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12/15/2011 05:58:15 PM · #51 |
Originally posted by heatherd:
I tried this, selecting a single image, set to private but I couldn't add to the home page as it kept saying "not a public photo" |
If it's on your home page, why do you need it to be private?
I've found the private settings to be a bit unnecessary. I have lots of galleries under the special clients folder. That's a great place to hide a gallery because they can't list the galleries under clients so unless you reference a photo it's not visible (nor is the gallery). |
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12/15/2011 06:04:36 PM · #52 |
Originally posted by Neil:
If you would like to feature a single image rather than a slideshow, we suggest you create a gallery that contains only a single image. You may also want to review assigning a Soundtrack to your Home page slideshow." |
I was trying to follow the above quote you had given me, in order to have a main image on the home page.
I am in the middle of setting up this website, so it's not ready for public view, just quite yet as I'm trying different themes etc. but have one I wanted. It just seems to be taking me longer than I'd like.
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02/02/2012 10:02:41 PM · #53 |
Okay, Smugmug now has it set so that you can create a "price list" (ie- One price grouping for sports, one for weddings, etc.).
However, in doing it, they have changed a couple of other things that are making me bang my head against the wall.
I have been a staunch supporter of SM for several years, and have resisted every effort to be "recruited" to another "site." I have defended them, promoted them, and sang their praises, but I am so frustrated right now, I'm about to pull my hair out.
One thing, and one thing alone, keeps me from pulling the smugmug plug and taking my toys elsewhere -- I have over 15,000 pictures there in several hundred galleries. I have customers that visit me yearly/bi-yearly and buy their kids pictures in one sitting -- I *have* to move them all.
How hard is it to move them, or will I have to upload them all again. That is many hours of uploading. |
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02/02/2012 10:43:33 PM · #54 |
Originally posted by karmat:
Okay, Smugmug now has it set so that you can create a "price list" (ie- One price grouping for sports, one for weddings, etc.).
However, in doing it, they have changed a couple of other things that are making me bang my head against the wall.
I have been a staunch supporter of SM for several years, and have resisted every effort to be "recruited" to another "site." I have defended them, promoted them, and sang their praises, but I am so frustrated right now, I'm about to pull my hair out.
One thing, and one thing alone, keeps me from pulling the smugmug plug and taking my toys elsewhere -- I have over 15,000 pictures there in several hundred galleries. I have customers that visit me yearly/bi-yearly and buy their kids pictures in one sitting -- I *have* to move them all.
How hard is it to move them, or will I have to upload them all again. That is many hours of uploading. |
Karma, there's a third party program that moved EVERYTHING over for me. It took 3-4 days to do it, but it worked. And it preserved galleries, etc.
You can sign up for the trial, and let it transfer, check it out, see what you like better, and then stay with the best.
I'll find the utility link for you later tonight. (But it's also not hard to find...)
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02/02/2012 10:46:12 PM · #55 |
Looks like there are three now...
//www.zenfolio.com/zf/tools/migration.aspx
I used UploadJunction. Worked great. |
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02/28/2012 08:56:26 AM · #56 |
Well, I just started playing with Zenfolio today. I've been on SmugMug for a little over a year, with a Pro account. The biggest perk I've seen on Zenfolio is the Self-Fulfillment of orders. Since I don't really do photography to make money (yet at least). It would be good for family, friends and clients to buy photos from me and I can print them out and give them to them (assuming that is how that works).
I'm going to continue to use me Trial account to see how I like this compared to SmugMug, but then I might make the transition over. This would also give me a good chance to clean up galleries and such and start new. The Blog feature is big for me as well, as my wife is big into writing, and has wanted to do a photography blog.
Any other big perks to Zen over Smugmug? Does Zen allow for CSS/HTML editing, or is it all the generic very user-friendly style set-ups?
Neil, if I do end up purchasing Zen, I plan to use your referral. |
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02/28/2012 08:23:07 PM · #57 |
Originally posted by TheBaumPhotos:
Any other big perks to Zen over Smugmug? |
I have always been impressed by their communication and support.
The few times I had to contact them, they were very quick to reply (as well as friendly, useful, etc).
I also like how very VERY rarely the website is "down", and that they are good about giving ample warning re maintenance outages. |
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02/28/2012 09:13:01 PM · #58 |
Buddy, I have never done custom pages on ZF but you can (look for custom pages in the menus, that's what they're called).
I've just tried out there new blog feature. Works very well...I still have to make mine look better, but it only took me a couple of minutes to start it and even to add it to my customized size (meaning I had to add it to my custom menus). I think it might be a good place for me to do a POD...I don't want to have a gallery for one, and this is a new venue.
