Website creation

UNDPilot · 05-09-2008, 03:42 AM

I noticed a lot of people have links to there own personal photography websites in their signatures. I forgot to back my current one up when I wiped my hard drive when transferring my school computer over to my ownership. I was wondering what programs/hosts ya'll used and your thoughts on how to create one. I'm leaning towards the free side of things right now, but I'd like information on the pay ones for later.

Thanks

ottergoose · 05-09-2008, 04:03 AM

I've fallen in love with Flickr. You can start posting shots for free... once you hit 200 (I think) the pictures stay hosted but, they won't show up in your gallery (in other words, the files still exist, you can still link to them, but, they don't show up when people search for them). You can upgrade to a pro account (which is pretty cheap - 20 or 30 / year) and host a lot more shots.

There are a fair number of other RP contributors on there, some of whom have excellent non-train shots.

So... that's my $0.02 - Flickr all the way.

Walter S · 05-09-2008, 04:11 AM

I used to like Flickr until I found smugmug. It is an awesome site and very professional looking. You can check out my site at scriptunasimages.smugmug.com. For more info on smugmug visit smugmug.com its not free but not very expensive. I have a $5 off code that I can give you if u decide on smugmug.

UNDPilot · 05-09-2008, 04:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walter S

I used to like Flickr until I found smugmug.

Looks like a nice site, I definitely would like a professional look. Do you use geotagging at all and how well does it work? Also do you have any problems with file names when uploading? Most of my files are saved something like #BNSF XXXX GrandForks ND 01 01 08.jpg

Also what seats did you get during speedweeks it looks like your way up there and how did you get those photos to turn out so well at night?

WembYard · 05-09-2008, 08:19 PM

I use Fotopic . You can start off with 250mb for free to try it out. If you like it, then you can upgrade or keep your eyes open as they often have offers to buy more space at special prices. You can arrange your photos into collections or even have different galleries for, say, your railroad pics and non railroad pics.

Once you have uploaded some photos, you can move them around into different collections. For example, quite a few people put all their latest photos into a new collection, but after a period of time move the individual pictures into other collections based on, say, certain lines, areas or locomotive types. Others may just keep all their stuff in date order.

Although Fotopic is UK based, anybody can use it, see here for a breakdown of users, including over 2,000 from the USA.

Save The Wave · 05-09-2008, 10:08 PM

I have my own domain and site that a friend hosts for free, but keep a Pbase account because it is so much simpler. The cost is $23/yr for up to 500Mb, and they support geotagging.
www.pbase.com/savethewave

If you decide to do your own thing, use godaddy.com. They're dirt cheap for domains and hosting.

CUDA7185 · 05-10-2008, 02:10 AM

I also use Fotopic. They start you off with plenty of space, and you can buy more if you need it. The tools for creating a layout are easy to use; the main gallery page is broken up into mini boxes which can be customized and arranged. They also keep a lot of data... photo hit counts, most popular photos, ect. Add a banner, and you can get a nice, professional look to it:

http://mattbeisser.fotopic.net/

With a little creativity, they can look pretty nice.

Walter S · 05-10-2008, 04:53 AM

I have never used geotagging or a file name like u showed but im sure they would work. You can try the trial account and see if they will. We sit in the Sprint Tower during speedweeks, we have had those same seats since 2004 now and love them. The photos turn out so well at night because of my new Canon 70-200 F2.8L IS which is an awesome lens, I shoot at around ISO 1200 also.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UNDPilot

Looks like a nice site, I definitely would like a professional look. Do you use geotagging at all and how well does it work? Also do you have any problems with file names when uploading? Most of my files are saved something like #BNSF XXXX GrandForks ND 01 01 08.jpg

Also what seats did you get during speedweeks it looks like your way up there and how did you get those photos to turn out so well at night?

