This site is one of several new products coming into the ever-evolving market of online hosted photos and videos services. However, unlike many of its competitors, Phanfare seems to have done a good job of making sure its product is not just another Web service, covering its bases and designing a product that is a combination Web site, sharing, and desktop application available both on Windows and on Mac. This review focuses only on the Mac desktop version.

The initial download is lightweight and easy to install and the first thing you notice is that these guys did a really nice job on the interface of their app and the Mac version was clearly not an afterthought. The style is clean and extremely intuitive to use. I got a quick start just by dragging over some images from iPhoto and as soon as the first one hit the Phanfare software, it started uploading the image to my new Phanfare Web site in the background.

The software offered other niceties like some photo editing options and such, but for just a quick, “get it online” type of project, it excelled. In exploring the options, the program really showed its true genius as being a forward-looking app by supporting RSS and Mobile Image Support (which is not yet enabled) along with a nice selection of Web site styles for the user to choose from as well as easy-to-use security for your site to protect it just so family members can see it. Feel free to take a look at the quick Web phonebook that I was able to put together in just a few short minutes here - there are more than a few delicious Macs in there to keep interested. The very best that 1994 and 2005 had to offer!

[Continue reading Review of Phanfare - A Mac Product for Photo Lovers Everywhere at Surf-Bits]

Can’t get enough of OS X and Mac stuff in general? Head on over to Surf-Bits and make yourself at home! Visit our Surf-Bits news blog for all the latest Mac news releases. Surf-Bits also proudly presents The Mac ReviewCast podcast, where we look at all the great software, hardware, Web sites, and companies that make using a Mac something special. Thank you for surfing on in!

[tags]rss,phanfare,cross-platform,video hosting,photo hosting,mobile image support[/tags]