///See my edit below///

Hey, I have discovered http://www.viewbook.c...

Looks really good, like a Livebooks or Foliolink website, and it has a great interface that's easy to use, just like those guys as well.

Best of all, it's free. No idea how that is possible. There are no advertisements.

Well, it's in beta, so I'm sure we'll find out eventually.

But until then, if you can't afford a Livebooks site, or don't want to pay the several hundred for a Foliolink site, Viewbooks is a great alternative.

Check mine out: http://engelfoto.view...


My guess is that they'll probably come out with a pay version which will allow you to have your own domain. Just a couple weeks ago they switched to a new system but that didn't work so they reverted to the beta which has very minor bugs.

Also, they offer code to allow you to embed stuff, offer a permalink and even XML feed of your presentations. Yay Web 2.0!


EDIT: Hey, the fine Dutch folk at Viewbook liked my portfolio enough to feature my viewbook in their blog! Check it out, it's the first installment of "Uncovering Portfolios", I'm the first one...woohoo!

wow, that looks fantastic. Thanks for the heads-up, Jeff. I'm going to check that out later on for sure!

Hey, I have discovered http://www.viewbook.c...

Looks really good, like a Livebooks or Foliolink website, and it has a great interface that's easy to use, just like those guys as well.

Best of all, it's free. No idea how that is possible. There are no advertisements.

Well, it's in beta, so I'm sure we'll find out eventually.

But until then, if you can't afford a Livebooks site, or don't want to pay the several hundred for a Foliolink site, Viewbooks is a great alternative.

Check mine out: http://engelfoto.view...


My guess is that they'll probably come out with a pay version which will allow you to have your own domain. Just a couple weeks ago they switched to a new system but that didn't work so they reverted to the beta which has very minor bugs.

Also, they offer code to allow you to embed stuff, offer a permalink and even XML feed of your presentations. Yay Web 2.0!

Cool beans, thanks Jeff!

They do have some plans listed... seems the idea is $9.95 a month for more storage and $19.95 a month for something without the viewbook logo... I am not sure quite what that means, but it doesn't sound like a domain name to me... which as you well know would really need to be included to fetch a price of 20 bucks a month.

... it doesn't sound like a domain name to me... which as you well know would really need to be included to fetch a price of 20 bucks a month.

I dunno, I think there are many services such as this that would easily be worth $20 a month, but I know what you're saying.

Personally, I think $20 a month is cheap for something nice like this. The site looks pretty awesome, with a very user-friendly and powerful interface, compared to Foliolink which is $300+ and Livebooks which is $900+, and both include annual fees if I'm not mistaken.

OK... here comes my "pay-by-month software is GOOD" schpiel:

In all cases, you have companies that spent time and resources coding their web applications. As someone who is involved in the web application area, I know how just 6 months of development with a couple coders, a UI person, QA testers, etc. even if it's just two people performing all the functions, that's at least $100K of development, and more like $1M to $10M if you really put the time and effort into usability and a really good interface because these are the deal-makers and breakers. Anybody can manually do everything.... and spend hours updating their site and HATING everytime they have to do it. I'm that person... i hate updating my Engelfoto.com site because it takes me at least an hour to do it.... I have to manually resize photos, write down the names and dimensions, then put them in the corresponding folders, then open the XML file, input all the relevant new data and test. AND, it's not exactly the way I want it. I need to learn something in order to get things to work the way I want. I'd rather just have a Livebooks or Foliolink site for my commercial work... and I probably will when my recent very conservative budgeting allows for it!

Anyway, all that money goes into improving the experience... and making it fun and exciting to update your website.

To me, it's so worth $20 a month, even without a custom domain name. ;)

Personally, I use several pay-by-month applications:

Basecamp (project management)
Freshbooks (online invoicing... amazing application!)
ConceptShare (prototyping / drawing tool for groups)

Over my lifetime, I'll probably have paid thousands of dollars for these apps when I could probably do it all manually via email and stuff... but they're worth it because they saved me time and offered an efficient way to get things done for me.

I dunno, I think there are many services such as this that would easily be worth $20 a month, but I know what you're saying.

Personally, I think $20 a month is cheap for something nice like this. The site looks pretty awesome, with a very user-friendly and powerful interface, compared to Foliolink which is $300+ and Livebooks which is $900+, and both include annual fees if I'm not mistaken.

OK... here comes my "pay-by-month software is GOOD" schpiel:

In all cases...

Well I would be the last one to challange the right of software developers to make a fair income off the fruits of their labor. I would be the first one to not participate in contributing to software price gouging.

As the profits available to the photographer thru web based sales declines, so does the pool of available funds to pay for web applications, etc. For now:

http://glennshifferph...

Given the prices for quality sites that are currently available online, it seems like an incredible deal. The interface seems so clean and easy, and you can get larger sized images for a fraction of the cost compared to some of the packages of Livebooks. Thanks so much Jeff for passing that on.

Ditto on Basecamp and Freshbooks -- GREAT productivity applications for folks doing consulting!

This does look very good. The price doesn't bother me, it seems quite reasonable for the functionality you get. I spent thousands paying my own programmers for a simple manageable photo album, and then need to spend quite a bit more to update it and keep it fresh. I also used Picasa Web Albums (free) and Phanfare (costs) for family stuff and to share photos, but they each have issues (Phanfare's display quality and Picasa's lack of intuitiveness). An online system that did everything I wanted would be worth, say $1000 a year to me. Viewbook comes close (good quality, intuitive) but lacks some features that would make it a "10".

Glenn - you would tie a domain name to your album using a CNAME record.

Jeff - your "People in Cities" is compelling and outstanding.

totally agree, the "people in cities' is great. nice work jeff.

Thanks so much for the kind words!