Pixagogo, recently acquired by Belgium cable company Telenet, is a global photo sharing site. The site is useful for browsing galleries, storing photos and sharing albums. It is one of the most diverse sites as it is international. It costs $50 a year, but is a community some might find appealing. Not recommended for families or professionals because of the adult content that is rampant. There are no special features just for professionals.
Some uploaded photos did not appear in the albums. It seemed others had similar issues, but the forums were mostly in Belgium, and therefore, additional information was difficult to find. Members can, however, post their own issues in the forum in whatever language they choose.
Albums are organized by name or by automatic timeline. Statistics are given for tracking guests. Album pages are fully customizable, with varying color, text, image sizes and backgrounds.
Pixagogo provides both of the two common gallery experiences. Browse the gallery by category, where users submit their best albums. Or, search the label gallery organized through random user-defined tagging. There is no real organization to the label gallery except for user defined labels. Because the site is used worldwide, labels/tags are in many languages, making for very diverse browsing.
Existing outside the regulations of the US, Pixagogo is an edgy, young site with content some would not consider suitable for children. Those on more liberal continents may not find the content so taboo for young ones.
APIs are provided for creative developers.
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#]
Multiple languages
Photo timeline automatically organizes photos.
Fun Applications - Photomaps, Photo Sticker, Pixagogo Publisher – all with HTML code provided
Multiple simultaneous uploads through desktop application
Photo Blogs through Photoblog.com
Photo e-cards
[#Membership#]
Ad-free browsing, unlimited storage, sharing, forums, blogs, galleries, free uploading application, and permanent backup. Pay monthly or yearly.
[#Drawbacks#]
The help section, while packed with information, is not searchable or organized and is very wordy.
Prints and products are shipped from Belgium, so it is not practical for a US citizen.
Adult content that many parents, especially in the US, would not deem suitable for children. They claim that every album must be submitted for review before it is added to the public galleries. They may censor out illegal material, but they obviously do not censor for material not suitable for children.
[#Uploading#]
Drag-and-drop photos or entire folders into the uploading application. The application has a tab for upload queuing and a tab for uploads in progress, allowing multiple simultaneous uploads.
Upload Speed*
Very
Fast
Fast
Average
Slow
*Under
upload speed, modem is a T1 modem.
[#Storage#]
Photos are stored in two locations and the original, unmodified version is always kept on file. Photos are moved directly from the user’s computer to the Pixagogo account via the desktop application or a basic uploader. The desktop application is not used for organization on the desktop, but offers good organization for transferring files to the site.
[#Products#]
Prints are the only products at this time.
[#Prints#]
Prints are produced in Europe, making shipping costly to the US. (They are measured in centimeters too.) Prints are only available in three sizes and one finish.
Prints can be ordered without membership.
[#Sharing#]
Share albums by providing friends, family, customers, etc. with the link. HTML code is provided through Pixagogo Publisher for posting photos to other webpages. Share individual photos in e-cards.
[#Privacy#]
Albums can be set to three levels of security: shared, password protected or private. Albums to be shared can only be accessed with the direct link to the album. The public cannot get to your photos without an invite. You can also submit albums to public galleries at your discretion. Unlike other sites where people submit all of their photos to the galleries, Pixagogo urges members to only submit their best.
[#SiteNavigation#]
The site is not for beginners. There are many places to store albums and not enough explanation on how to use each area.
