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SmugMug? Professional?

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I will leave most of the cheerleading in the capable hands of Andy and Uly, but one point I'd like to make:
Henkka Karapuu said:
1) They offer very limited options for customization. For example
SmugMug boasts "full co-branding", but in reality you can't even
set the number of thumbnails per page.
Click to expand...
They are pretty new, and mostly just a dedicated mom-n-pop (okay, son-n-pop) -- and that is one of the things that hooked me. That is, knowing that they were just getting off the ground, I knew that once they had all the start-up hassles worked out, they would begin adding features like your quibble above. I can't wait for those little added extras to start rolling in...
 
That struck me so funny. ;-)

In this politically correct world of ours, it's like something that we don't dare to mention.... that there might be some truth to a particular stereotype. It's stuff made of eggshells for sure.

Fortunately for all of us, I have the feeling that the PC universe is going to start swinging the other way, back toward a common sense middle ground. Might take another twenty years, but it should be interesting to watch happen.

Nancy

------
Ulysses said:
While the truth is probably somewhere in the middle (always is),
it's quite surprising how many of the stereotypes are close to
reality. Heheheh...
Click to expand...
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Bad spellers of the world - Untie!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 
Vancemac said:
Vancemac said:
1) They offer very limited options for customization. For example
SmugMug boasts "full co-branding", but in reality you can't even
set the number of thumbnails per page.
Click to expand...
They are pretty new,
Click to expand...
actually going into their second year :)

and mostly just a dedicated mom-n-pop (okay,
Vancemac said:
son-n-pop) --
Click to expand...
plus a newly hired killer designer/programmer. he rocks
plus another tech out here on the east coast (they never sleep)
Vancemac said:
and that is one of the things that hooked me. That
is, knowing that they were just getting off the ground, I knew that
once they had all the start-up hassles worked out, they would begin
adding features like your quibble above. I can't wait for those
little added extras to start rolling in...
Click to expand...
they're coming. stay tuned there's a ton of fun stuff on the way.

--
-- andy
http://www.moonriverphotography.com

my favorite movie: 'the color purple'
my favorite book: 'harold and the purple crayon'
my favorite band: 'deep purple'
 
Ulysses said:
They are a relatively new service, but they have a very
good business model in that they are well planned for future
growth. That means that your galleries and speed of
upload/downloads won't suffer even as more people join.
Click to expand...
If they were actually running the service with a microprocessor stolen from dad's toaster what do you think they'd tell you? "It's scalable (we'll just need to steal more toesters)"?

There just is no such thing as "non-scalable" service in internet marketing :) But even if the people are honest, which i think they are in case of SmugMug, there is still huge difference between a proven scalable solution, and a theoretically scalable solution.

I used to run an ISP that i thought was very scalable and reliable. Half a year later i was asked to come to prime time news of Finland's largest TV channel and explain what went wrong.

--
Henkka Karapuu
http://www.iki.fi/hkarapuu
 
So who is going to start this new thread? Or maybe a new thread isn't so good. Seemed good when I wrote it.

n.

-------
Andy Williams said:
i would normally search for the old threads but the search eng is
funky these days :)

nancy/ulysses/andy/bauerman pact

hey it wasn't this easy at yalta!
Jose Noway said:
We create a "canned message" thread. Then, the first one of us who
sees a Smugmug vs. PBase thread first, gets to link back to the
canned messages.

Nancy
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
..put together a link list of the top 2 or 3 posts that discuss these services.

and i'll keep it refreshed....

how's that?
Jose Noway said:
n.

-------
Andy Williams said:
i would normally search for the old threads but the search eng is
funky these days :)

nancy/ulysses/andy/bauerman pact

hey it wasn't this easy at yalta!
Jose Noway said:
We create a "canned message" thread. Then, the first one of us who
sees a Smugmug vs. PBase thread first, gets to link back to the
canned messages.

