SmugMug or Zenfolio?

nuttyboy78

nuttyboy78

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nutty
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It's website changing time again. My existing website was created on iWeb and while I do like it, I host it on MobileMe (which will cease to offer we hosting facilities in a few months) and every time I want to make a change, I have to update it on my computer and reupload the whole damn thing. Which puts me off making changes.

I figured that since I'm paying about £50 a year for the MobileMe subscription, that would be what I'd be looking to pay for the new service as well. My main need is for a place to host my 'photos as a hobby' as well as my travel photos.

Looking at the available options, SmugMug and Zenfolio look like the thing I'm looking for. I had my heart set on SmugMug but found out that it doesn't allow nested folders which is something I would like to have. The pricing on Zenfolio is a bit crazy - it's $50 or £50 or €50 depending on which currency we choose. I'm not really sure how this works.

Anyway, my question to you experts out there is - which of the two do you thinks better for my needs and if you explain the reasons why, I'd be very grateful.
 
Anyone?
 
wordpress
 
boliston said:
Pbase is good for doing nested folders and is good for galleries but does not have the same "social" side as some of the other photo sharing sites.
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Had a look at pbase but it looks a bit dated. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
big soft moose said:
wordpress
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Forgot to mention that I have my own domain name that I'm looking to keep and link the site to. Having said that, I remember reading somewhere that wordpress offers own domain linking for an additional fee......
 
I cannot speak for the alternatives as I have limited knowledge of them but I can advise that having used Zenfolio for a couple of years now I find it fits the bill very nicely. Very simple to use yet fully customisable. Integrates nicely with LightRoom, flawlessly links to my web page and has very nice apps for iPhone and iPad.

Referral system in place meaning you can get 10% of your subscription back for every new member you attract. (feel free to use my referral code of 7D4-GKF-CKG which gives you a 10% discount too). There's also a free trial so you've got nothing to lose by giving it a go.

All the best.
 
nuttyboy78 said:
Forgot to mention that I have my own domain name that I'm looking to keep and link the site to. Having said that, I remember reading somewhere that wordpress offers own domain linking for an additional fee......
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Find a suitable host for your domain name which supports PHP, has unlimited bandwidth and plenty of space for your uploaded photos, install WordPress (which is free) and you're done. No fee to Wordpress to use your own domain name.
 
I second zenfolio. It just works. Saying that it works for me, it might not work for you. I use Lightroom slalom, and the connectivity to zenfolio is amazing. If you ever need any help with it let me know. I have the premium package which costs me just under £60 a year.
 
Thanks for all the advice peeps. Tried the trial versions of SmugMug and Zenfolio. Hated SmugMug, loved Zenfolio and didn't even wait for my trial to finish. Paid them for the Unlimited account after 24 hours because it does everything I want it to do. I really don't understand their pricing, though. You can pay in dollars, GBP or euros and the price is 50 in any currency. Even taking VAT into account, I don't see how that can be right. Especially £50 = 50 euros. Any they allow you to pay in dollars as well, even if you are in the UK. I guess the difference is the access to UK photo labs, which I don't need.

Guess which currency I paid in. :naughty:
 
boliston said:
Are there any good sites which don't use flash player as this is one of my pet hates?
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Zenfolio appears to use flash for the slideshow on the homepage (which you don't have to use if you don't want to) but strangely, it also seems to work on the iPhone and iPad without skipping a beat. I guess it switches to HTML5 or some other format when viewed on a mobile device.
 
nuttyboy78 said:
Zenfolio appears to use flash for the slideshow on the homepage (which you don't have to use if you don't want to) but strangely, it also seems to work on the iPhone and iPad without skipping a beat. I guess it switches to HTML5 or some other format when viewed on a mobile device.
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Thanks - just having a look at zenfolio as it seems more customisable than smugmug and it looks like I can disable the awful flash slideshow feature. Just trying to work out if there is a way to have properly shaped thumbnails instead of those nasty squared off thumbnails (almost as annoying as flash)
 
boliston said:
Thanks - just having a look at zenfolio as it seems more customisable than smugmug and it looks like I can disable the awful flash slideshow feature. Just trying to work out if there is a way to have properly shaped thumbnails instead of those nasty squared off thumbnails (almost as annoying as flash)
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Im with Zenfolio and i dont get the square thumbnails http://gcsports.zenfolio.com/p215462116
 
Wordpress is great for blogging and even as a simple content management system, but it is not anything like Zenfolio/Smugmug.

Photoshelter is though, so may be worth looking at...
 
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