Here's my first pass: //nrshapiro.com/blog
One of the best features of ZF is the private client galleries. Basically, anything you put under there is invisible on your site, even if you make it public. In fact, as far as I know, you have to make it public to share it the way I like to. I put a lot of galleries here. Ones that I want to link to, and share a link, but I don't want people to see it on the site if they just visit and browse. For example, I posted this here in a thread...it's a set of shots from my show at Uncommon Grounds Coffee house.
//nrshapiro.com/showuc
Nice short URL (you just give the gallery an access code under "Links and Client Access", and it's accesible like this from the URL)
The slide show feature works well too, but I don't think you can embed it, it's just a link:
//nrshapiro.com/showuc/slideshow
The key is you won't find that gallery anywhere on my site (unless I've allowed it to be searched). You have to use the URL.
Message edited by author 2012-02-28 21:15:38. |
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02/28/2012 10:14:39 PM · #59 |
I recently switched over from Smugmug to Zenfolio. I photograph races for the local YMCA and they contacted me asking if I'd set up a site where the runners can purchase prints. There wasn't anything I was unhappy with at Smugmug. The pro account with Smugmug is $150, and the Zenfolio pro account is only $100...so Zenfolio won out. :) And like Buddy said, it gives me a chance to clean up my galleries.
My Site
What I like more about Zenfolio:
The integrated blog feature. It might get me more involved in blogging since I don't have to maintain 2 sites.
Easy drop down menu setup
Simple short gallery urls -
---- Smugmug url - www.ericgaston.com/People/Sports/2011-Hollidaysburg-YMCA/18538595_wSVGPh/2/1431179138_zQHmKGB)
---- Zenfolio url - www.ericgaston.com/p823585061
One thing Smugmug had over Zenfolio that I miss is the community. The forums at dgrin.com were very active. And people would post tons of great tips on customizing your site. They would post all the complicated CSS and other code so that all you had to do was copy/paste. I had a full screen slide show going on my home page and all kinds of other enhancements. But a full screen slideshow isn't worth the extra 50 bucks. :)
Message edited by author 2012-02-28 22:17:52. |
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02/28/2012 11:00:17 PM · #60 |
Glad to see this thread getting active!
Eric, what about the ZF forums? I've used them to find solutions to problems. Perhaps not as active as Smugs...but they are there, and I've found things I've looked for in there without needing to ask.
And of course, the ZF community idea was another reason I started this here thread.
One thing I don't think I've mentioned yet. Once you transfer your stuff from SM, get Friedl's ZF plugin, and it's very easy to publish to your site, right from LR. There's also a potentially fantastic sync feature, where you can also keep your files in sync (e.g., if you change them after uploading), but I've had mixed results. If you start a new gallery, and you always use it to publish, it works great. Anyway, it's donationware, and not expensive. It's worth getting just for the upload feature (even without sync).
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02/28/2012 11:43:30 PM · #61 |
I use the plugin for Lightroom. It works great. This reminds me that I need to make a donation to the developer.
I've perused the ZF forums, but if you look at the customization forum, you see a ton of threads with 0, 1, or 2 replies. Compare that to the Smugmug customization forum. But with ZF, it's easier to do a lot of the things that took complicated code to do on Smugmug. |
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03/05/2012 12:08:13 AM · #62 |
 Neil I was glad to see someone had started using the new blog feature, left you a private message just to try it out. Looks pretty good, love your site compared to mine, mine is still pretty generic even though I have been a member for a few years. Looking forward to making some improvements this year and happy to see this thread for advice.
My site
Message edited by author 2012-03-05 00:09:22. |
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03/11/2012 03:14:46 PM · #63 |
Well, I just purchased my ZenFolio account, Neil I used your Code.
I've been playing with the ZF site during my free time, and it is very user friendly, gives me the ability to password protect galleries, make Client Galleries, or make users sign up with an account, and then assign users to specific galleries.
I've really liked what I have see during my 14 day trial. While the ZF User Forums are nowhere near as active as the Dgrin forums, there really isn't as much customization questions needed to be asked, as it is all relatively user friendly.
My Smugmug Site: //www.TheBaumPhotos.com
My ZF Site: //TheBaumPhotos.ZenFolio.com
As you can see, I haven't really worked on my Smug site in a while. I've created a new Banner/Logo, which is on the ZF site.
I've still got a lot of tweaking to do prior to switching my domain over to the ZF site, but I really hope to have all that done this week so I can roll out the new site and cancel my Smug site...even though I have 6+ months left on my Pro Account there.
My wife ( Brooke_Baum) is stoked about the Blog feature on the ZF site, as I was in the process of finding a blog site I could link to my Smug account for her, as she LOVES writing and is slowly learning her D7000. She has had a great time participating in the challenges here lately as I signed her up for a Membership. She is actually beating me in the Abstract Macro challenge. Thanks to Adobe's Student Discount sale a little while back she also now has CS 5.5 Production Premium, so now she can use CS 5 instead of her old Elements 7.
