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Xtrafolio vs. Portfolio: iPad portfolio faceoff
Last week, I reviewed Xtrafolio and Portfolio for iPad, both excellent portfolio software for the iPad. Today, I'll compare the two with having a generic slideshow on Photos and pick a favorite. Catch up with the Portfolio for iPad review and the Xtrafolio review if you haven't done so. One thing to make clear is that by far these two aren't the only portfolio apps on the App Store. Our readers have been helpful in suggesting a few more of these apps, and we'll most likely look at some of these as future Daily iPad Apps. The Results UI: It's hard to choose between Portfolio and Xtrafolio. Both have a plethora of customization options so you can exactly how you want your portfolio to look every step of the way. Even the customization options have options. I'll give the edge to Xtrafolio though. Even though Portfolio has a few more options, Xtrafolio makes them a lot easier to access thanks to having them anchored to the side of the page, and the learning curve isn't so steep. Creating a Portfolio: Portfolio for iPad takes this category for the fact that you can import from pretty much anywhere. Both apps have the ability to bring in material from the iPad, iTunes and Dropbox, but Portfolio goes the extra step in the ability to bring in media straight from a website URL, and that's useful. It also retains the original file name, however it can choke on large files. Portfolios: This is a tie between Xtrafolio and Portfolio and is based on personal preference. If your portfolio is strongly tied to a single field, such as photography, then Xtrafolio is the best fit. If you have a portfolio that spans different genres, like I do with newspapers and comics, then Portfolio is a better fit with its galleries. Xtrafolio also does a better job in presenting a resume as part of the initial portfolio, but you do need to customize the captions to make them readable. Backups: Both Portfolio and Xtrafolio have backup options. In Portfolio, you can back up your library and import it to another iPad. Xtrafolio also can do backups, but you can do these straight to iTunes or to Dropbox in its own folder. Xtrafolio gets the win here for a better backup option. Passcodes: Both apps feature passcoding, but Xtrafolio only has it on one level while Portfolio lets you passcode all your galleries, then has a second passcode for individual galleries. The winner here is Portfolio. Cost: Xtrafolio sells for $16.95 and Portfolio is $14.95. iPhoto? No, if you want a serious portfolio, I do not suggest iPhoto at all. While it's good for a basic portfolio, these apps are heads above other ones. Based on the criteria above, I'm actually going with Portfolio, but it's only because I want completely different portfolios for newspaper design and comic writing, but have them in the same app. If I was going with just newspapers or just comics, then I'd use Xtrafolio. I'll probably wind up doing a portfolio on each program and using whichever is called for at the time. What are some other options? For wedding photographers, there's Pumtree Portfolios. Other suggested options include Folio Express, Stash Pro, iProofPro, myZenfolio, Pholio, Foliozo and more.
Xtrafolio is a useful, yet a bit pricey, portfolio app
Continuing from Monday's review of Portfolio for iPad, today we're taking a look at Xtrafolio. Then, on Friday, we'll do a head-to-head comparison of the apps and whether the built-in Photos app is the best choice after all. We'll also summarize a few more options our readers gave us after Monday's review. Interface Xtrafolio starts out with a flowchart indicating how a portfolio is made and provides the very important shortcut of making sure to tap the bottom left and right corners at the same time to bring up settings. In the settings view, all the options are anchored in a menu on the left. After the first time setting up the app, a logo page will be visible when it's launched. If you don't have a logo, you get a blank screen. To access your portfolio, single-tap the initial screen. The options are layered in different sections and go into a good bit of detail about what you can do with the app. Since the options are all in one location, it makes it easier to jump back and forth between different sections of the portfolio. %Gallery-135139% Use You can add media to Xtrafolio from the iPad, iTunes or via Dropbox. Xtrafolio will accept images, videos and PDFs. Instead of galleries with different portfolios, you can subdivide a single portfolio is subdivided into categories, then folders within that category. It's useful for when you specialize in different things. In my case, I set up Xtrafolio for my newspaper design work and comics writing. Within the categories, you can drag around files to customize the order. However, there is no tagging and no ability to edit the file name. While there are a lot of customizations, it's fairy basic when it comes to presenting the portfolios. You can set up a sideshow with basic transition styles and enable high-resolution images. For some reason, song selection only works in portrait mode. Captions are available, but they're hard to read. One really nice feature is that you can enable a watermark so no one tries to rip off your work if you email it out. You can also set stuff back to default with a single tap if you're unhappy with your selections. Xtrafolio has a single layer of passcode security, and this is to prevent people from accessing settings. You also can't enter settings while browsing a portfolio. You can add a basic resume and set it as your info page, which is a good way of showing a client right off the bat what you can do. There's a save stage option where Xtrafolio can return to the same position where you were if you close out of the app. Xtrafolio is $16.99 in the App Store, which is a bit pricey for this category. With its feature set, I'd price it more around $14.99. Like Portfolio for iPad, it's well-recommended for the amount of options it has, even though it doesn't have quite as many importing options or tagging features.
