Appearance of Alamy website in Australia vs UK version

[Sally Robertson]

Hi All,

 

I'm returning to Alamy after leaving in 2021 to give it another go. I have noticed a major difference between viewing images on the Australian version of Alamy and the UK version. When I am not logged into Alamy I see the Australian version, when I am logged in I get the UK version where licence options are in pounds instead of dollars.

 

In the Australian version when you click on a thumbnail you then get a much larger image than you see in the UK version. If you then zoom that image it is super large, filling almost the entire computer screen. When I am logged in I only get the UK version where the images appear smaller but still quite adequate for viewing.

 

To me the smaller display size actually looks better. Understandably the images are low res for the purposes of display, but when shown super large this does have the effect of them looking quite low quality. I feel images display better and look more appealing to buyers in the UK version. As someone making images here in Australia I can't help wondering whether the very large, but poorer quality appearance of the images in the Australian version could be a discouragement to potential buyers.

 

I am wondering if others outside the UK, when not logged into Alamy themselves, actually see the images displayed larger in their own country's version of the Alamy website?

 

I have thought of asking Alamy about the difference in display between Australia and the UK and whether it would be beneficial for the Australian version to match the UK display, but thought would initially just see if this is an issue in other countries outside the UK and what others think of the difference in appearance (if there is one in your country).

[Betty LaRue]

On 27/10/2023 at 01:27, Sally Robertson said:

Hi All,

 

I'm returning to Alamy after leaving in 2021 to give it another go. I have noticed a major difference between viewing images on the Australian version of Alamy and the UK version. When I am not logged into Alamy I see the Australian version, when I am logged in I get the UK version where licence options are in pounds instead of dollars.

 

In the Australian version when you click on a thumbnail you then get a much larger image than you see in the UK version. If you then zoom that image it is super large, filling almost the entire computer screen. When I am logged in I only get the UK version where the images appear smaller but still quite adequate for viewing.

 

To me the smaller display size actually looks better. Understandably the images are low res for the purposes of display, but when shown super large this does have the effect of them looking quite low quality. I feel images display better and look more appealing to buyers in the UK version. As someone making images here in Australia I can't help wondering whether the very large, but poorer quality appearance of the images in the Australian version could be a discouragement to potential buyers.

 

I am wondering if others outside the UK, when not logged into Alamy themselves, actually see the images displayed larger in their own country's version of the Alamy website?

 

I have thought of asking Alamy about the difference in display between Australia and the UK and whether it would be beneficial for the Australian version to match the UK display, but thought would initially just see if this is an issue in other countries outside the UK and what others think of the difference in appearance (if there is one in your country).

I’m in the U.S. my thumbnails are normal…not the super large ones you speak of. Whether logged in or not.

[Sally Robertson]

Thank you Betty, It seems maybe particular to how Alamy appears in Australia. The thumbnails look ok but it is when you click to view the image you get a much bigger picture, and an enormous one that fills the screen when zoomed. As a result the image looks quite degraded. Anyway, hopefully most potential buyers will work out it is only the display and they can also download a preview which looks better. I can always ask Alamy at some point about the difference in display.

[spacecadet]

46 minutes ago, Sally Robertson said:

when you click to view the image you get a much bigger picture, and an enormous one that fills the screen when zoomed.

Do you mean you're doing a browser right-click zoom yourself on the big picture you get on clicking? You're not expected to do that. The big picture (mine is about 90% of the height of the browser window) is as big as you're supposed to see, and mine look sharp at that size. They are automatically sized to the browser window and will fall apart if you zoom in much more.

Which browser are you on?

Edited October 30, 2023 by spacecadet

[Sally Robertson]

Hi spacecadet,

 

I'm using Safari. No, I'm not doing a browser right-click zoom. It is the regular zoom function of just clicking on the image to make it larger on the Alamy website. But even without doing that the image looks lower quality in the Australian version.

 

I'm finding a few discrepancies between Alamy as seen in the Australian version and the British version that it changes to when I'm logged in. One of my images does not appear in any search results in the Australian version but comes up on the first page of the British version. It is of an Australian maned duck. If you search for 'Australian maned duck' in the British version you get 355 results, but in the Australian version you only get 309. I've emailed Alamy about that and sent screenshots and they are looking into it.