The never-ending highway can be a lonesome place on special occasions. You don’t always have room in the cab for stacks of family photos, but if you store them online those special memories are just a click away. You can scan in your pictures or send in negatives and have them posted to an online photo album site. They’ll be available to anyone with Internet access. Here’s what to consider before choosing a site.
Photo storage. Online photo albums provide 25 to 100 MB of storage room for your digital pictures. Never worry about misplacing them, having them damaged due to heat or humidity, or losing them in a fire. Since they’re digital, they will never lose their quality, and you can back them up to a disk or CD anytime.
Album layout. You can choose from dozens of formats, such as background colors, schemes and borders.
Organizing. Photos can be separated into several albums. Most sites will allow you up to five different albums per account.
Access. You can view your online albums from any Internet-capable computer. You don’t have to carry them around or worry about them getting damaged or misplaced. The pictures can be printed out or sent to other family members via e-mail.
Extras. Some sites offer greeting cards and personalized slide shows of your photos. With some sites, you can add background music to your albums or create screen savers of your pictures.
Online albums
www.myfamily.com Offers up to 100 MB of free photo sharing and storage space. You can create a personal website in just three minutes using your pictures. Also features message boards and chat.
www.picturetrail.com provides a batch uploader for transferring groups of photos to your online site. Also offers slide shows and music for your albums. You can send postcards using your pictures.
www.photoloft.com offers personalized gifts and greeting cards. You can share digital images online, browse photo galleries, print out pictures or order reprints.
www.photoworks.com offers free unlimited online photo albums with borders and captions. Digital photo developing is available for a fee using Kodak prints. You can preview your photos and print the ones you want.
www.zing.com allows you to create free greeting cards, picture gifts and personalized screen-savers. Also offers quality prints and frames for a fee.
Do you have questions about using computers? Ideas for this column?
E-mail James Crawford at [email protected] or call him at (800) 633-5953, ext. 1234.
