p.1 #1 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
Greetings from Greece,
i recently used Zenfolio to build my photography website, but i feel that it has limited options for me.
So i am considering building my website with a different platform like Wordpress.org or Squarespace.
I am not a pro, but i would like to use some features like mailing lists, subscribe before download something and more. Also, i don't want to get involved with coding.
p.1 #2 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
I guess I'm old skool but I just use Dreamweaver and works fine for me. Of course, my site dates from 1998 and isn't very trendy but it looks like me and nobody else.
p.1 #3 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
One thing that's nice about Wordpress is that it's been around for so long and it's incredibly widespread. That means documentation, help and add-ons are easy to find and comprehensive. Just about any problem you have with Wordpress, someone else has also had, and a solution is a Google search of "<problem> wordpress" away.
I'm not a big fan of building webpages using local software platforms like Dreamweaver. Primarily, my issue is that the code they generate is usually cumbersome at best, and awful at worst, and it becomes difficult to use anything but that specific software platform to support it. Not a big deal if you want to keep using that platform, but it's nice to be able to change platforms, edit something using my phone in a pinch, or whatever.
Nothing against Dreamweaver itself, I just take the long view that things change over time and being locked into a specific pay-for software platform can be limiting. If you're still going strong since 1998, though, it clearly works for a lot of people!
There are a lot of knocks against Wordpress, but it's easy for most people to work with, flexible since you can edit from any internet connected device, and well-known enough that there's lots of help available. I think it's a good choice.
p.1 #4 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
Hi Evangelos - This is just my experience: I looked into Word Press, and found it to be too much for me. Too many choices, options, etc. But if you have the time and patience to work with it, I'm sure it's great. I do wish I had more time and patience, because it does seem like Word Press has a lot of flexibility and customization and I really like the sites I see using it.
I decided to pay a bit more and have my site hosted by Photoshelter. The templates are more limited, but the sites are photographer-focused and have a lot of great features, like clients being able to download hi-res files right from their own lightbox, etc. Their customer service was fabulous when I was getting set up (sometimes one of their tech people just did things for me that I couldn't figure out!) Check out their site, they also have a lot of great articles and resources for photographers.
I also have a portrait based site on Squarespace and I really like them, too. They also had decent customer service (not as good as Photoshelter, but they do try.) Squarespace is not set up to allow you to directly send files to a printer from your site, and is not solely photography focused. I am probably going to shut it down and merge it all into my Photoshelter site at some point. Anyway, just wanted you to know that I've had good experiences with Squarespace but Photoshelter has an edge, in my experiences. If you have more specific questions don't hesitate to ask or PM. If you click on my www link below, that site was built with Photoshelter, 99% by me, and I am not in the least bit "techie." Good luck!
p.1 #5 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
The best answer here is probably "it depends." Squarespace looks easier to use "out of the box," but it probably doesn't come with as many options as a wp.org based site offers (I've never used Squarespace). Both of them are essentially template based though, and there are web hosting providers that cater to wp users such that you shouldn't get overwhelmed by all the mumbo jumbo associated with hosting a web site.
The thing you really need to do at this stage is sit down with pen and paper, and hash out your design and other requirements, including the functionality you think you need vs. the functionality you may want. Added functionality can come with its own learning curve, and you'll want to investigate what you'll need to do to use it and keep it working properly. Does Squarespace offer it (funcctionality)? Can I do that with Wordpress (probably)? What do I need to know how to do in order to use it (e.g., coding or other skills)? Google those needs/wants, read up on them, ask more questions, then go from there.
I've been coding sites since 1995 (both straight-laced html and CMS based), and know one size usually doesn't fit all. You can spend as little as a few bucks and get a web site up and running, or thousands of dollars/euros.
p.1 #8 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
John - That was kind of my impression. If you want to showcase a few images and blog about them or the photo shoot, etc., then Wordpress would be fine, and so would Squarespace. If you want to be able to store a lot of photos, showcase them and sell them with minimal fuss, for me Photoshelter won. That said, many people like Smug Mug, Zenfolio and I'm sure there are others...
p.1 #9 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
Hi to all and thank you so much for your time!
I was a bit disappointed by Zenfolio, and now i don't want to lose time building something that will not last. I am not a pro photographer so i am worried that maybe Wordpress with all its plugins won't be necessary for me. Also the process of setting up Wordpress for my needs, seems a little intimidating and time consuming.
That's the reason i compare it to Squarespace, which seems to need significantly less time to set up and run.
And now, thanks to Sharona, i have to check out Photoshelter too
It seems more "photography oriented" than Squarespace, which is a good thing.
Also it has the same "basic" pricing of 8 USD/month.
p.1 #10 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
Evangelos Makris wrote:
I am not a pro photographer so i am worried that maybe Wordpress with all its plugins won't be necessary for me. Also the process of setting up Wordpress for my needs, seems a little intimidating and time consuming..
Check out all the companies that provide Wordpress templates, I'm in the process of doing exactly this myself and many of them cater specifically to photographers, Photocrati for example. Many make it very easy with drag and drop or fixed templates. Worth investigating more, as I'm doing, for sure.
p.1 #13 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
I use the prophoto template on wordpress. The tutorials and instructions are really good. I suck at making websites, but found the whole process fairly simple. My main struggles that I still face are how to make my photos look good across different viewing devices, like retina screen, phone, etc. Also just getting the site format to not be weird on a phone has been an issue.
Below is a link to my site, as an example of what you can get with little expertise or time investment, in terms of the web layout.link
p.1 #17 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
A high percentage of my pictures are verticals and few templates provide for effective display of them, including Squarespace. I don't want a template that limits me to showing only horizontal images or square images or tiny vertical images with the height constrained by the template to the edge of a horizontal shot.
p.1 #19 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
Wordpress - you build it, you maintain it. Very flexible, but upgrades and changes may affect your site. And be careful of plugins. People build stuff, and may eventually not support the plugin anymore. This can cause major headaches and lots of work.
Squarespace is more simple, reliable, easy to use, and less work in the long run. I want to spend my time taking pictures, not figuring out why my Wordpress code isn't working. After 8 years of Wordpress I switched to Squarespace a year ago and couldn't be happier.
p.1 #20 · Wordpress vs Squarespace for a photographer?
Mr Joe wrote:
Wordpress - you build it, you maintain it. Very flexible, but upgrades and changes may affect your site. And be careful of plugins. People build stuff, and may eventually not support the plugin anymore. This can cause major headaches and lots of work.
Squarespace is more simple, reliable, easy to use, and less work in the long run. I want to spend my time taking pictures, not figuring out why my Wordpress code isn't working. After 8 years of Wordpress I switched to Squarespace a year ago and couldn't be happier.
Joe - May I ask which Squarespace template you're using?
