Posted on January 24, 2006 at 2:52 PM in how-to
Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.
If you're in the habit of storing and sharing your photos online regularly, something like Flickr is probably the service for you. But if someone is holding a gun to your head and demanding that you share photos online now now now, or if you only share photos occasionally and want the quickest and easiest path possible to photo-sharing completion, you might take a look at Bubbleshare.
I think the practice of sending photos to your friends as attachments is a pretty clumsy way to go. The one advantage I can think of over web-based sharing is that the people you send an attached photo to have a copy of the photo in their e-mail account automatically. But lots of people are using web-based e-mail these days, so you can't assume that if the attachment is in their e-mail account, it's on their computer. They might still have to be connected to the internet to see it.
Here are some other advantages to web-based photo sharing services:
- Sending a link instead of a photo saves bandwidth. Even if you are on dial-up or some dodgy internet connection somewhere, it's a breeze.
- On a related note, it lets the recipients decide when they want to spend the time actually viewing the photo. They don't have to download the photo as they receive the e-mail.
- Sending around a link to a web page instead of the photo itself makes the sharing more interactive. Your share-ees can add their own comments and notes, pass around the URL, and bookmark it for viewing later.
- When you share via the web, you become a content provider of sorts, not just a person sharing a photo. People you don't know might be interested in looking at your photos too. If you wish, you can make your photos searchable and viewable to the internet-going public. This becomes a form of entertainment and communication in itself.
(Permit me to speak directly to my dad for a second here...) So I'm not just being a tech-obsessed, snarky jerk in suggesting you might try sharing your photos through a web-based service. And I understand that you don't want yet-another account to maintain and you're not interested in all of the cool and crazy things the kids are doing with Flickr. So here's what you do.
- Get the photos on to your computer from your camera or phone. It doesn't matter how, just know where they are on your hard drive before you get to step 2.
- Go to www.bubbleshare.com. Click "Click to Edit" and change the name of the photo album. Or ignore that if you don't care.
- Click "Add Photo" and use the window it gives you to find the photo on your computer.
- Click "Add Another Photo" or click "Next Step" if you are done adding.
- On the next screen, type in your name and a real e-mail address. Agree to the terms and conditions (or read them first if you care), and click "Next Step."
- You're just about done. On the next screen, click "share album" and fill out the form.
- Now you're done. You'll also get e-mails from Bubbleshare with the address to your new album's web page and an address for making changes to the album.
I started to make a whole tutorial for this, then realized it's much quicker to try it than to explain it.
I like how there's no commitment to use it again in the future, no nagging your friends to join (that I know of), and no lengthy sign-up process.
Comments
This was a great commentary and most helpful for those like us who like to share photos. We tried Snapfish but too many friends objected to all the registration, password, etc. Thanks!
Posted by Howard & Lynda Stilley | January 24, 2006 4:46 PM
What a terrific blog...brilliantly written, practical and helpful. Permit me to speak for a second to my son here. While I still think you are a tech-obsessed, snarky jerk I also know that you are a loveable tech obsessed snarky jerk. I promise to try not to clog up your precious hard drive with pictures of your adorable niece and nephews...thanks for the play-by-play instructions.
Father of Earthling
Posted by Don Coustan | January 25, 2006 7:51 PM
i did what you said and where are my pic are howe do i get to bubble to find them?? i am not very pc smart just starting to learn in my 50,s help. i love my pc but don't understand much about it .
Posted by tam | January 28, 2006 9:11 PM
Tam:
Good to hear from you.
Bubbleshare sends out the links to your photo albums through e-mail. I wonder if your Spam filter might have prevented them from getting to your inbox?
If you use EarthLink Spamblocker, try looking in your "Suspect Email" folder for the e-mails from Bubbleshare.com.
And if you'd like to get Bubbleshare to send out the links to you again, use the "retrieve albums" link on their site, which can be found here:
http://www.bubbleshare.com/tools/retrieve_albums
Feel free to e-mail me at earthling at corp.earthlink.net .
Posted by earthling | January 30, 2006 10:51 AM
We consider ourselves sò lucky to have found Bubbleshare!!
It was just what we were looking for.
Thanks a lot!
Monica and Chiara
Posted by Monica | February 11, 2006 4:29 AM
I have aways had a good experience with Photomax.You should try it too.
Posted by Terry Belleau | February 17, 2006 9:17 AM