[Hooch Tan]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109...g=2547-1_3-0-20

"Most of the services on this list take advantage of Adobe's ever-developing Flash platform, which in its latest iteration got a huge boost with support for the large images coming out of today's high-megapixel cameras. On the flip side of that, several of the non-Flash-based editors use AJAX to make the changes happen without reloading the page. The benefit here is that you can run these on machines without the latest versions of Flash installed."

For serious photogs, online photo editing may seem laughable, but there is a large group of people who use cameras in their point-and-click mode all the time.  And for us mere mortals, Photoshop, GIMP and their kin are really daunting.  That's why there's such a blossoming market for online photo editing.  cnet has been kind enough to round up 15 of them and provide vital statistics on each one.  Some use HTML, though most use Flash, so they work right in your browser.  Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, like live previews of effects you pick, or the ability to use layers, but the great thing is that most of them are free!  Be aware though that many of these sites use their editors as a way of promoting other services, like prints, premium services or as a gateway to old school, install on your computer software.  Still, for simple editing tasks, these editors fit the bill.

[Hooch Tan]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109...g=2547-1_3-0-20

"Most of the services on this list take advantage of Adobe's ever-developing Flash platform, which in its latest iteration got a huge boost with support for the large images coming out of today's high-megapixel cameras. On the flip side of that, several of the non-Flash-based editors use AJAX to make the changes happen without reloading the page. The benefit here is that you can run these on machines without the latest versions of Flash installed."

For serious photogs, online photo editing may seem laughable, but there is a large group of people who use cameras in their point-and-click mode all the time.  And for us mere mortals, Photoshop, GIMP and their kin are really daunting.  That's why there's such a blossoming market for online photo editing.  cnet has been kind enough to round up 15 of them and provide vital statistics on each one.  Some use HTML, though most use Flash, so they work right in your browser.  Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, like live previews of effects you pick, or the ability to use layers, but the great thing is that most of them are free!  Be aware though that many of these sites use their editors as a way of promoting other services, like prints, premium services or as a gateway to old school, install on your computer software.  Still, for simple editing tasks, these editors fit the bill.

[John Lane]

While Picasa is not online, it is free and it is still the way to go for fast, easy and powerful photo editing.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by John Lane

While Picasa is not online, it is free and it is still the way to go for fast, easy and powerful photo editing.

Yeah, I agree that Picasa is pretty much the #1 free app for quick and easy photo management and basic editing. v3 adds a lot of pretty amazing features for a free app. And local apps are still going to be faster/better than web-based apps in most ways.

[Hooch Tan]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

Yeah, I agree that Picasa is pretty much the #1 free app for quick and easy photo management and basic editing. v3 adds a lot of pretty amazing features for a free app. And local apps are still going to be faster/better than web-based apps in most ways.

I'm with both you and John on this. Local apps will probably always remain better, however, I think it is nice to see online apps tackling the more challenging things like photo editing. It can brings things to a point where a consumer's most basic needs can all be serviced online. We've already got basic spreadsheets, document editing, music streaming, file storage, and now, photos are added to the mix. Now if only wireless access was more ubiquitous and faster where I am. Actually, that's a lie. I still don't trust cloud computing with my data. I still have my tin foil hat.