Nancy
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
-- andy
http://www.moonriverphotography.com

my favorite movie: 'the color purple'
my favorite book: 'harold and the purple crayon'
my favorite band: 'deep purple'
 
Henkka Karapuu said:
If they were actually running the service with a microprocessor
stolen from dad's toaster what do you think they'd tell you? "It's
scalable (we'll just need to steal more toesters)"?
Click to expand...
Hahahah... that had me really laughing pretty hard. I can imagine them sneaking into the Wal-Mart stores under cover of darkness once every three months, making a "hit" to steal a truckload of toasters for their microprocessors. :-)

You've discovered their secret!
Henkka Karapuu said:
There just is no such thing as "non-scalable" service in internet
marketing :) But even if the people are honest, which i think they
are in case of SmugMug, there is still huge difference between a
proven scalable solution, and a theoretically scalable solution.
Click to expand...
All I can say in this regard is that I've never noticed a slow-down or a serious problem with down time. I've seen it happen once, where they needed to switch out some power supplies, and something blew up on them, and the galleries were down for a couple of hours. Other than that, it's been quite speedy, even as they've added members.
Henkka Karapuu said:
I used to run an ISP that i thought was very scalable and reliable.
Half a year later i was asked to come to prime time news of
Finland's largest TV channel and explain what went wrong.
Click to expand...
Oh my! Did they give you a tape of the interview when it was all over? :-)

--

Ulysses
 
Andy Williams said:
plus a newly hired killer designer/programmer. he rocks
plus another tech out here on the east coast (they never sleep)
Click to expand...
I've been meaning to ask them about him.

When.... WHENNNN... are they going to integrate more of his stuff into their styles options? I had hoped this would be sooner.
Andy Williams said:
they're coming. stay tuned there's a ton of fun stuff on the way.
Click to expand...
Everyone likes fun. :-)

--

Ulysses
 
How about making a list and stashing on somebody's website as a reference. Let's see... who has the flexibility to upload their own pages? LOL!

All chain-yanking aside, I think if you put these links together, that would be great. Just make sure everybody's "side" is represented. LOL!

Not sure you have to refresh (bump?) it-- that might make people mad. It would be great to post when people ask the question, though.

Nancy

-------
Andy Williams said:
and i'll keep it refreshed....

how's that?
Jose Noway said:
n.

-------
Andy Williams said:
i would normally search for the old threads but the search eng is
funky these days :)

nancy/ulysses/andy/bauerman pact

hey it wasn't this easy at yalta!
Jose Noway said:
We create a "canned message" thread. Then, the first one of us who
sees a Smugmug vs. PBase thread first, gets to link back to the
canned messages.

Nancy
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
-- andy
http://www.moonriverphotography.com

my favorite movie: 'the color purple'
my favorite book: 'harold and the purple crayon'
my favorite band: 'deep purple'
Click to expand...
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bad spellers of the world - Untie!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 
Jose Noway said:
How about making a list and stashing on somebody's website as a
reference. Let's see... who has the flexibility to upload their own
pages? LOL!

All chain-yanking aside, I think if you put these links together,
that would be great. Just make sure everybody's "side" is
represented. LOL!
Click to expand...
hey, i gave bauerman equal time on your "how to post" thread :)
Jose Noway said:
Not sure you have to refresh (bump?) it-- that might make people
mad. It would be great to post when people ask the question, though.
Click to expand...
no not "bump" just "keep the list of threads fresh" that's all ;)
Jose Noway said:
Nancy

-------
Andy Williams said:
and i'll keep it refreshed....

how's that?
Jose Noway said:
n.

-------
Andy Williams said:
i would normally search for the old threads but the search eng is
funky these days :)

nancy/ulysses/andy/bauerman pact

hey it wasn't this easy at yalta!
Jose Noway said:
We create a "canned message" thread. Then, the first one of us who
sees a Smugmug vs. PBase thread first, gets to link back to the
canned messages.

Nancy
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
-- andy
http://www.moonriverphotography.com

my favorite movie: 'the color purple'
my favorite book: 'harold and the purple crayon'
my favorite band: 'deep purple'
Click to expand...
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bad spellers of the world - Untie!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Click to expand...
--
-- andy
http://www.moonriverphotography.com

my favorite movie: 'the color purple'
my favorite book: 'harold and the purple crayon'
my favorite band: 'deep purple'
 
I'm wondering why no one seems to like Deviantart.com on here? It's free and a large community of artists. Check out my gallery in my sig to see their setup.

-Kelvin

--
Equipment-
Canon 300D/18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Sony F717
Nikon F2
Tiny Gallery of mine http://kelvinz.deviantart.com/
 
oh just a small explanation of deviantart's setup.