I'm not sure if ZF has this or not, but since I just signed up I haven't seen the Pro features. I did like the real-time tracking of photo views on Smug, I could see how many views each image had, or gallery, and trend my views daily. This was very useful when I added a new gallery and posted it to my FaceBook, so I could see how many views each picture had. Although if ZF doesn't have it, I won't miss it too much, it isn't imperative that I can see that information.
I also like the Hopepage slideshow on ZF, the ability to link that to a specific gallery easily is very nice feature. I can, and will be, creating a gallery of some of my favorite/best photos, and will have those in the slideshow. This also gives the the ability to easily add/remove images from the Slideshow.
So all-in-all I've been very impressed. Enough to most likely drop my Smug account 6+ months early.
Let me know what you think of the current ZF site, and any tweaks/adjustments I should make. I still need to work on Menus and Galleries and other things, but it is getting there.
Message edited by author 2012-03-11 15:15:42. |
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03/11/2012 04:16:58 PM · #64 |
| I'm a Zennie too, but my site there isn't ready for unveiling yet, despite my having had the account for a year and a half. I do like the tools there and am glad they added the blog feature. Now just need to find time to get my site in order. |
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04/12/2012 12:22:44 AM · #65 |
| I have been on DPC for a few years but did not manage to participate for numerous reasons earlier. So firstly, I am looking forward to participating. You are all exceptional photographers and artists, and it is a privilege to see the amazing images that you contribute here. And secondly, I am on Zenfolio too, at foto78.com. I really love it. I do my own self-fulfilment of orders and they make it really easy and simple to design and manage. Have been on for a couple of months now, and my current focus is on promoting the site. I would recommend zenfolio to anyone considering it. |
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04/12/2012 11:44:31 AM · #66 |
Glad to see others checking in...
Remember to put any tips you have here for others! The point of the thread is to share!
I just renewed to start my second year! |
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04/12/2012 01:14:25 PM · #67 |
I've had a Zen site for a couple of years now - and just started to refresh it with drop downs and the like.
My Zen Site
It would be good if this thread took off as the Zen forums are pretty slow and quiet :- )
Message edited by author 2012-04-14 05:44:23. |
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04/14/2012 05:46:42 AM · #68 |
It would be good if Zen allowed stacked drop down menus - so you could use the initial drop downs to pick a topic - then have subfolders within it.
I don't believe that can currently be done - I believe the closest currently is to have individual drop downs per topic. |
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05/30/2012 01:56:21 PM · #69 |
What is the minimum size (dimensions) required for prints to be 'printable' on ZF? I have one person that downloaded some of my prints, only to get be told they were not printable. Most of them have at least 240 dpi.
(They had already paid for my work so they shouldn't have to pay for the prints now)
What is the best solution? Thanks!
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05/30/2012 02:01:08 PM · #70 |
Did the customer place the order through the site? Is mpix the printer? When a file is too small for the size the customer wants, it's been my experience that this is indicated in the "Buy" drop-down, as are the "best fits" which mean no or minimal crop. I was not aware a client COULD order something when the message was that the resolution is not great enough for this size.
Nikki
eta: could someone pm me the code for posting my site address here in this forum with a clickable link that just says the name of my site?
Message edited by author 2012-05-30 14:03:21. |
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05/30/2012 02:12:19 PM · #71 |
| No, I changed the setting just for that particular gallery so they could download themselves and print out as I haven't yet set up the feature where they can just order/print. |
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05/30/2012 02:55:19 PM · #72 |
I'm not very good at this, but here's what I understand - someone will please correct me if/where I'm wrong.
dpi goes hand in hand with size. So I may have an image that is 696 dpi printed 4x6" but will only be 232 dpi when printed at 12x18" and only 174 dpi when printed at 16x24".
Different printers have different requirements, too. ACI won't print anything that is less than 250 dpi at the desired size; however, I have a local lab that does excellent work and feels this is excessive and will print a much lower dpi.
It sounds as if you need to know more about what the client wants and who they are going to order from than you did. |
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05/30/2012 03:09:08 PM · #73 |
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05/31/2012 12:08:12 PM · #74 |
Could someone pm me the code for posting my site address here in this forum with a clickable link that just says the name of my site? TIA
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05/31/2012 01:02:44 PM · #75 |
If you want to insert a link to your site here, whenever you are typing in your forum message, just use the little icon for "Insert Hyperlink." You'll get a prompt for the website address and then for the text you'd like to display. The code will be inserted for you.
Eric Gaston Photography |
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