# Smugmug



## Kiwibloke (Dec 21, 2011)

Gidday, does anyone use Smugmug? And if so what is it like, it just had a good write up on Flipboard so thought I might give it a go, the web site looks very good and I've signed up for a 14 day free trial but I'm on a rig with only my iPad so I'm unable to upload photos to see how it looks.

Thanks

KB


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## DonRicklin (Dec 21, 2011)

Hello, I have used a Pro site at SM for a number of years now. They are quite good. For lots of general info and to see how they handle support check out their companion Forum site, Digital Grin. This is where a lot of Smug Mug help occurs. It is also a site for sharing images, competing in on line contest challenges and meeting other photogs on a social basis. 

One does not have to have a SmugMug site to be a part of Dgrin, but it is a good place to learn more about what SmugMug offers. If you decide to opt in here is a coupon number to use:* n76QoMHkCe6*



Don


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## Kiwibloke (Dec 21, 2011)

Cheers Don thanks for that.


KB


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## Replytoken (Dec 21, 2011)

I have used SmugMug for the past few years, mostly for casual use.  There are many things to like about SmugMug, but as I am now looking for a place to display and share more work, I am also considering Zenfolio.  Both sites have good reputations, and you should choose based on your needs and skill set.  Zenfolio might be a bit easier to customize, but you should decide for yourself.  As Don has already provided you with a promo code, you might wish to take use of it if you subscribe to SmugMug.  SmugMug will provide both of you with a discount.

Have fun,

--Ken


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## MDNativ (Dec 31, 2011)

KB,

I'm a hobbyist and have been a SmugMug Power user for 3 years now.  It's pretty easy to setup, customize (or not) and to share the pics through various social media tools.  There are three user levels - basic, Power and Pro.  There is plenty of online documentation for Self-Help.  Live User/Technical support is responsive which helps when you can't find answers to your needs.  I hope this helps.  Good luck.

-Gene


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## Kiwibloke (Dec 31, 2011)

Thanks MDNativ, I'm now a power user ( no point going for pro, my photos arn't that good) whenever I get home I'll play around with the site and add more photos once they have gone through Lightroom. I've added a link to my home page. Have a look if you like, still a work in progress.


KB


http://kiwi-bloke.smugmug.com/


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## rccoleman (Dec 31, 2011)

My experience as a paying user of Smugmug was that it was difficult to get things looking like I wanted without going all out and getting a high-end membership where you can completely design the site. One fundamental thing that annoyed me about it was the fairly restrictive categorization that's allowed with SmugMug - my recollection is that you get a category and subcategory, but not much else. I also couldn't get the picture on my home screen to fill the width of the browser - it was shrunk down to a fairly narrow width, and looked quite silly.  I don't remember all of the little things that bugged me anymore, but I was constantly finding things that I felt degraded my experience. 

I brought up several issues on DGrin to see if I could work around their limitations, but kept getting 'no' as a response. They are friendly and quick to respond, but there were just too many things that rubbed me the wrong way for a pay site.

I'm much, much happier with Zenfolio, in part due to their tree-structure organizational scheme. Makes much more sense to me.  In short, Zenfolio 'thinks' like me, where I constantly felt like I was swimming upstream with SmugMug.

Things may have changed, but I also found that publishing to SmugMug from Lightroom was glacially slow and timed out regularly, regardless of the plugin that I used (LR or jfriedl), the time of day, and the network I was on. Jfriedl's plugin for Zenfolio is a much better experience and was yet another reason for me to switch.  As far as I can tell, the guys at DGrin finally gave up and stopped responding to the lengthy thread about the frequent timeouts. 

Just wanted to share some thoughts from a non-pro perspective...


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## DonRicklin (Jan 1, 2012)

Off hand how long ago was this? Just curious. I don't modify my Pro site. I use one of their canned sites, myself. I built a site from scratch years ago, and am just not up to that anymore! 

Don



rccoleman said:


> My experience as a paying user of Smugmug was that it was difficult to get things looking like I wanted without going all out and getting a high-end membership where you can completely design the site. One fundamental thing that annoyed me about it was the fairly restrictive categorization that's allowed with SmugMug - my recollection is that you get a category and subcategory, but not much else. I also couldn't get the picture on my home screen to fill the width of the browser - it was shrunk down to a fairly narrow width, and looked quite silly.  I don't remember all of the little things that bugged me anymore, but I was constantly finding things that I felt degraded my experience.
> 
> I brought up several issues on DGrin to see if I could work around their limitations, but kept getting 'no' as a response. They are friendly and quick to respond, but there were just too many things that rubbed me the wrong way for a pay site.
> 
> ...


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## rccoleman (Jan 1, 2012)

A couple of years ago.  I switched to Zenfolio and haven't looked back, so perhaps things have gotten better.

Rob


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