Photos

Just 3 days I ago I was wondering about Flickr and Yahoo, and effect of Yahoo’s problems. Today I read that founders of Flickr have left. That probably seals the deal on Flickr doing anything visionary further.

In a way I am glad I have moved to Smugmug, but at the same time I feel sorry for Flickr. Flickr given all its issues is the best photo community out there, and I have learnt more about photography just by being there.

To Flickr founders – may you find something new and exciting as Flickr!

In my previous post I was dabbling between Flickr and Smugmug. After Mark’s responses and my own playing around with Smugmug, I have made up my mind to move to Smugmug.

Agreed, there are some kinks around the corner, but being a startup I am convinced that Smugmug will evolve way faster. Their CSS is a bit difficult to implement, but once I got a hold of it, I was able get around. I will be updating my site more and managing photos there.

For a start, head to suyog and anu photography website, which is hosted off Smugmug. With some basic CSS customization I was able to get it to state it is in. In future weeks it will be sufficiently modified to suit my needs.

Smugmug offered me exactly what I was looking for since a while. It just took some digging around the site to find it. While I still love flickr for its community and all, I think Smugmug will serve my purpose better!

Smugmug, here we come.

Given the recent distress Yahoo has been, I am now evaluating my options with using Flickr to host all my images. I am seriously considering moving to Smugmug for these reasons – let me know if you have an alternate opinion.

Flickr:
– Has innovated very little in the last one year, and we all agree that most of its competitors have now better theme layouts and slideshow capabilities. Flickr doesnt allow you to host the website off them, nor do they have capabilities to do so (at least now).

• In favor of Flickr though, its a great community. Managing photos is easy, but what I like best about their site was the ability to have sets and collections, and nested sets. What’s more, its very easy to have same photos in different set and is spiffy.

Smugmug:

• With Smumug I see a whole range of possibilities. The company is already profitable, so the risk of them downing out are less. They are a startup hence more likely to innovate more. They allowed hosted option where I can host my site off them. The themes and slideshow options are awesome and they really seem to have got that look about them that makes it very very appealing.

• On the other hand, I worry what would happen if they were to fold? Their support is awesome, so I am hopeful they don’t just shut shop. I cannot put same photos in multiple galleries, so that is one level of extra work for me. They don’t have that big a community as Flickr, but I guess it has grown over the last years.

Given this, I am not sure I should make a move or not. Smugmug is really calling out to me – and with Yahoo’s problems surmounting, I doubt we’ll see Flickr doing anything innovative for a while. Heck, they would rather be all about surviving right now.

What do you think – should I make a jump to Smugmug?