Comments on: Better than Flickr?

Question: Better than Flickr?

StickyCarpet — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 09:07:25 -0800

What is a good site for posting and sharing pictures? One that is better than Flickr?

That can host videos too? That has a less clunky interface for uploading? That doesn't require two progressive enlargements to get to a default maximum size?

By: zerokey

zerokey — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 09:40:52 -0800

Hopefully this is actually helpful:

I don't know of any established sites, but you could always sign up with a cheap hosting service and roll your own with Gallery.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 09:43:37 -0800

Hard to answer without knowing what features you like about Flickr.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 09:53:02 -0800

"That doesn't require two progressive enlargements to get to a default maximum size?"

If your running FF there is an extension that will allow you to get to all available sizes directly.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 10:04:58 -0800

Hard to answer without knowing what features you like about Flickr.

Its free, and doesn't expire in a couple of weeks. But it defaults to too few images per page, and clicking on the thumbnails only does a slight magnification, you then have to click on the magnifying glass to get the larger one.

Since this is for sharing with the general public, I know that most people don't click through to the second enlargement.

That's also why FF extensions are not so relevant. Think "hey, grandma, check out these pictures of the wedding."

If there could be a couple of short video clips, that would be great.

By: youarenothere

youarenothere — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 10:09:44 -0800

Don't know if any of these will fit the bill, but Micheal Arrington did a profile on the "Flickrs of Video" a while ago.

By: deeman

deeman — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 10:20:47 -0800

I use webshots.com and i have never had any problems with it. You can either upload pics from the website or u can upload them from an application they offer. I also like it because u can upload any size picture and share them in different sizes automatically.

By: desuetude

desuetude — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 10:23:50 -0800

I'm happy with Smugmug. It's not free, but it's pretty cheap. I decided that $30 per year was worth it, as they offer five different upload options, guests don't have to sign in, and you can not only pick your url, but change it anytime you want.

By: kcm

kcm — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 10:32:57 -0800

Flickr has a variety of upload options, doesn't require signing, is $25/yr, and you can change your URL as well. Not trying to convince you, but those aren't different.

I don't see how Flickr is clunky, honestly. There are so many options between directly uploading from Windows Explorer to using Gtk apps cross-platform to using the official uploadr to using the web form anywhere, and if you're still not satisfied using the API to write your own, it's pretty good. If you're so stuck on details like having to click twice for a certain size of picture, I can't help you without knowing what you DO want.

I honestly think Flickr's interface is one of the most friendly for the general public. It's not for everyone, of course, but it's damn good. My mom is more comfortable using it than gallery/jalbum types roll-your-owns or Smugmug type sites.

By: tula

tula — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 10:34:42 -0800

Friends of mine who seem to know what they're doing use Smug Mug and really love it. It's $30/yr, but I think they only do video clips.

By: desuetude

desuetude — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 12:21:33 -0800

You can do photo galleries in SmugMug also.

By: undertone

undertone — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:01:45 -0800

Zoto?

By: SupaDave

SupaDave — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:44:30 -0800

I haven't seen anything better than flickr. The only thing I don't like about flickr is the organization part of it is a bit clunky.

If I have I want to delete pictures that have already been uploaded it's a bit of a pain.

As others have said without knowing what you want it's hard to say what could be better. Is it possible you just aren't aware of all the features of flickr?

By: chrispy

chrispy — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:58:48 -0800

If you have some webspace provided by your ISP then you could create your own album using jalbum. It's not a true alternative to flickr, but it's very customisable and pretty easy to set up. It doesn't require any server-side stuff (the flip side is that this means it can't do commenting or voting). Some of the skins can handle video although I haven't tried this myself.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:35:42 -0800

Is it possible you just aren't aware of all the features of flickr?

Well, yes it is. But I think the question as posed is valid, because "out of the box" functionality is important for me, and also for people even lazier than I am.

I'll take a close look at everything suggested so far, and anything that follows.

By: charmston

charmston — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:27:13 -0800

In his Macworld Keynote Speech, Steve Jobs discussed several tools that Mac is rolling out to help streamline photo albums "for grandma", as you put it. It'd be worth checking out the speech.

By: stst399

stst399 — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 17:15:22 -0800

Here's one, PicturesUp.net
It's especially geared towards people in the film industry, but, really, it'll work for anyone.

By: antifuse

antifuse — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 01:41:18 -0800

As a slight derail, Flickr's default size that thumbnails enlarge to is sort of optimized for maximum speed while still being able to see some detail. I haven't seen a photography site yet (not a free one, for sure, nor even any pay ones) that will let you default to viewing your pictures at full (say, 2592x1920, or even 1600x1200) resolution. This is because they will be super slow to load, and incredibly bandwidth intensive. If grandma's screen resolution is at 1024x768, Flickr's pictures will look more than adequate at normal size.

As for uploading, I've never found any photo site (and roll your own ones are much worse) that had uploading that worked as well as the Flickr Uploadr. Seriously possibly one of the most useful apps out there. I do have to agree with Supadave though, about duplicate pictures, which is why I'm writing my own app specifically to find duplicate pictures on Flickr (if it's even possible). The Flickr API is damn cool!

By: blendor

blendor — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 01:42:53 -0800

I second Zoto.com. 2 gigs, no daily upload limit, free, excellent interface. Wish it was more widely used, then maybe I'd start seeing some cool plugins/widgets/etc. for it. Not as social as Flickr.

By: bernm

bernm — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 13:06:40 -0800

Multiply.com is another option. It meets your requirement of hosting videos (music too) as well as photo sharing. It's mostly about discussing your photos/videos with people you know.