Andrew Blaszczyk (2) · 05-14-2008, 09:19 PM

Since all my mail is forwarded to my Yahoo! account, I figured I'd stick with their web hosting especially since I used to play around with their SiteBuilder program. Creating the site is easy and upgrading to a 'business' account takes one step once I'm ready to make my site an actual store. For 5GB, 100 email addresses, my own domain name, and unlimited subdomains I pay $12 a month which is hardly a bank breaker. Another advantage is that Yahoo! works hand-in-hand with PayPal so setting up the shopping cart will be easy in the future. My only problem right now is finding time to work on editing and adding photos which has left me in the red so far.

Callufrax · 05-14-2008, 11:13 PM

I host all of my stuff on my own box, which is located in Edmonton, AB. It costs me about $55/month, with 13GB of bandwidth included (which is enough for me, at the moment).

Somebody in the WWW · 05-15-2008, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WembYard

I use Fotopic . You can start off with 250mb for free to try it out. If you like it, then you can upgrade or keep your eyes open as they often have offers to buy more space at special prices. You can arrange your photos into collections or even have different galleries for, say, your railroad pics and non railroad pics.

Should be noted that with Fotopic, all your photos are displayed at only 70% quality if you're not a paid user

:P

JBCagle7073 · 05-16-2008, 03:42 AM

Like some of the others have mentioned it all depends on what you are wanting to do. If you are just wanting to link and share some pics with friends then something like Webshots, Pbase,Fotopic, ect would work fine. If you are wanting to show off your work to the world then it may be worth your while to create a website. You can get your own domain and a basic package for about 10 bucks a month or so. You'll have to learn to write html and some basic things but it shouldn't be that hard. You can even add on software to give it a more professional look.

River Rails Photography · 05-24-2008, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Save The Wave

If you decide to do your own thing, use godaddy.com. They're dirt cheap for domains and hosting.

problem with them is we might be distracted by the seduction shots Danica Patrick, so we wont go anywhere

Joey Bowman · 05-24-2008, 06:36 AM

I dont really think of FlickR as a personal website, it would be like calling my photobucket account my website. Once I hit 200 pictures (just last week) and found out that i have to pay to keep doing more I got pretty mad because ive got 3 different photobucket accounts each with 1000 or more photographs, why cant FlickR do the same???

I host my website through Yahoo, I was told by a friend that it was great. I downloaded their Sitebuilder software and fell in love with the ease of use of creating a website through them.

1 1/2 years later and I am fed up with Yahoo, they have the worse customer service that I have ever experienced, 2 times now their servers have messed up mine and my girlfriends websites making certain ISP's unable to display our websites. Trying to talk to the people from Yahoo is almost useless and too time consuming.

chico · 05-28-2008, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBCagle7073

Like some of the others have mentioned it all depends on what you are wanting to do. If you are just wanting to link and share some pics with friends then something like Webshots, Pbase,Fotopic, ect would work fine. If you are wanting to show off your work to the world then it may be worth your while to create a website. You can get your own domain and a basic package for about 10 bucks a month or so. You'll have to learn to write html and some basic things but it shouldn't be that hard. You can even add on software to give it a more professional look.

Some good perspective here.

I would like to add that having your own web site need not require the owner to learn to write HTML, but you will have to be an administrator. You can pay someone to create your site, then administer it however often you want. I worked with Ryan Wilkerson of http://www.shastarails.com, using his code and administration tool to come up with my site, heartlandrails.com.

Ryan and I are working on creating additional railfan website(s).

There are plenty of vendors out there or software that will help you create a website. You have to decide on what you want your site to do/be and the quality of the "look". Do you want a cheesy-looking front page or something that is "publish" quality? The adage that you get what you pay for is true here too.

Good luck, I am an advocate of everyone having their own address on the web.

Chico
http://www.heartlandrails.com
http://www.therayway.com

round_house · 05-29-2008, 03:01 AM

If you go the pay route I use Lunar Pages to host my site.
I am looking for a new website builder to build my site. I presently use
Cute Site Builder but they no longer make it no more so I am go to build
another using another web builder. If anybody knows of a good one let me
know.