Flickr gets new UI, new Android app, 1 TB free space

Currently, I pay $25 for a year's worth of unlimited photo storage and being ad-free. With this new plan, I have to pay twice as much for what I have now...because even as a 3+ year (almost 4 now) member, I haven't uploaded enough to fill a terabyte. Kind of a bummer, though allowing more than 200 photos (which was the Free offering until now) is absolutely critical for Flickr to be a success.

edit: one of the things I complained about was how the horizontal-masonry that was implemented months (if not a year) ago had been limited to just parts of the site...and how the default logged in userpage was dull and photoless...with the new redesign, both of these complaints are wiped out. Nicely done Yahoo, I will complain more on HN in the future.

edit2: Unless I'm missing something obvious, I don't see a "let me see the old version for now" button...Which I think underscores my opinion of how outdated the old site design was.

It'd take 291 years to fill up the 1TB allowance: https://www.google.com/search?q=1TB+%2F+(300+MB%2Fmonth)

(Also looks like there's a missing </ul> on that limits page, there.)

Edit: Looks like the page is being edited right this moment - the page used to list the 300MB/month limit but was also mentioning the new account types, at the same time. Guess they forgot to review all the text

I think this a well-thought idea to -- get more social.

Also with this move, it might push Google users to consider syncing and sharing their photos to Flickr now. Google gives 5GB for high-resolution, i.e original quality photos, Yahoo is giving 1TB, but think yahoo ads.

Any such kind of service is a lock-in ( platform level, so more control) and maybe they integrate tumblr strongly with photos? ( again a deeper lock-in to yahoo only core-products).

All this means -- they are back into Internet business.

From the past 2 days, there were enormous analysis around Yahoo, its principles were questioned, so did this all reach the board and the top management? :)

This is incredible. I remember being blown away with the 1 GB of storage I got with my gmail account back in 2005. I couldn't even fathom needing a terabyte back then. What a fun time to be alive.

Obviously I can't compete with that free space which they're giving out. Instead I'm going to stick to a lesser free plan and a sensible subscription price, and hope that people realise that I actually aim to make a profitable business out of it and stick around for a good long while.

If anyone's interested I'd be grateful for any/all feedback, or any questions about what Photographer.io can offer over Flickr. Obviously it's still in beta, but I figure I should probably let people know that it exists.

EDIT: If you tried to sign up, I apologise if it was broken. I pushed a fix for something else a few hours ago and managed to break the sign up form (clearly it needs better testing). The patch is going up now, and you should be able to sign up again shortly.

Artistic images need space, especially images that aren't meant to be place together. Otherwise their color would collide with each other and ruin the visual experience for them.

If flickr wants to become a social network that features family photos maybe that's the right layout, but I think most of the pro users weren't paying $25 a year for that purpose.

Flickr is no longer a valid place to share pictures for photographers who care about their visual quality. That made me really sad today.

Also, it looks like Pro accounts will still be available to existing Pro subscribers... for the time being, at least.

From the FAQ:

> I’ve heard that Flickr Pro is no longer being offered. How does that affect me?

> Starting on 5/20/2013, we will no longer be offering new Flickr Pro subscriptions. After that point, the following things will happen:

> Recurring Pro users currently have the ability to renew.

> Eligible Pro members have the option to switch to a Free account until 8/20/2013.

> The “Gift of Pro” will no longer be available for purchase.

> Pro users will no longer appear with a “Pro” badge beside their name or buddy icon.

So what happens after 8/20/2013?

Anyway, then there's this:

> What happens if my Pro Account expires?

> If your Pro account expires, don't panic! None of your photos or videos have been deleted!

> This means instead of enjoying the super-duper capacity of your Pro account, you're now subject to the limits of a free account. If you upgrade again, all of your photos will be waiting for you.

> Any of your sets that disappeared will magically reappear when you renew or upgrade.

OK, so it sounds like they'll give existing Pro subscribers the opportunity to renew.

When I signed up : "You will never lose access to your high res photos".

A few years ago : "Sign up for pro if you want access to high res photos".

Is this a sign that Yahoo isn't going to keep fucking things up?

What’s the difference between a Free, Ad Free, and Doublr account?

There are three kinds of accounts to choose from at Flickr, and all of them are awesome in their own way.

Free: 1 Terabyte of photo and video storage Upload photos of up to 200MB per photo Upload 1080p HD videos of up to 1GB each Video playback of up to 3 minutes each Upload and download in full original quality

Ad Free: $49.99 per year All the benefits of a free account No ads in your browsing experience Doublr:

$499.99 per year 2 Terabytes of photo and video space All the benefits of a free account

Links: [1] http://www.flickr.com/help/limits/#150470666

Looks like yahoo just screwed up the last good thing they had. This will be my last year with this service (I've been a member since 2004 and have had a pro account for several years now).

