In efforts to make Flickr "awesome again," Yahoo unveiled today their new and re-imagined Flickr with a new design and new features. Some of the major design changes include a new homepage featuring large images posted by your friends, new beautiful profile photosteam and new photo pages. Flickr also announced each user will get 1 Terabyte of storage for free, with the ability to upload hi-res photos, and many of them.
Since Yahoo! acquired Flickr back in 2005, almost no changes were made to the service or the design of the website. This decision to keep Flickr as was for so many years caused the service to fall behind and thereby losing its popularity and its users. Yahoo's new CEO, Marissa Mayer, promised to do everything to make Flickr awesome again, and today she proved she wasn’t just talking big - she really meant it.
So, let’s see what are some of the new things on Flickr:
HOME
The Home screen got a major face lift and looks nothing like what it had for the past 6 years. The "recent activity" space was removed and replaced with an endless feed of big, uncropped images posted by your friends. Also Flickr added a few neat new features including the ability to share or comment right from the home page without having to click on the image and go to a different page.
Also on the page: random groups you are part of, people you may know and the most recent blog post by Flickr.
Pros: It's great to see large images and gain the ability to comment, favorite or share without having to go to additional pages.
Cons: One of the things I liked the most about the old Flickr was the fact I was able to see all the recent activity (comments, favorites) right on the main page. I used to go to Flickr.com a few times a day just to see what’s new and who left a comment on my images. Another useful tool I liked on the old Flickr was the Stats, which was located right on the top of the page. Now to access both features, I need to find them in the dropdown under the "you" menu. I have no idea why Flickr decided to bury these two great and, to me, useful features.
PHOTOSTREAM
No more web 1.0 look and feel here. The new Photostream is now ‘Justified’ - all the images in the photostream are aligned to form a wall of (uncropped) photos, similar to what you see at the 500px homepage. In addition, Flickr added a cover photo to the photostream, similar to Facebook and Google+. You can choose cover photos from your stream or upload a new one. Another minor change is having a bigger profile image. If you uploaded your profile photo long time ago, this is the time to change it.
Pros: The new photostream page looks beautiful and easy on the eyes. It will make people scroll through different photostreams more often and will finally make people feel like they’re surfing a website that was built in 2013 and not something trapped in the early 2000s.
Cons: For some reason, unlike the homepage, when clicking on the commenting icon it takes you to the photo page. Also unlike the great features on the homepage people can’t favorite images directly from the photostream.
PHOTO PAGES
The new photo page features large, hi-res images on a black background. All the other features and details are hidden down below and users will have to scroll down to see the description, tags or comments.
Pros: Flickr wanted people to be able to enjoy hi-res images and enjoy being able to focus just on that. Seeing large images like this is great- Total success on this matter.
Cons: I don’t like the fact people have to scroll down to see there is more on that page other than the image - it seems like it will make interaction with the images decrease, and I expect to get less comments from now on.
Also, I personally don't like the fact half of the page is black and half white. It looks messy. Flickr should decide what is their background color, and make sure it stays the same all through the website. The way it is right now makes me feel like I clicked something wrong by mistake.
Another issue is the fact all the useful tools we used to have on the top are now under one dropdown (more like dropup) button located somewhere on the bottom of the black screen.
The last con is the fact I couldn't find an easy or intuitive way to go back to the photostream.
SEARCH
The search page got the same face-lifting the photostream got. All the results are now justified, and organized like a wall of images. Also, there are no more pages. The result feed is endless and will continue to show results as long as you keep scrolling.
Pros: Looks great and makes users want to scroll through more images.
Cons: Not being able to comment right from the result page like it’s possible on the homepage.
LOGO
Many of you probably won’t notice, or care. But Flickr’s logo is now black and white. No more blue and pink.
STORAGE
Flickr now offers a whopping 1TB of storage, for free. Users are now able to upload images as big as 200MB each (the limit used to be 50MB per image) and Flickr promises to keep the images in their best quality. This is a major change, and I think it's a great one. Users who want to have more storage can pay $499.99 per year to get a 'Doublr' account with 2 Terabytes of photo and video space.
