Flickr by Yahoo is a truly unique site. It provides features that supplement any online digital photography experience. The main objective of the site seems to be to provide a public forum for bloggers and more advanced private photographers to store and share their photos. It is a bit more difficult to use than other sites, but the unique applications you can find are worth the effort. The site is useful for browsing public categories of photos through the use of photo tagging. Photo tags are useful for searching your own or other's photos. Once you get the hang of it, Flickr is a fairly straightforward site with active forums and informative help sections.
Although this site is good for those who want to see other people’s work and have others leave comments on their work, the layout is a bit muddled for the everyday user. Those with the time can play with public galleries and cool member-created applications for hours. Those looking to save time or simply store and share their photos might find this site is not for them. To do anything extra with your photos, such as editing or ordering photo gifts, you need to search the site for the application to do so. Even though it takes a bit more legwork than other sites, it usually turns out to be a rewarding journey.
If you are a digital imaging rookie, you may want to check out the glossary for descriptions of general features found on photo and video sites, and for some insight into basic industry terms.
[#Unique#]
Unique features make Flickr stand out. In addition to the usual sharing, storing and blogging that other sites offer, Flickr has a creative commons for third-parties who wish to share their programming talents. These applications enhance the digital photo experience with useful tools for editing, organizing, creating products and for entertainment. Those looking for amusement should check out exclusive applications like Trip Plannr, Retrievr, Montagr and Mappr. One thing to keep in mind: the third-party applications not by Yahoo/Flickr have the potential to be unstable. Use caution when selecting these. See our list of Fun Stuff in Additional Sites for some of the cool toys Flickr offers.
For pros, this site offers an alternative to copyrighting: photo licensing.
[#Membership#]
Free membership provides one (1) GB of storage space, gallery posting, community commenting, sharing, blogging and subscription to member groups. However, you are only allowed 20 MB of uploads per month and only three sets or albums unless you upgrade.
Upgrading to the Pro package allows two (2) GB of uploads per month and ad-free gallery browsing.
Third-party application downloads make Flickr stand out. If you love to play, Flickr adds new features all the time designed by creative users. These applications are available to all members, but as they are not created by Flickr, many do not work.
[#Drawbacks#]
Despite the good concepts and functions on Flickr, it is often difficult to figure out exactly where you are and how to get to where you want to be. The buttons for basic functions, like sharing photos, ordering prints and organizing albums are not clearly placed on the homepage. Extraneous features that most people do not use only serve to clutter the experience.
Discussions in professional forums mention the lack of organizational tools. This can cause problems, especially for professionals.
For someone who wants to browse galleries, or who needs pictures of specific subjects, this site is useful. On the other hand, there are sites like Webshots and Smugmug that are better for browsing. For someone who just wants to store their own pictures and share them with friends, this site may be too involved. What would take one click on another site may take three clicks on Flickr and extra steps need to be taken to keep your photos from public view. However, the familiar tone of the instructions does put one at ease, despite all the clutter. The voices of Flickr sound so friendly that it is very difficult to be so critical fo them. Also, in their defense, they are a constantly changing and improving the site. They are one of the newest photo sites and appear to be working on improving and adding features. In fact, they just released a new version of their site in May 2006.
[#Uploading#]
The basic uploader lets you browse and select about five photos, or 10MB at once. Free accounts are limited to 20MB of monthly bandwidth (uploads per month). Pro users get 2 GM of monthly bandwidth. Installing the darg-and-drop Flickr Uploader application is the best method because it allows you to simply drag and drop multiple photos into the uploader, resize them and specify privacy settings and album location before you even begin uploading. Uploading a photo in the original high resolution of a digital camera can take some time, and of course, more storage space. Resizing the photos for on-screen viewing at a lower resolution will speed up the process and limit theft.
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*upload speed is analyzed using a T1 modem.
[#Storage#]
Unlimited storage with free membership. If you want frills, you have to find them. Choose from many organizing applications designed by creative members. Batches of uploads are easily organized by dragging and dropping. This is easy to use, but you do not have all of your options in front of you at once. When viewing and organizing an album, there is no menu for ordering prints, uploading more photos to that album or editing. Each of these tasks must be found elsewhere on the site.
[#Products#]
Your Flickr albums can be used to create gifts and order products from partner sites, like Zazzle, Englaze and Photoshow. These sites offer a large selection of photo products, including DVD movies, apparel, party favors, photo books and children’s items.
Flickr now offers a "creative commons" simplar to Zazzle, but more difficult to use.
[#Prints#]
Flickr offers prints and posters through with QOOP. They seamlessly link your album to QOOP’s order screen where you can buy prints in many sizes and finishes.
[#Privacy#]
Any and every photo defaults to Flickr’s public database unless the member specifies a photo as private. Photos can also be set so selected family and friends can see them. Professionals can prevent their photos from being printed by right-click disabling.
[#SiteNavigation#]
This is not the easiest site to use. Menus functions are not clear and can be frustrating. Too many options make this site not user-friendly and inexperienced users may have to learn the site before they can do anything.
