new flickr

i rarely make a lot of fuss when websites get revamped, eventually all will in one way or the other. mostly for the better, at least in some ways and the rest one gets used to, after a while. and after all, many website services are free, even if we as users are providing the website with their business, for free.

the other day flickr was launched with a new design. and i can't stand it. it's fugly with a claustrophobic feeling - pretty much everything i dislike with the flickr app has been adopted by the website - it has an awkward look and i loath infinite scrolling. the old interface is still very much a part of flickr and it all looks very messy and confusing as far as i'm concerned.

so far i've come across so many bugs i don't know where to begin grumping (my "favourite" might be the one where you try to change the layout to a more manageable one and it only sticks until you edit a picture then it's back to the awful infinite scrollingness. or you follow a change your layout link and end up with "oops it looks like you followed a bad link").

basically, at this stage, the only thing i like with the new design is the option to make a new cover/header.

in my opinion flickr just isn't a user friendly, easy to navigate website that offers a simple way to manage a substantial amount of photos anymore. it takes ages to edit picture details and obviously a vast amount of time doing it, which makes it massively offputting from the start. unlike before the photos and pages take forever loading. of course things can improve, but what's the point of launching something that clearly is far from ready to be launched with its bugs galore? to me it just seems highly unprofessional, premature and haphazardly done.

and, like so often in this world, why making a massive overhaul of something that basically just needed a bit of modernisation and tweaking to be awesome? newsflash, just because something is supposedly more modern looking it doesn't mean it's better or more user friendly. this is certainly one of the big drawbacks and misconceptions of the internet (and people's view on the world i'd say); just because something is new it doesn't mean it's better, brighter, smarter and more useable. 

to be honest i don't care much about a free terabyte, the pro account offered limitless storage anyway. and full resolution photos, well, how about the resolution limits set by the computer screen. if you're interested in the new/old flickr accounts this article might answer some of the questions regarding that and pricing.

i've been on flickr since 2007 with a pro account - which has been an affordable service indeed - and i have almost 30.000 photos uploaded. countless hours spent uploading, editing, blogging, communicating in different groups, admiring the never ending talent, creativity and quality of other people's photos. for me flickr has been both a great extra security online backup for my photos, a portfolio and of course an endless source of inspiration and awe.

i fear that has come to an end. i hope i'm wrong, time will tell, but i have a distinct feeling that flickr and i will not be happy together anymore. which actually makes me quite sad.

what's your opinion on new flickr?