You can’t invite everyone over whenever you take new pictures, but with a few mouse clicks you can send photos from your computer to websites where friends and family can view them online, for free, and order prints.

If You Want Prints

Kodak EasyShare consistently turns out high print quality and excellent color, and you can retouch under- and overexposed shots. The online albums are pretty basic: a collection of pictures against a white background.
Bear in Mind: The EasyShare Gallery lives up to its name. The site is clean-looking and easy to navigate.
Go To: www.kodakgallery.com.

If You Like Slide Shows

The DotPhoto site provides the best tools for showing off photos. In addition to displaying picture collections, DotPhoto lets you create elaborate online slide shows set to music.
Bear in Mind: The print-ordering process is a bit clunky (you select the same size for every photograph, then go to your shopping cart to change the measurements).
Go To: www.dotphoto.com.

If You Like to Share

As Kodak does, Shutterfly provides only basic albums and slide shows, but it offers handy tools for sharing. You can set up a custom, password-protected Web page (at no extra cost) where friends can view your albums and add photos or comments.
Bear in Mind: With its simple design, the site is easy to navigate. Shutterfly also offers handy free photo-organizing and advanced-editing software (for Windows).
Go To: www.shutterfly.com.

Phoning It In

Most new cell phones can take photographs, and photo-sharing sites let you move photos directly from your cell phone to your online album. Upload a picture of your daughter’s first day of school, for example, and her grandmother can see it online within minutes. Kodak Gallery (www.kodakgallery.com) is the easiest service, and it offers a free membership. If you enroll in a paid membership ($3 a month or $25 a year), you can view and order prints of all the photos in your online collection directly from your phone. Other services are priced à la carte.