Marissa Mayer is doing a fabulous job.

Putting products first, like she should.

Wow....just wow!

Naturally the 1 TB storage is a trick. I can't imagine more than a handful of hardcore users filling up that space, but the feeling of not having to worry about deleting old files significantly contributes to a great user experience.

Or perhaps a little more practically, a WordPress/Joomla/Drupal/whatever plugin to use Flickr as a CDN?

"As a Pro Member, your subscription remains the same. You'll enjoy unlimited space for your photos and videos, detailed stats and an ad-free experience. However, you can switch to a Free account before August 20, 2013."

I can't understand what this is supposed to mean. But it sounds like the pro account, which provided unlimited storage for $25/yr, is going away. I wonder what they do about pro members who already have more than 1 or 2 TB of usage now?

If you've been using Flickr as a social tool, making and getting lots of comments, I could see you being a bit upset with the decreased emphasis on social features in the new layout. I wonder what effect these changes will have on the level of social interaction on the site. I also wonder if it was a planned deemphasis, or just an inadvertent consequence of expanding the space given over to the picture.

#1 being

Don’t use Flickr to sell. If we find you engaging in commercial activity, we will warn you or delete your account. Some examples include selling products, services, or yourself through your photostream or in a group, using your account solely as a product catalog, or linking to commercial sites in your photostream. If you engage in commercial activity elsewhere on the internets or in the real world, you’re still welcome on Flickr—in fact, we’ve even set up some best practices especially for you.

http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne

...which definitely takes some steam out of the previous "pro" account.

I've been pursuing photography as a serious hobby for just over 7 years. I'm not expecting to make tons of money in on-line sales; I just hate displaying most of my things with those handcuffs on.

I used to upload all over the place and just crave the attention of the favorites and likes, etc. Now I am more selective of what photos I publish and where. I'm much more interested in a gallery type offering. Most of my casual photos that I would think about posting back to flickr are already on Facebook or G+ where my friends and family can see them.

Unless.. they assume that only a very small percentage of people will use it. So if on average, everyone still only uses about 1GB of space, then a 500gb you can get for $45. $45/500 = .09 so about 10 cents per person. With 25 million users that is about a $2.5 million investment.

If the average user uses 10GB then that is $1.00 per person though. With 25 million users that is about a $25 million investment.

BUT PLEASE PLEASE fix the iPhone app which, after their new update earlier this year, no longer lets you upload video!

Anyhow hats off to Yahoo for trying to make things right after several years of stagnation. I'm aware the Flickr team have lost some valuable members and that probably affected future plans but that's a different story.

As for what I believe, I REALLY hope Yahoo keeps it up, but I like rooting for the underdog...ditch the contract with bing searches, and redesign the homepage already. Keep up the good PR...now back it with the good products

I think they are putting the cart before the horse in thinking that upping the storage and redesigning the interface is going to increase their user base. That said, kudos for trying something. I think that Yahoo! continues to struggle with a singular product strategy and that is ultimately causing them to hemorrhage billions of dollars chasing ill-conceived product acquisition.

I routinely hunt for creative commons / copyrighted images for ads and commercial use on flickr (yes, that means contacting each and every photographer to purchase rights). I've spent a minimum of over one hundred hours tediously going through the search results. Flickr has one of the worst search engine algorithms I've ever seen. It's dumb beyond all reason. I'll search for "Mountain View Lake" and get a page full of "Asian Children". I mean it's really random.

The new design is great: modern and a little bit more flat for a modern look. I was actually kinda bummed because like....they got rid of the Pro badges....oh well. My photo gallery stands out and looks pretty sharp. Well done, Flickr.

Anyway to sum it up, these changes are nice. And with a free 'old Pro' features, they're definitely a no brainer. I think any photographer can enjoy these changes as much as any casual photo sharer. Yahoo does it again!

Can anybody compare them with facebook's or picasa / google+'s default privacy settings ?

Edit: I've made a bunch of comments as replies to this one. My conclusion is that New Flickr's privacy-friendliness is just barely above Facebook's.

However, they haven't yet demonstrated _continuing_ willingness (as Facebook has) to default to lower-privacy options as they iterate.

If they notice that I've locked down most of my privacy / sharing settings and then take an educated guess at what I want the default to be when they launch a new feature with a privacy slider ("we've set this to 'only family' for you based off your choices for settings X, Y, and Z."), that would be sweet.