Under "Feature Deviation" is where you can choose any piece of your art and post it for people to seee

and "recent deviations" lists the recent photographs or art that you've done.

You can also hit "gallery" to view my gallery or whomever's page you're on's gallery.

By hitting "browse" you browse the latest submitions from all deviant art members.

-Kelvin
--
Equipment-
Canon 300D/18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Sony F717
Nikon F2
Tiny Gallery of mine http://kelvinz.deviantart.com/
 
Andy Williams said:
you may feel strongly about it, but thousands and thousands of
happy clients of these sites belie the term "su%%" please, have
your opinion but let's keep things civil.
Click to expand...
Andy, you are right, my apologies. The 'S' -word was way too strong and i'm way too tired.

Let me rephrase that. The services are doing a fine job, specially when considering the needs of an average consumer, but i was very dissapointed with the amount features offered for 'professionals'.
Andy Williams said:
smugmug goes out of their way to ensure the highest print
quality. they've hooked up with ezprints, offer sample prints, icc
profiles so you know for sure that what you see is what's being
printed.
Click to expand...
I was not talking about quality of prints, but the lack of options for displayed images.
Andy Williams said:
it's another piece of the smugmug interface that's totally
customizable. take a look at mine, if you like.
Click to expand...
Ok, i just gave it a try. Your ordering page looks exactly like the default, and does not inform about shipping costs before asking for CC number.

Besides of that, i miss-navigated before I managed to get to the purchase: from first page ('My favourite work') I chose 'click here to buy prints' and was taken to a second page ('Order prints here'). Now i clicked a different looking 'buy prints' button, but was taken again to the second page. Next i ventured to click the image itself, instead of the button labelled with action i wanted to perform, and was taken to a page with the image in large size. This page had two options: "order prints and gifts" and "order prints". One of these worked, and the other button threw you couple of levels back.

I think this goes to demonstrate my opinion regarding SmugMug's photo-selling services: not quite finished yet.
Andy Williams said:
they do excel at this. you should email chris or don @ smugmug.com
and tell them exactly what features you'd like to see or like
changed :)
Click to expand...
I'm actually currently at correspondance with them, waiting for answer to one more complicated question. Yesterday (sunday) I received reply in 5 minutes or so. I'd be delighted to purchase something from people like that.

--
Henkka Karapuu
http://www.iki.fi/hkarapuu
 
On first glance, Deviantart looks really cool, but when you try to get around, it's very very confusing. The biggie, though, is that images take way way too long to load on that site using my computer at home.

Another reason that people might not be using them is that they might not want to associate themselves with anything named "deviant." I know the place isn't full of deviants, but I sure don't want my images to have that name attached to them.

Nancy

----------
Kelvinz said:
oh just a small explanation of deviantart's setup.

Under "Feature Deviation" is where you can choose any piece of your
art and post it for people to seee

and "recent deviations" lists the recent photographs or art that
you've done.

You can also hit "gallery" to view my gallery or whomever's page
you're on's gallery.

By hitting "browse" you browse the latest submitions from all
deviant art members.

-Kelvin
--
Equipment-
Canon 300D/18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Sony F717
Nikon F2
Tiny Gallery of mine http://kelvinz.deviantart.com/
Click to expand...
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bad spellers of the world - Untie!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 
Henkka Karapuu said:
Andy Williams said:
you may feel strongly about it, but thousands and thousands of
happy clients of these sites belie the term "su%%" please, have
your opinion but let's keep things civil.
Click to expand...
Andy, you are right, my apologies. The 'S' -word was way too strong
and i'm way too tired.

