By Matthew J. Adams
Mar 20, 2012
Okay. So if you've been in an open lab needing to edit a photo, you'd probably ask, "Does this laptop have Photoshop?"
"Try Picnik.com!" was the standard reply sometimes coming from as many as six voices in unison. If you took any of that advice, you probably fell in love with Picnik and began using it regularly for quick, simple fixes and resizing of images used on your CMS sites.
But now with the announcement that Picnik is closing its digital doors, our hearts shrink a little and we begin to look at some alternatives…
With these alternatives you can go to the site, upload an image, modify it, and save it to your computer without having to log in to any service:
UPDATE: PicMonkey.com
Complexity: Simple
Advantages: Its simplicity
Drawbacks: No social sharing; may not always be free for some advanced features
Bonus: Monkeys
Pixlr.com/editor
Complexity: Moderately Complex
Advantages: Similar robustness to Photoshop
Drawbacks: Cropping is a little awkward as you need to set the constraint and still click and drag with the pointer
Bonus: Layers are available; some automatic adjustments
FotoFlexer.com
Complexity: Moderately Simple
Advantages: Most resembles Picnik
Drawbacks: Cropping is done solely by clicking and dragging with the pointer; however you can view your dimensions
Bonus: Decorations like text and animations as well as fixing blemishes or wrinkles are available
Pixenate.com
Complexity: Simple
Advantages: Very lightweight, cropping works the way you think it should
Drawbacks: Limited sharing to social networks
Bonus: none
Phixr.com
Complexity: Moderately Simple
Advantages: Straightforward photo editing
Drawbacks: Must acknowledge terms and conditions before using
Bonus: Interesting filters
Well, there they are. If you have a service you prefer or some insight into some of these, please email Matthew Adams so that we can update the group.
