Better than Flickr?

January 12, 2006 9:07 AM

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?

posted by StickyCarpet to media & arts (19 comments total)

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.
posted by zerokey at 9:40 AM on January 12, 2006

Hard to answer without knowing what features you like about Flickr.
posted by smackfu at 9:43 AM on January 12, 2006

"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.
posted by Mitheral at 9:53 AM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:04 AM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by youarenothere at 10:09 AM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by deeman at 10:20 AM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by desuetude at 10:23 AM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by kcm at 10:32 AM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by tula at 10:34 AM on January 12, 2006

You can do photo galleries in SmugMug also.
posted by desuetude at 12:21 PM on January 12, 2006

Zoto?
posted by undertone at 1:01 PM on January 12, 2006

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?
posted by SupaDave at 1:44 PM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by chrispy at 1:58 PM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by StickyCarpet at 2:35 PM on January 12, 2006

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.
posted by charmston at 4:27 PM on January 12, 2006

Here's one, PicturesUp.net
It's especially geared towards people in the film industry, but, really, it'll work for anyone.
posted by stst399 at 5:15 PM on January 12, 2006

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!
posted by antifuse at 1:41 AM on January 13, 2006

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.
posted by blendor at 1:42 AM on January 13, 2006

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.
posted by bernm at 1:06 PM on January 16, 2006