NO MORE FLICKR PRO
Flickr Pro ($25 per year) used to have many features free users didn't have: stats, no ads, unlimited photo and video uploads and the ability to replace photos. As of today, FREE and PRO users will have the same exact features with one difference: Pro users won't see ads. Starting on 5/20/13, Flickr will no longer be offering new Flickr Pro subscriptions. Pro members have the option to switch to a Free account until 8/20/13. Existing Pro users who want to have no ads on their Flickr will be able to renew their subscription and it will cost $49.99 per year.
Do you like Flickr's new changes? Will you use Flickr more or less now? Let us know in the comments below.
![Israel No Longer Appears On Flickr Maps [UPDATE: Been Re-Added!]](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/small-16-9/s3/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fs-flickr-maps-israel21.jpg)
Whoa you had me worried when you mentioned the rate of $499.99 per year... I was thinking Flickr gots to be joking then I saw where it was mentioned for $49.99 whew...
it costs $499.99 per year to double your space with another 1TB
Still though, I feel like if we've been on Flickr Pro for X years we should see a little discount on Pro aka non-ad version of the site.
You read it right. $49/year for ad-free, $499/year for 1 additional TB.
$499.99 - beyond Wow...
Screw adfree, I'm running Ad Block+ in Chrome :)
It seems that is still the cheapest you can get 2TB anywhere from what I read in another article. Google would charge $1200 (99.99/month). Pretty amazing actually to undercut them by more than half.
Oh damn, I see that now
IMO, all the self-proclaimed successful bloggers / FB pages of major companies will now go to flickr for hi-rez photos, instead of digging deep into the google search engine.
It does look great, we have to give them that (even if it`s not groundbreaking). But it will still be the place where people go if they need a hug.
And the new 1TB service is CLEARLY targeted at soccer moms (and the likes) that have no idea how to resize a D800 36MP file.
LOL, but it is easier for everyone to just not resize. I know I won't be resizing anymore now. I gave up doing that a while back anyway since it was a pain to do it and to maintain multiple copies of everything on my own computer also. And my buddies can download full size that way, etc. I'm betting that since it's easier, it will compete better.
flickr looks cool, but I wonder, how about backup my photostream? as in downloading it to my computer... more sites are including that feature nowadays.
So happy my autopayment to Flickr came out of my account today! I can't believe this.
Yeah, I just renewed for 2 years about a month ago... >< Wish I hadn't bothered.
You can cancel and you'll get a refund! I did and have already rec'd my refund!
1TB of is cool… but storage isn't the reason I left Flickr.
I dont know why, but I'm just not rooting for Yahoo to dig itself out of their grave. (All the spams in email/messaging and complicated login issues just got to me i guess. But I do feel that this is the first time I actually felt Marissa Meyer made a move that deserved the praise she's been getting)
well put
Agree, and Tumblr. Yahoo is going for it and going with their strengths which is what they should do.
I'll stick with 500px, thanks :)
So, if I recently paid for my Pro account, I have to change to a "free" account by 8/20/13? What if I want to change at the end of the year I already paid for? I don't use it enough to double what I've been paying.
I've been navigating around the new Flickr today. It does look nice, but it took some time to find functions that were previously easy to find. I guess it will be a learning curve, just like everything else.
I was wondering about the same issue...bought my first year of pro this February....if i don't go for free in august...will I loose the free Terabyte ?
I think you're misunderstanding. Pro is now Ad-Free. Free and Pro/Ad-Free all get 1TB *no matter what*. You won't lose that 1TB. You just won't be ad-free anymore.
It's $500 USD/year to add space. You can buy a domain name, along with unlimited hosting and bandwidth, for much less than that per year.
I did some research myself. Since I have a Rro account I would have unlimited space for as long as keep my subscription continuous, if not, I would revert to the 1TB version without the ever having the option to go unlimited again ( just Ad-free or Doublr ). But honestly 1TB is more than enough for me. I suppose I don't get anything back if I revert to free right now, so I might as well enjoy my Ad-free till next year. Thank you for you answer anyways.
I changed yesterday from "Pro" to free and got a pro-rated refund.
