Website Help

[janiece_struble]

At the risk of sounding cheap, here I go. Currently my website only has space

to put around 18 photos to show off. I want to create a gallery to show off

more, but the site already takes too long as it is to load for 1st time users,

I don't want to make it any longer- and the more I add, the longer it takes.

Does anyone know of any free flash templates that is set up for photograpers

that would enable us to add galleries on there?

 

Also, we have a link on there that directs people to Gallery, which is where

we have our clients photos for their viewing (so they can pick out which

photos they want)- but I don't like Gallery really. So is there any program

out there that is better (and doesn't cost), that is maybe set up better (able

to play music, etc).

 

Lastly, we put our clients photos on the web for them to view and pick out

which photos they want within a few days after their setting. We are running

into a TON of people that don't have internet, or computers available to them

(can you even fathem this?), so do you guys have that problem, and if so, what

do you do about it?

 

Sorry, and thanks. I know I'm cheap, but we are just starting out, so we are

making NO money yet, and everything comes out of my pocket.

[d_s31]

<ul><li/>Flash is slow and it's a pig. Believe it or not there are still people on dial-up and flash really hogs the bandwidth. I personally hate sitting through Flash loading even on DSL and the Flash introductions - they're boring and I hate it when there's no link to bypass them.<li/><a href=http://gallery2.org/>Here's some free open source software for photographers.</a><li/>Check out <a href=http://sourceforge.net/>Sourceforge</a> for more free software.<li/>There are tons of software out there to do what you want and if you're willing to get your hands "dirty" with computers, you can have a full functioning photo website for just the hosting costs. There's no need to pay the $30-$200 a month for the specialty photosites.</ul>

[giggles]

I have been very happy with Big Black Bag for my hosting and template. There is plenty of room and they have a proofing option as well. My site is www.gigglesngrinsphotography.com if you are interested. They also give you a week free to set up a site and play around. The referral program is nice as well so if you sign, let them know it was me who sent you there:)

 

As far as people without internet access, I do a 20-30 photo proof book. The number of proofs they see are limited but many clients like the old fashion way of having proofs in hand to show family members. I usually charge a $50 deposit when the proofs go out and then with a minimum order, I will sell the proof book to the client at a reasonable rate so I am out nothing.

 

Good luck!

[mendonphoto]

Definitely kill the Flash.<br><br>

 

There are lots of cheap hosting services that will give you several hundred megabytes or even a few gigabytes of space for less than $10 a month. Godaddy.com is less than $4 a month with only a 2-month obligation. Should be room for thousands of photos (assuming you have sized the appropriately for web viewing).<br><br>

 

Then, there are lots of free content management systems (CMS) available that will make it easy for you to customize your site, add content, allow for registered uses, etc. The only problem is that if it's free, there is going to be a difficult learning curve to get started. So, like DS said, you will have to be willing to get your hands dirty. But, once you're over that, life is great. For photographers in specific, there are plenty of free/cheap gallery plug-ins for content management systems.<br><br>

 

Google some of the following:<br><br>

 

Drupal<br>

Wordpress<br>

Joomla (I use this on mendonphoto.com)<br>

Coppermine<br>

Mambo<br>

[fullmetalphotograper]

If you have a Mac I would suggest iWeb with a .Mac account from apple. I it use for my <a

href="http://www.ralphberrettphotography.com" target="_blank">site</a> and <a

href="http://www.ralphberrettphotography.com/RALPH_BERRETT_PHOTOGRAPHY/Portfolio/Portfolio.html"

target="_blank">gallery</a>. The total cost was under $190 dollars. You can read more about my <a

href="http://www.ralphberrettphotography.com/FullMetalPhotographer.com/MechaStorm/Entries/2008/1/3_iWeb_The_Photograp

her%d5s_Online_Economical_Answer.html" target="_blank">iWeb experience here.</a> It is fast and a cheap way to maintain a site

[fullmetalphotograper]

OOps messed up the link for my "<a

href="http://www.ralphberrettphotography.com/FullMetalPhotographer.com/MechaStorm/Ar

chive.html" target="_blank">iWeb experience</a>", my bad.