Most digital scrapbooking software runs around $40, and that's before you even shell out the cash to buy the printed book. But Foto.com's Web-based editor lets you quickly and easily build a professional photobook in minutes, and costs nothing. Too bad all that ease of use comes at the price of customization.
The Foto.com photobook builder is a bit different from the program Foto.com offers for Windows users. Both are free, but the website cannot save locally or export a finished product the way the software can. If you're looking for more of a stand-alone desktop publisher, check out my Editors' Choice for scrapbooking, MyMemories 5.
Building Your Scrapbook
Like its desktop counterpart, with the Foto.com website you start by selecting the kind of photobook you'd like from the service's extensive selection. You then upload the photos you'd like printed from your computer, or from MyPhotos, Facebook, Flickr, or Microsoft OneDrive. I had no trouble connecting my Flickr account and dumping photos from my adventures on PC Mag's Fastest Mobile Networks into Foto.com.
It's impressive that, despite being a mere website, Foto.com had no trouble handling my 200+ testing photos. Unfortunately, the Web version of Foto.com lacks the desktop app's auto-rotate wizard and photo-detection feature that picks out pictures of people to include in your photobook.
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Foto.com Editor
Panstoria Artisan 4
MyMemories Suite 5
Once you've selected your photos, you next chose how many pictures you'd like on each page, and a bar across to the bottom of the screen shows the size and running cost of your photobook. I really like this feature, since it takes all the guesswork out of the price of your eventual purchase. You then choose a theme for your photobook, though the options aren't as extensive as other scrapbook services that offer user-generated content for download.
The bulk of your layout is done on the next page, where you can tweak the design of your automatically generated book. Note that when you get here Foto.com will have already generated each page layout for you, based on your selections on previous pages. You can move and delete photos as you like, but moving pictures among pages on the same screen is impossible. Also, an auto-layout tool will clean up the book after you've removed or added more images, though doing so also deletes any text you might have added.
A left-hand rail lets you add more pictures, clip art, and borders, and you can change the theme of a particular page, too. Foto.com gives you lots of ways to embellish and personalize your book, though not nearly as many as Panstoria Artisan 4. It's also disappointing that the Foto.com website can't sort your images to hide those those that are already in the book, making it harder to find unused pictures. Artisan 4 lets you see just pictures the haven't placed into the photobook.
The left rail gives you quick access to each page spread, while the top bar has the limited set of layout tools. The center of the screen is where you tweak each page's layout by adding photos and other elements in a WYSIWYG environment. Resizing and rotating is pretty much idiot proof, meaning you'll never deform an element on the page.
However, I was disappointed to see that there are no tools for moving an image within a frame. Pictures appear to be center-locked, though you can move between portrait and landscape photo orientations. Also, text tools are lackluster, especially compared to those of Artisan 4.
Photo Editing
The Windows version of Foto.com has a simple but capable photo editor, and the website follows suit. You can adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation of an image. You can also convert it to black and white, sepia, or any other color tint you like. Unlike Artisan 4, the Foto.com site doesn't let you adjust curves or other advanced features. Furthermore, while the Foto.com desktop app has a non-functional red-eye removal tool, the Foto.com website prudently skips it all together.
The most disappointing omission is the numerous filters and photo effects available in the Foto.com application for Windows. They are sorely missed here.
Printing and Exporting
If you don't expect any exporting options from the Foto.com website, you won't be disappointed. While Artisan 4 lets you export your book or pages as JPGs, PDFs, or PNGs, Foto.com has nothing of the sort. Clearly, the site is all about selling you the printed version of what you design on it. However, you can share links to friends via email or Facebook, and you can also collaborate with them on your photobook. I can see this being a really useful feature for families working on a photo album together. You can even secure a project with a password.
A future version of this review will evaluate the quality of Foto.com's printed material.
Get Scrapbooking
Foto.com leverages all the benefits of an online tool in its digital scrapbooking service. Speed, reliability, access from any computer, and collaborative features make it a strong product. But all of that apparently comes at the cost of some critical photo editing and layout tools.
That's too bad because if Foto.com had a larger feature set, it would be a shoe-in for an Editor's Choice. For now, that honor resides with the very capable MyMemories 5. But even without them, Foto.com's Web service is a solid choice for anyone who just wants a photobook without any of the futz (or fun) of designing it themselves.
Foto.com is a great way to quickly make photo books online, but it favors automation over customization.
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