Well I'm new to Flickr, as in never used so I'm impressed. Just wondered what everyone's feelings on uploading big, hi res images are. On FB I usually save for web and try to keep the files under 1m but if I'm to start using these sites for my work what's the recommended size? Obviously I'd like to get noticed but at the same time I don't want to destroy the planet!
It seems that they forgot to update the mobile version of their site.
"Existing Pro users who want to have no ads on their Flickr will be able to renew their subscription and it will cost $49.99 per year." Nope - it costs only 29,95 $... (Please, correct me if I'm wrong)
It used to cost $29.95 USD/year. As of now, it's gone up to $49.99/year, which is almost how much it used to cost for two years of Pro.
...ok, now I know the issue - if you as existing Pro user let automatically renew your abo it'll cost 29,95 $!
wow, about time!
1 TB free just sounds unbelievable to me, I remember when my imac had a 4gig harddrive.
Pro users still get stats, unlimited uploads, and no weekly bandwidth cap. So its more than just the lack of ads that differentiate it from the free accounts.
But free users will have all of that now, as well. So the only perk to a Pro account will be the lack of ads, which means it makes no sense to buy a Pro/Ad-Free account; you can just add an adblocker plugin/app to your browser if you want to get rid of ads.
No, only old pro accounts have unlimited space.
quote:
Which Features are Still Limited to Flickr Pro?
The old Flickr Pro accounts included unlimited storage space, and that means it can exceed 1TB.
Flickr Pro users also get to view view counts and referrer statistics for their images. Lots of professionals often like this feature because it shows where a photo has been used or linked across the web.
Flickr Pro users can replace photos (without having to reupload), archive high-resolution original images and enjoy an ad-free experience.
In addition to unlimited storage and bandwidth, Flickr Pro members will be able to take advantage of the new upload limits. That means that photos can now be up to 200MB in size and 1GB per video.
Soo, I'm paying for something that people are getting for free? And if I want any of the advantages, the price has gone UP? I definitely won't be renewing my subscription then. Way to lose a formerly loyal user, Flickr.
Nice Capture! ! !
This article took my BREATH away! You deserve a SUPER HAPPY HAPPY FUN AWARD!
׺°”˜`”°º×( BEST EVAR ARTICLE!!1 )׺°”˜`”°º×
Now seriously, Flickr's back ;)
Oh yeah, also she said "“There’s no such thing as Flickr Pro today because [with so many people taking photographs] there’s really no such thing as professional photographers anymore,”
She did? Oh, dear God.
Geezus Christos. Her move is for the broad spectrum of users who want a free place to post their pics, her move only benefits the user...sorry you wanted to pay to use extra storage space.
What an idiot!!! So sorry she's from my state...
Well you can't deny the line is blurring definitely, just like with journalism/blogging. Lots more people can call themselves professional photographers now with the way tech is going. Someone can purchase Joe Schmo's photo on flickr through the Getty Images link. Under one definition, if they sold their work, they're a professional. There are downsides and upsides to this change, but it's happening one way or another.
Anyone know if the privacy settings changed?
Unfortunately though, Flickr's (Yahoo) CEO has said "No such thing as professional photographers".
Nice way to get rid of customers.
Awe feelings hurt? If her words bother you then you must live a rough life. Flickr is geared for everyone and anyone.
Erm, what? You must have a rough life if my words bother you.
Yep you nailed it on the head! Come on, get over yourself...let internet words or the words of some CEO determine what free product you choose to use?! lol shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii*
It will be a hell of a lot scrolling!
Too bad you can still right click and STEAL!
Disabling right-click doesn't do a damn thing to prevent "stealing" and you know it. If you don't want your work stolen don't post it online.
Come on, it makes it just a little tougher. I betcha that making something easier to steal will cause it to be stolen more often. No reason to think about this only in terms of absolutes.
I know this was already posted, but it just blows me away.
“There’s no such thing as Flickr Pro today because [with so many people taking photographs] there’s really no such thing as professional photographers anymore,” Mayer said (though she acknowledged that there are “different skill levels”).--
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer
www.travisdewitz.com/photography-projects
$50 simply for the removal of ads is nonsense. They could at least give you something more, such as the ability to post a video longer than 3 darn minutes.