Looking for Online photo album

[syntec4]

Hello all,
I'm looking for a reliable photo album online. I currently use Webshots but I've used up mu bandwidth etc. I am willing to pay for it, It don't need to be free.
I've done some googling but Its a bit confusing and don't tell me anything about quality etc.

I need the following:-
Unlimited uploads per month
FTP or Batch upload application.
Unlimited bandwidth
No adverts
Downloads available to others
URL linking for posting pictures on here.

I DONT need
Mugs
Hats
Mousemats
Prints of any kind

Can anyone recommend a company/site.
Thanks for the input.
Cheers
Lee.

 

[AndyBoyd]

I use Flickr www.flickr.com works a dream

 

[Adam]

I use www.pbase.com like you I pay for it, it has no adverts, doesn't do "prints" and mousemats.

I think imagestation gets a good right up too.

Haw about googles online albums? Didn' Waterhead post a link recently?

Adam

 

[dedee]

I don't think you can batch upload to google pages.

Andy

 

[mailee]

I use Imageshack and think you can batch upload.

 

[gidon]

I used to use Fototime - doesn't meet all your criteria but I found it very good at the time. Nothing I've used since matched it for its ability to send links secure or not to pictures / albums / collections of albums etc. And it integrates with a nice foto organiser which does full sync.
I would definately give Google's version a go - you get 250MB for free and 6GB for $25 a year! It's very slick but not used it much yet ... Again don't know it meets all your criteria. If you need an invite pm me your e-mail address.
I have also tried the free version of http://fotopic.net/ - the prem version may be an option - but I found the free version a little cluttered.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[devonwoody]

Photobucket.com
video as well.

 

[dedee]

Just realised that Adam & Gidon are probably refering to Google's Picassa rather than Google pages.

Andy

 

[jasonB]

I use photobucket, free if you want limited file size but about £20 a year for more storage etc.

Jason

 

[llangatwgnedd]

this one I use
http://www.uploadit.org/

$9.95 a year

 

[matthew]

If you're a) not particularly interested in social networking aspects of sites like flickr and b) willing to pay a little, then it may be worth getting your own domain and a hosting account - they are quite cheap now.

You get much more flexibility - eg with your own domain you can configure any number of email addresses there, eg for friends/family etc. You wouldn't automatically get a photo album, but there are plenty of free eg PHP scripts around that can easily be installed - they can just be set up and used without knowledge of programming.

And of course you would have web space for other things if you wanted to make pages apart from the photo gallery, eg if you wanted to set up a blog.

May be overkill, but it's an option. This kind of thing is part of what I do in my fascinating* day job so let me know if you want any more advice.

BTW Nice bike - nearly got a Firestorm myself, but ended up with an Aprilia Falco - can't beat a big twin...

Matthew

* Not really

 

[Chris Knight]

Lee,

For free and easy it's hard to beat Google web pages http://pages.google.com/

If you need a Google account I can send you an invite if you PM your email address to me.[/code]

 

[syntec4]

If you're a) not particularly interested in social networking aspects of sites like flickr and b) willing to pay a little, then it may be worth getting your own domain and a hosting account - they are quite cheap now.

You get much more flexibility - eg with your own domain you can configure any number of email addresses there, eg for friends/family etc. You wouldn't automatically get a photo album, but there are plenty of free eg PHP scripts around that can easily be installed - they can just be set up and used without knowledge of programming.

And of course you would have web space for other things if you wanted to make pages apart from the photo gallery, eg if you wanted to set up a blog.

May be overkill, but it's an option. This kind of thing is part of what I do in my fascinating* day job so let me know if you want any more advice.

BTW Nice bike - nearly got a Firestorm myself, but ended up with an Aprilia Falco - can't beat a big twin...

Matthew

* Not really

Matthew, The Falco is a nice bike. I've had a bit of a blast on one and liked it. There is supposed to be a a new 1200 firestorm on the horizon...I'm already saving :lol:

I have spent more time looking at all the sites that people have suggested. All of them have good points and limitations. I think the only way to get no limitations is to get my own Space somewhere. I have my site already built with Dreamweaver and I have bought a domain from freeparking.co.uk. Would I need to buy another name or could I have this registered with the same company that supplies the webspace?

Thanks for you're help.

Lee.

 

[matthew]

Matthew, The Falco is a nice bike. I've had a bit of a blast on one and liked it. There is supposed to be a a new 1200 firestorm on the horizon...I'm already saving :lol:

I'm getting too old and I need something more comfortable... not quite old enough for a BMW yet but I have my eye on a Guzzi Breva 1100 - but it might be some time, have to weigh up tools vs bike!

I have my site already built with Dreamweaver and I have bought a domain from freeparking.co.uk. Would I need to buy another name or could I have this registered with the same company that supplies the webspace?

That's a great start. The key point here is that owning a domain name is a separate issue from hosting it. A registrar actually registers it for you so that you own it and a web host provides you the space and facilities to do something with it. They can (and often are) the same company, but they don't have to be - from experience I prefer to keep them separate, that way a) I'm not trusting anyone to register (and more to the point, renew) my domain and b) it's easier to change one or the other at your own pace if necessary.

So you already have a registrar, you need to look for a web host. I don't have any specific recommendations - I have a dedicated server (which actually isn't as expensive as it sounds) but my host only do servers. However, shop around and I'd suggest looking for somewhere that gives you a 'Plesk control panel'. Plesk is the most popular control panel software, it manages a server (I have it on mine) and gives each customer a web-based management interface for the domain, where you can set up email addresses etc. You can try it out here: http://www.swsoft.com/en/products/plesk8/demo/

Compare various specs that you see - eg web space, bandwidth etc. Difficult to know how much bandwidth you need, but as an example, my wife's site (shameless plug) at http://www.nordljus.co.uk/en/ has lots of pictures and about 500 or so visitors a day, and uses about 25GB/month.

Also make sure that you get PHP and MySQL (they are fairly standard, although I would recommend a Linux-based account rather than Windows) - you don't need to know anything about them but lots of photo gallery, blog, forum etc programs use this combination. Also check out whether they do backups, especially if you will be keeping things on there that you don't have a copy of on your computer... although having said that, I would never trust anyone to do backups for me. NB Plesk includes a utility for you to easily back up your entire domain.

Once you have found a host, sign up, tell them what domain you are using and they tell you what name servers to use. You then go back to your registrar (freeparking), sign in and you can change the name servers (which define where the domain is hosted) and within 24 hours it should be working. Then you can look around for a gallery program to install - I think Coppermine is popular but there should be plenty of others to choose from.

Oh, and check the terms of the web host, how long you need to sign up for - hosting really is a commodity, if you're not happy or find a better deal, you have control over where the domain points to so you can change it at any time (subject to moving gallery etc).

Phew, sorry for the lengthy post... it sounds a bit daunting, but once you figure it all out, the flexibility of being able to do whatever you want with your domain is worth it. Let me know if you need more info!

M