Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Comparing slideshow hosting

I have used four services to host slideshows and thought I would do a comparison here between Picasa, Flickr, Smugmug, and Smilebox

Picasa



Pros
  • easy to use
  • lots of free storage

Cons
  • can't view full screen - clicking on the slideshow leads to the picasa site
  • even in picasa, images are smallish

Flickr




Pros:
  • easy to upload
  • easy to organize photos within the site
  • nice full screen option

Cons:
  • free version didn't allow me to upload all my photos
  • I couldn't figure out how to upload lower res (but it might be available)

Smugmug

Click here to link to full screen version









Pros:
  • nice filmstrip interface

Cons:
  • extremely hard to figure out how to embed slideshow
  • couldn't figure out how to allow full screen version
  • odd blank space in blog post
  • clicking on photo takes you to smugmug opening screen - very strange




Smilebox


Click to play Maracas Waterfall
Create your own slideshow - Powered by Smilebox
Make a Smilebox slideshow



Pros:
  • music
  • full screen option
  • lots of style options (most of them are irritating)

Cons
  • Hate it!!! - they constantly ask for pro sign up (=spend money) and the program hijacked my computer and added all kinds of stuff and I'm still not sure I got rid of it.
  • huge con - no way to show all of photos with vertical orientation
  • very difficult to work within their programs
  • irritating constant asking to buy pro version
  • ads in free version
  • full screen takes you to new website

Bottom line
My favorite - Flickr, but I need to pay for a pro account.

Comparing photo hosting services

I have been playing around with picasa, flickr, and smugmug trying to decide which is best. Last time I looked it seemed like flickr photos were duller in color so I thought I would do a test here. I will embed the same photo from each service so we can compare.

Picasa


Flickr
pink

Smugmug


Interesting - picasa photos have more color intensity, don't you think? Flickr and Smugmug seem about the same.