[Leica] OT: Survey of Photographer's website requirements

[richard-lists at imagecraft.com (Richard)]

PLEASE send all responses to me directly richard @imagecraft.com

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Note: this survey is about a "Photographer website," and not about 
photo sharing site or photo gallery like Flickr, Photobucket etc. per se.

- Do you current have a photographer website? If so, what's the URL?

- If you have a site, is it one of the commercial hosting sites such 
as www.sitewelder.com, Photoeye's visual server etc. or did you 
(commission someone) create your own site.

- For image display, would you like:
== HTML, flash based, or user decided?
== optional audio?
== optional slideshow?
== optional auto-thumbnail generation?
== optional (non-obtrusive, small copyright image) watermarking?

- A basic site design has an intro page, categories and image 
galleries for each category. What additional features would you like?
== private gallery for customer specific images (e.g. a wedding shoot)
== print sales?
== e-commerce engine?
== blog?
== end user customizable? e.g. skins, and themes

- Generally speaking, a "photographer website" should not have too many 
images:
== That is fine.
== That's nonsense, give me a gallery where I can throw up thousands of 
images
== Both. A photographer website showing the best portfolio materials 
and optional link to photo album gallery.

- Most current hosting site costs $200-$500 per year. Would you 
prefer a one time software fee solution (with support contract) or a 
hosting service? What are the acceptable price points?

- Rate the importance of the following features:
User experience:
== clean design and easy to navigate site
== fast loading
== compatibility with browsers and OSes
== e-commerce
Photographer experience:
== ease of managing photos
== auto image resizing and other minor photo editing tools
== low startup cost
== low running cost
== e-commerce
== flexibility in look and feel, skins, customizability etc.
== site support
== extras (blog, etc.) please specify

Any other comments or suggestions? Thanks.

// richard (This email is for mailing lists. To reach me directly, 
please use richard at imagecraft.com)