Webshots, part of the CNET family, is an excellent site for gallery browsing - thousands of neatly organized communities searchable by keyword or user. Galleries are easy to search and so is the site. It is professionally designed and offers many resources for pros and private users.
The desktop software for managing photos is one of the best and suggests tons of great photos that you can use as wallpaper or screensavers. However, photos downloaded to the application are not saved on your computer and cannot be used for other purposes.
The site has been recently revamped for easier navigation and super-fast uploading.
College Live beta will soon make this site a hit with college age users.
If you are a digital imaging rookie, you may want to check out the glossary for descriptions of general found
features on photo and video sites, and for some insight into basic industry term.
[#Unique#]
Galleries make this site great: daily updates with new photos added to the gallery, nice editors’ galleries. The pop culture and current events galleries are great for web surfers. Create products that you cannot on most other photo sites, like e-cards, screensavers and wallpaper with a single click.
Downloading hi-res photos with the Premium package is major advantage of this site, but you can get mid-size downloads for free. You can also download an entire page of photos with upgraded membership.
The new college Live beta allows students at universities to share their college experiences.
As part of CNET, a media review company, Webshots offers tons of useful information about photography and video equipment.
[#Membership#]
Basic membership gives you a personal URL, storage, free desktop software, five pro downloads a day, access to communities and galleries and an online address book. Premium package for $29.88 a year gets you more storage, hi-res and batch downloads and ad-free browsing.
[#Drawbacks#]
The desktop software does not have editing tools. You must find these elsewhere.
Storage is limited with free membership.
Interface is confusing. There is no indication of what is on your hard drive, only can be accessed through the application or what has been uploaded to the site for backup.
[#Drawbacks#]
Great uploading capabilities on this site make it highly recommended for personal use. Upload over 200 photos at once with the software and choose to upload as a small file for screen viewing only, allowing even faster uploading.
Upload Speed*
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Fast
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*Under
upload speed, modem is a T1 modem.
[#Storage#]
Free membership gives you space for about 1,000 photos. Upgraded membership gets about 5,000. Photos are deleted if account is inactive for six months. Tag all your photos for gallery inclusion or mark them as private so only those you invite can see them.
[#Products#]
Webshots links to QOOP for products, but has a newly designed gift creation section that makes shopping easier.
[#Prints#]
Prints are on Fuji paper and come in multiple sizes.
[#Sharing#]
Post photos in community galleries and invite guests from your online address book to see your private albums. Download professional photos for desktop wallpaper, posters, screensavers, etc. You are limited to five a day with basic membership.
[#Privacy#]
Before you even upload a photo, you can specify if it is public or private.
[#SiteNavigation#]
Site is easy to navigate but synching between desktop application and site can be a hassle. There is no indication of what is backed up and what is still only on the desktop application.
