This new feature will prove to be one of the most used on F-Swap.  As you browse events, you can now click on the star under any photo that you like and by doing so add it to your favorites list.  Another click of the star will remove it from your favorites.  Then in the left column, you can change the filtering settings from “all photos” to “my favorites” and see only the photos that you’ve starred.  Your favorites are saved to your account, so they will be there on future visits and any other computer you log in on.  Why is this helpful?

Well, a lot of the functionality on the site requires you to select the photos you want.   If you want to download the high resolution versions, download the photos at a size of your choice, order prints, export your photos to flickr or facebook, you have to first select the photos you want.  For a big event like a wedding, there could be hundreds of photos to browse.  This could take a long time and you might want to come back to it later or even another day.  You might want to show your selections to someone else before printing them.  The “add to favorites” feature lets you save your selections so you don’t have to review all the photos in one sitting.

Saving your selections can be especially helpful if new photos are being uploaded over time.  You can select the ones you want so far, and as you are alerted to new photos being added, add any of these to your favorites list, then download or print or whatever, once the trickle of new photos has slowed.Favorites are great for reviewing your photos in the present, not just for saving selections over time.  Now you can just see the photos you’ve selected without all the ones you’ve passed over inbetween.  This also applies to viewing the larger versions of photos.  If you are only showing your favorites and zoom in on a photo, you can then navigate through only your favorites as a slideshow, either with your arrow keys or by clicking the arrows on screen.

All in all, one of the most useful new features we’ve added to the website.  We hope you find it as helpful as we have.