At times people ask me about this blog. They have asked what theme I use, who is the host of my site and other details. For some of those questions of course I can give answers but for other questions I don’t even have the technical knowledge to provide adequate details.
So, the first theme I had used was from Photocrati featuring the new nextgen gallery system and the host service I have been using since 2015 is Siteground. Photocrati has evolved to Imagely, adding new themes and an option to provide hosting on their own, rather than depending to providers such as Siteground. If you just want to buy a collection of themes and host it on your preferred provider then you may choose a Photocrati or an Imagely themes pack. And if you feel that the hosting plans of Imagely are within your budget then this is your way to go, because Photocrati does not provide hosting plans. Currently, I have moved to an Imagely theme but still use the same Siteground host.
Some of you may ask why I didn’t choose a platform like Smugmug, Zenfolio or Wix. At that time when I had to choose between the aforementioned platforms or a photocrati oriented theme, I realized that it was much cheaper to buy a wordpress theme and add an extra hosting plan. This solution provided protection for my work, was a blog site already, had an e-commerce option that I may use it in the future and was flexible in a way I personally like it. For example If I want to, I can change the layout of my site by choosing another theme from the photocrati or imagely pack I’ve paid, or even change the way my galleries appear as the gallery system provides different looks such as thumbnails, filmstrips, slideshows and now with the nextgen system the management of the galleries is quite easy and intuitive.
I am not sure though If I did the best choice I could. After all there are many photography platforms out there, many more than the four I have already mentioned. For example there is also this very useful article at cloudwars.net I discovered that presents and covers with lots of details some of the best known website builders. It’s a comprehensive review of 8 web builders, Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix, Volusion, Weebly, Squarespace, 1&1, GoDaddy. You may check it as also.
However I am happy with my choice so far, as it has a touch of my personality, a touch of what I had in mind on how to showcase my work.
P.S. On September 2017, two years after the launch of my site, I changed the layout with a theme from Imagely. It loads faster and is widget – oriented. The later means that it is easier and quicker to set it up.
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