I'm a smugmug pro user but heard about zenfolio recently.
I signed up on trial. I am kind of liking their iPad app way better than the buggy smugmug one.
I have contacted smugmug and I don't get any straight answer if there is any development on that.
If you are like me who wants to show photos on your iPad, zen may be worth checking out.
I now have both. A Pro SM site (www.ackdoc.com) and a Pro Zen site (www.nantucketstock.com). The latter is purely a stock site, and I could not wait any longer for SM to offer some variability and flexibility in its licensing options. I would've preferred SM for the customizability. But the Zen site was really easy to get up and running, and stock is currently outselling prints for me.
RE:iPad app
Thanks Hope they get it out soon.
I love smugmug's display of photos on the website compared to Zenfolio.
The only reason I even signed up for trial there and exploring is for a good iPad app.
I love the fact that I can create galleries AND upload the photos I imported with the camera kit on iPad directly to zenfolio.
yeah the IU for pros is too complex
I want smugmug to work but the UI is just too complex for most. I even labored and found some css and javascript that helped improve my home page but the guts are not up to snuff. I think there's a balance to be struck in between ultimate customization and a 'fenced in' template (although zenfolio seems too have a very clean look).
So I'm going to go give zenfolio a try and not renew my pro account. I hope someday smugmug will have an improved IU.
I will say the smugmug team is GREAT. Oh and look closely at Andy's photo - it's a subtle gif and I thought I was tripping out when I saw what I thought was a wink....nice job...
I too went and tried Zenfolio for their lower cost and lower "take..." But their support forum was unsatisfactory... I posted what should have been a simple question and got a smart-ass answer about the way it "should" work - as opposed to someone willing to actually look into why it ISN'T working... Perhaps I went into the situation expecting SumgMug type support, where for FREE someone will go into your code and help figure out exactly why something isn't going as expected, and make helpful suggestions to fix it - or just re-write your code for you. As much as I want lower annual fee and to take home a larger cut of my photo sales, I can't imagine not having the support of the smug folks.
I will say, I'd love to see some new features in SmugMug like keyword filtering of galleries, or categorized keywords - which would be VERY helpful to sports/event photographers. I would like to be able to create a gallery based on a race, and have my customers filter by racer category or racer team - to narrow results. OR I'd love to be able to create sub-sets of keywords so I could set up galleries based on keywords or combinations of keywords....
BUT overall I've liked the SmugMug experience way better than my Zenfolio experience....
I too went and tried Zenfolio for their lower cost and lower "take..." But their support forum was unsatisfactory... I posted what should have been a simple question and got a smart-ass answer about the way it "should" work - as opposed to someone willing to actually look into why it ISN'T working... Perhaps I went into the situation expecting SumgMug type support, where for FREE someone will go into your code and help figure out exactly why something isn't going as expected, and make helpful suggestions to fix it - or just re-write your code for you. As much as I want lower annual fee and to take home a larger cut of my photo sales, I can't imagine not having the support of the smug folks.
I will say, I'd love to see some new features in SmugMug like keyword filtering of galleries, or categorized keywords - which would be VERY helpful to sports/event photographers. I would like to be able to create a gallery based on a race, and have my customers filter by racer category or racer team - to narrow results. OR I'd love to be able to create sub-sets of keywords so I could set up galleries based on keywords or combinations of keywords....
BUT overall I've liked the SmugMug experience way better than my Zenfolio experience....
$.02
Some people merely shop on price. When I was shopping for an online host I tried 3 sites. smugmug, zenfolio, and Photoshelter. I chose Smugmug and Phitoshelter for very different reasons. I use them differently. But Zenfolio didn't impress me in the least.
I'm new here and just found this old post!
I'm sure most of the other issues have been sorted out already.
I took a free trial of both Zenfolio and SmugMug looking for an e-commerce platform for my wedding business. (I already have a Photoshelter account for my regular photography archive/business and wanted to have the wedding part of the business uniquely branded.)
I got nowhere past the first gallery upload with Zenfolio. Customising the site looked daunting.
I've uploaded four test galleries into SmugMug and gotten my site looking just how I want it to look and still improving. In very quick time with virtually nil knowledge of CSS.
I'm looking to upload my first full gallery and test it on a real customer today and also complete my registration!
It's good to see that after four or five years? SmugMug has it's best and greatest features still up and running!
Comments
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1746219&postcount=4
SmugMug Support Hero
ackdoc.com
Thanks Hope they get it out soon.
I love smugmug's display of photos on the website compared to Zenfolio.
The only reason I even signed up for trial there and exploring is for a good iPad app.
I love the fact that I can create galleries AND upload the photos I imported with the camera kit on iPad directly to zenfolio.
ok, looking forward to a good smugmug app now..
I want smugmug to work but the UI is just too complex for most. I even labored and found some css and javascript that helped improve my home page but the guts are not up to snuff. I think there's a balance to be struck in between ultimate customization and a 'fenced in' template (although zenfolio seems too have a very clean look).
So I'm going to go give zenfolio a try and not renew my pro account. I hope someday smugmug will have an improved IU.
I will say the smugmug team is GREAT. Oh and look closely at Andy's photo - it's a subtle gif and I thought I was tripping out when I saw what I thought was a wink....nice job...
Mike
www.olavistaphotography.com
I will say, I'd love to see some new features in SmugMug like keyword filtering of galleries, or categorized keywords - which would be VERY helpful to sports/event photographers. I would like to be able to create a gallery based on a race, and have my customers filter by racer category or racer team - to narrow results. OR I'd love to be able to create sub-sets of keywords so I could set up galleries based on keywords or combinations of keywords....
BUT overall I've liked the SmugMug experience way better than my Zenfolio experience....
$.02
Some people merely shop on price. When I was shopping for an online host I tried 3 sites. smugmug, zenfolio, and Photoshelter. I chose Smugmug and Phitoshelter for very different reasons. I use them differently. But Zenfolio didn't impress me in the least.
perroneford@ptfphoto.com
I'm sure most of the other issues have been sorted out already.
I took a free trial of both Zenfolio and SmugMug looking for an e-commerce platform for my wedding business. (I already have a Photoshelter account for my regular photography archive/business and wanted to have the wedding part of the business uniquely branded.)
I got nowhere past the first gallery upload with Zenfolio. Customising the site looked daunting.
I've uploaded four test galleries into SmugMug and gotten my site looking just how I want it to look and still improving. In very quick time with virtually nil knowledge of CSS.
I'm looking to upload my first full gallery and test it on a real customer today and also complete my registration!
It's good to see that after four or five years? SmugMug has it's best and greatest features still up and running!
ANDY! ANDY! ANDY! ANDY!
ALLEN! ALLEN! ALLEN! ALLEN!
Thanks!