For almost a year now I’ve been a Flickr Pro member. I paid my annual tariff and upload at will with a happy Pro tag next to my name.

A few weeks ago Flickr released a new version, with a revised interface and layout, and cheekily moved from Beta to Gamma. I suppose someone had to do it.

This past week I’ve been poking around in Flickr much more than I usually do. I uploaded some new photos and checked out some photos of friends’ trips, kids, adventures, etc. The new layout, where you can see more photos on the same page, rocks. The new dropdown menus once you’re logged in, they rocks too. The new feature that lets you track all your comments on others’ photos to see when they respond, that’s genius.

But the way I found all these fancy new features typifies my experience with Flickr: I am frustrated and and delighted at once.

Some Flickr functions I just can’t figure out right away and struggle around with for awhile (frustrated). Or I don’t notice them at all. I use the site oblivious to their goodness lurking right there. Then, one day, I discover them. Huzzah! (delighted) A new way of doing something or working with the site that brings more pleasure to the whole experience. By just poking around I find new ways to like the site more.

And therein lies the paradox in designing good web experiences. How to provide access to all the goodness without overwhelming? How to highlight the new without getting in the way of the cleanliness? How to add to the experience or modify the experience without upsetting the order and habits of your customers?

I don’t know if I have the answer. I have an answer that would work for me – show me it all! I can take it and figure out what to do with it. Let me have it! But I’m note necessarily typical and I’m a data point of one. What I want and what will work for me isn’t what many others will want or what will work for them.

Is there a solution for the paradox of new versions? I suppose the best way yet to address it is to embrace the iterate-early, iterate-often, iterate-in-the-wild philosophy popularized by firms like 37 Signals and representative of the lightweight, socially focused development of Web 2.0. That way the feedback loop is shorter, more immediate and more focused on the small changes, and the builders can be more responsive. So far, that’s the best we’ve come up with.