Anyone using SmugMug?

Project Valentine

Project Valentine

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Name
Jack Valentine Parkinson
Edit My Images
No
thinking of giving them a go but would like to see some real life examples. If you're using it link me below to your site :)

Also... How easy is it to use? Currently using format.
 
I switched to Smugmug a while ago and never got on with it. A bit clunky and a tad old fashioned IMO.

I now use Squarespace - for roughly the same monthly sub it's worlds better. Very intuitive and really highly customisable user interface too. Tech support is cracking as well!

Link to site is in the sig ;)
 
danny_bhoy said:
I switched to Smugmug a while ago and never got on with it. A bit clunky and a tad old fashioned IMO.

I now use Squarespace - for roughly the same monthly sub it's worlds better. Very intuitive and really highly customisable user interface too. Tech support is cracking as well!

Link to site is in the sig ;)
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Thanks Danny :) yeah I'm eyeing them up also haha just find format is a little pricey when you don't get unlimited images.
 
Project Valentine said:
Thanks Danny :) yeah I'm eyeing them up also haha just find format is a little pricey when you don't get unlimited images.
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I agree. I forget which package I use - it's isn't the highest, I don't need any sort of storefront to sell images etc so it might even be the basic package.

If I was you I'd take them up on their free trial period, if it's still offered, and have a play about with the interface.
 
I am not going to point a finger to the "right" choice, but have you also considered PhotoShelter or Zenfolio (I'm with them for now). There's also something you can do with 500px and pixels.com

Definitely do the trials before committing.
 
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I use squarespace at the moment. Very easy to use and very intuitive. The ecommerce side isnt all that good though and I have been asked about prints quite a lot in the last couple of weeks (prob just Christmas though) so looking into options/

I started the Smugmug trial and found it was very clunky and difficult to work on. The only way I can see anyone wanting to use them is for the Loxley commerce side of things.

Havent tried Zenfolio as yet but will do this week.
 
anoyher one to look at is image file (not got an account yet... and forgot the web addy!)
 
Thinking about it... does anyone use the image file?
Just wondering about the wordpress blog bit, do they all all the plugins and stuff for wordpress?
 
I've been using zenfolio for a good while

Not had any problems but the SEO categories/keywords are not customisable which can be frustrating as they are based on the Californian lifestyle and activities rather than british words.

However well worth a free trial, and if you want to sign up, here's a code for 10% discount on fees JJE-7K9-BTM

http://vintageman.zenfolio.com/

David
 
vintageman said:
I've been using zenfolio for a good while

Not had any problems but the SEO categories/keywords are not customisable which can be frustrating as they are based on the Californian lifestyle and activities rather than british words.

However well worth a free trial, and if you want to sign up, here's a code for 10% discount on fees JJE-7K9-BTM

http://vintageman.zenfolio.com/

David
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Is Zen still relying on Adobe Flash for standard slideshows or have they finally switched completely to HTML5? I was looking to switch from Smugmug just before they announced the new site but stuck with them because they got rid of Flash where at that time Zen was still relying on it. The issue with Adobe Flash is that is isn't color managed so your images look wrong when viewed by anyone using a wide gamut monitor.

Smugmug is pretty customisable, but I have not found the magic beans needed for decent SEO.
 
vintageman said:
It all depends on the layout chosen. Classic layouts are still flash but the newer ones are HTML5

David
http://vintageman.zenfolio.com/
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Thanks David. Any idea when they changed? As of August 2013 the only standard slideshows that were HTML5 were for mobile devices where Flash wasn't available. At that time they were only starting to look at the possibility of moving away from Flash for non-mobile use.
 
Bob_a said:
Thanks David. Any idea when they changed? As of August 2013 the only standard slideshows that were HTML5 were for mobile devices where Flash wasn't available. At that time they were only starting to look at the possibility of moving away from Flash for non-mobile use.
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*Edit* After reading information on the Zen site it appears that nothing has changed. Unfortunately even though the site is based on HTML5, standard slideshows and video still rely on Flash. HTML5 slideshows are only used for mobile devices where Flash isn't supported.

On past emails to Zenfolio support regarding this they said if and when the change to HTML5 slideshows happens it will be posted at: http://www.zenfolio.com/zf/news/2014 . There is no such announcement after I contacted them in August 2013.
 
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Difficult to get a straight answer on this! My previous comment was based on this quote from ZenBrian (staff member) may19th 2014 "Any of the Classic layouts have a flash slideshow built within an iframe. Any of the newer layouts (such as the fullscreen, widescreen, and spotlight banner layouts) use HTML5 for the slideshows."

My own site won't run the slideshow on a PC without flash

David
http://vintageman.zenfolio.com/
 
vintageman said:
Difficult to get a straight answer on this! My previous comment was based on this quote from ZenBrian (staff member) may19th 2014 "Any of the Classic layouts have a flash slideshow built within an iframe. Any of the newer layouts (such as the fullscreen, widescreen, and spotlight banner layouts) use HTML5 for the slideshows."

My own site won't run the slideshow on a PC without flash

David
http://vintageman.zenfolio.com/
Click to expand...

Thanks David. I can see your home page slideshow uses Flash, but here's hoping Zen is making progress in getting rid of it completely. With the number of people buying wide gamut monitors (where 99% of them would be better off sticking with standard gamut), non color managed products like Adobe Flash just create a lot of confusion and cause a lot of "why are my images over saturated" questions to come up.
 
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