Let me rephrase that. The services are doing a fine job, specially
when considering the needs of an average consumer, but i was very
dissapointed with the amount features offered for 'professionals'.
Henkka Karapuu said:
smugmug goes out of their way to ensure the highest print
quality. they've hooked up with ezprints, offer sample prints, icc
profiles so you know for sure that what you see is what's being
printed.
Click to expand...
I was not talking about quality of prints, but the lack of options
for displayed images.
Click to expand...
what options would you like to see?
Henkka Karapuu said:
Henkka Karapuu said:
it's another piece of the smugmug interface that's totally
customizable. take a look at mine, if you like.
Click to expand...
Ok, i just gave it a try. Your ordering page looks exactly like the
default, and does not inform about shipping costs before asking for
CC number.
Click to expand...
that's easy enough to fix, with a link to shipping charges i guess. shipping's never been an issue for me, it is what it is. they're rates are as competitive as anybody's. but agian, easy enough to fix... thanks for bringing it up to them :)
Henkka Karapuu said:
Besides of that, i miss-navigated before I managed to get to the
purchase: from first page ('My favourite work') I chose 'click here
to buy prints' and was taken to a second page ('Order prints
here'). Now i clicked a different looking 'buy prints' button, but
was taken again to the second page. Next i ventured to click the
image itself, instead of the button labelled with action i wanted
to perform, and was taken to a page with the image in large size.
This page had two options: "order prints and gifts" and "order
prints". One of these worked, and the other button threw you couple
of levels back.

I think this goes to demonstrate my opinion regarding SmugMug's
photo-selling services: not quite finished yet.
Click to expand...
actually, that's my lack of html ability;) i tried to to that switcheroo on my own, in advnace of smug's new stylesheets coming. you see, i display my photos framed. to order prints, you need to order from a virgin file ;) so, i created that "linked" gallery. thanks for pointing out my mistakes and being my "beta tester" lol

the new style sheets from smug will alleviate all of this :) thank goodness.
Henkka Karapuu said:
Henkka Karapuu said:
they do excel at this. you should email chris or don @ smugmug.com
and tell them exactly what features you'd like to see or like
changed :)
Click to expand...
I'm actually currently at correspondance with them, waiting for
answer to one more complicated question. Yesterday (sunday) I
received reply in 5 minutes or so. I'd be delighted to purchase
something from people like that.

--
Henkka Karapuu
http://www.iki.fi/hkarapuu
Click to expand...
--
-- andy
http://www.moonriverphotography.com

my favorite movie: 'the color purple'
my favorite book: 'harold and the purple crayon'
my favorite band: 'deep purple'
 
Nancy,

that's an intresting reason why! I guess I enjoy the free hosting more than I care about the name. You're right though, since they are free their site tends to be slower than pbase or the sort.

-Kelvin
Jose Noway said:
Another reason that people might not be using them is that they
might not want to associate themselves with anything named
"deviant." I know the place isn't full of deviants, but I sure
don't want my images to have that name attached to them.

Nancy

----------
Kelvinz said:
oh just a small explanation of deviantart's setup.

Under "Feature Deviation" is where you can choose any piece of your
art and post it for people to seee

and "recent deviations" lists the recent photographs or art that
you've done.

You can also hit "gallery" to view my gallery or whomever's page
you're on's gallery.

By hitting "browse" you browse the latest submitions from all
deviant art members.

-Kelvin
--
Equipment-
Canon 300D/18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Sony F717
Nikon F2
Tiny Gallery of mine http://kelvinz.deviantart.com/
Click to expand...
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bad spellers of the world - Untie!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Click to expand...
--
Equipment-
Canon 300D/18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Sony F717
Nikon F2
Tiny Gallery of mine http://kelvinz.deviantart.com/
 
... I haven't been hearing any grizzles from Mac users (if there are any others left here after Sony's F828 Raw insult).

Informed readers of this cyber-fishwrapper have long since been aware that for uncompromised service of Macs one requires toasters with transverse slots as opposed to the more common, ugly, longitudinal ones, and that the proportion of these labouring away in one's server has to be carefully matched to what subscribers are using.

Full credit to 'em, I say, for keeping the right balance while they've been busy scaling!

Bahahahahahahahahahahah!!!© [licensed and activated copy: v. 3.0.0.7 modified]

Mike
Ulysses said:
Henkka Karapuu said:
If they were actually running the service with a microprocessor
stolen from dad's toaster what do you think they'd tell you? "It's
scalable (we'll just need to steal more toesters)"?
Click to expand...
Hahahah... that had me really laughing pretty hard. I can imagine
them sneaking into the Wal-Mart stores under cover of darkness once
every three months, making a "hit" to steal a truckload of toasters
for their microprocessors. :-)

You've discovered their secret!
Click to expand...
 
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