That said, I still love the fact that something is happening to the site. Just like 500px, I think such sites are great to get feedback and exposure, just a little awkward when it comes to really calling them home.

However, $49.99 a year just for the privilege of getting no ads? Compared to the $25 people pay for Pro accounts, that's way overblown.

And yes, compared to cloud storage, given 1 TB of storage, this is rather cheap. However, considering that this storage can only be used for photos and videos and that most of these photos and videos are meant to be public, at least within your circle of friends, which drives more traffic to Flickr, well I consider $50 per year to be way too much.

While I am able to keep my subscription for now, I always thought that Flickr is sustainable because they value their Pro users and this move makes me think they don't.

With $0.080 per GB per month it is 0.08204812 = $1966 per year

And that is just storage. Flickr provides lot more than just storage. So $500 per year does sound reasonable and 1TB free sounds like a crazy good offer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/getdavidhiggins/

I disagree with people claiming Flickr is just for pictures of Daffodils and Sunsets. I just dump memes and humorous pics there.

Unlike many haters out on the HN forums these days I'm actually really excited to see what comes of this.

I look forward to seeing if this change proves to be more than skin deep.

Edit: along with copy inconsistencies pointed out in other comments (concerning some important aspects such as new policies, esp. regarding paying customers), this makes me worry. From my experience, Flickr generally has been very consistent about their UX. I hope the redesign is just a minor screw-up.

0: http://media.tumblr.com/d5fe504880017bde458c113a94094cbc/tum...

Quick second impressions: I kinda miss lots of the information I used to have. I don't get why there are still pages after scrolling for a while. Some of the old interface still bleeds through a bit. Looks like it's being actively worked on (even after launch).

Space is impressive, I haven't even gotten close to hitting that much with my pro account let alone a free one.

I wish they'd fix the crappy upload app.

Than next image button (when you'r not zoomed in) looks like it's ajax, but it's not.

I loved Flickr for easy to use light design, I don't care about 1TB, too much because I don't want to share so much on the Internet. So new Flick is lost me as a customer.

I've had the Pro account since pre-acquisition days, and I have to admit there was something strangely comforting in a predicable UX that never changes...

FB gets away with major UX changes from time to time (people seem to always hate them at first), it will be interesting to see if Yahoo gets away with this too.

"Ad Free" just sounds like a bland name.

Does the paid membership make your browsing experience ad free or prevent ads from showing on your profile on photos? I could see the latter allowing for much cleaner and professional galleries.

Why do tech companies not want to take my money these days?

The concept of 'free' on the Internet is changing. Users will now happily pay because they don't want another service dying because of no sustainable income.

Even if Yahoo can sustain themselves with their exabyte-era data-centers. I don't care. I just want a pro / premium option, and I want one soon.

This was already mentioned with Facebook Home, but it'd be great if UI designers and developers would actually spend some time on their target platforms to learn the UI conventions instead of copying iOS as-is.

I'm slightly terrified Pro will go away; none of the new plans is at all appealing to me. I'd switch to 500px or self-host entirely, but that's a lot of work.

Now, to get all the same benefits that I was getting for $25/year, I can just degrade to a free account? I guess this assumes that there are a lot of mobile users now and installing ad-blockers on mobile is much more difficult.

Still, what a strange decision.

I really don't understand why it's missing.

For some reason I'm following their progress for over a month already. Sneaky, their progress bar has gone backwards one time. As if nobody would notice! I wish them all the best though.

I'm now VERY annoyed I didn't; I'd have had 2 more years of "pro", and with it the one feature I enjoyed looking at which is my stats page with referrer info etc.

That no longer seems to be an option at all.

And so encountered Yahoo's terrible login system for Australian users. No 1TB for me.

This is a strange view of business: Take what people are happy to pay for, then give it to them for free.

Of course she posted it, because she has a super-positive personal brand/image in popular media. Just curious how much of this is her.

Edit: In fact the second link also links to flick.com.

Certainly. I imagine flickrstore.py in my near future - it'd be like megaupload (was) without the nagware.

At least in OSX, I recently downloaded it and it shows me the old 300MB limit (left this month.)

I paid for Pro until 07/2014 I hope they don't switch me to Free a year early !

Wow!

I wonder if there are any strings attached.

So, will they get more traffic now?

People resist change but I really believe the old interface was more photographically inclined! The new interface looks like, how do I say it..., a little too much or just loud, trying to be hip or sth or web n.0. Whatever.

Someone needs to tell me the logic behind Ad-free and Doublr plans' pricing because I just failed to the point! Or it's a typing error, Yahoo might fix in a week or so?

Good to see some change and work at Flickr!.

http://www.bestvpnservice.com/blog/google-internet-privacy-i...