn’t jive with their own personal experience. It is also a perfect example of the sad Fact that so many of us can’t really “hear” the other person, or, we just hear what we want to hear. It’s like, “Hey, if it never happened to me or anybody I know, then it can’t happen.”

That's the typical response of one barking mad poster on here.

[jjj]

Thanks God you're going to abandon the visually stressful practice of making us read reams of white type on a black background just because it purportedly makes color images look better.

A thousands thanks for that from me too. Reading reverse text online is awful.

Something I have found somewhat contradictory about this site is how extremely well and informatively Michael writes about camera ergonomics/design and yet LuLa is so very poorly designed. It looks and feels like a website done by someone in the last century who had no idea about design, but had some software that let them do web layout. Much like giving someone who has no idea or ability about photography a fancy camera and then letting them exhibit in a gallery.

[jjj]

Again, I can only go by personal experience and thankfully I've yet to. I wonder why?

I've called people out on posting opinions as facts, being nasty to to others, being apologists for rapists and so on and guess what, they got even more unpleasant. Others simply take it personally if you have a different view on life.
Some people let bullies and bigots carry on, I don't put up with it in real life or online. This tends to ruffle feathers. But the point is that some quite unpleasant individuals carry on posting despite what was otherwise asserted.