For many years now, online users only have had one easy and quick means for sharing digital photographs to friends and families all over the world, and that was through e-mail. However, with the increasing photo resolution and photo file sizes, e-mail delivery can prove difficult.

If you have experienced friends sending you 10-megapixel photo files, you will probably understand what this is about.  Image files can be annoyingly large and can clog up your own and your recipients’ e-mail inboxes. That is, if they ever do reach them at all (considering mails being bounced due to attachments that are too bulky).

Then came along photo hosting websites that allow users to post pictures for friends and family to download or view.  The Internet has many photo-hosting sites and most of them work by allowing you to post your photos, share them with others, and store them on their servers. You usually need to sign up and register first before they allow you to do so and some charge or generate revenues by asking you to use their photo printing services.

Here are 13 of the most popular photo-hosting sites:

Kodak EasyShare
The Kodak EasyShare Gallery does not require registration and focus is mainly on printing services.

Shutterfly
They also focus mainly on printing your photographs.

Phanfare
This site is quick to use and good for those who are not very techy, but they require you to pay about $7 per month for hosting your photos. You also need to download a photo-hosting software to be able to upload 1 gigabyte of photos (and videos) worth per month. It has a Mac version for Mac users.

Smilebox
Use your own photos and videos to amuse yourself - Amaze others. Then share via email, blog, or print.  Well that is the claim of Smilebox, but to be honest the flash interface was a bit to full on for regular use.

Hello
Hello is a peer-to-peer online photo sharing site which is free and suitable for use for computer newbies. It is hosted by Google and works with Picasa, Google’s free image editor and organizer. The disadvantage is that you can only share with fellow Hello users and both of you should be online at the same time.

OurPictures / PhotoShow
OurPictures, now part of the PhotoShow software allows organization, editing, printing and sharing of photos. You can upload photos directly from your digital camera and edit them. However, the PhotoShow Print and Share software needs to be installed first before swapping photos can be made possible.

PixPO
PixPO is free and allows non-members to view low-resolution versions of your photos through a link. It has a very good tool for organizing your pictures from your hard drive into albums that you can store offline or online. It now also offers sharing of music and videos.

AOL Pictures
This is only available for AOL members, but it is a free service with unlimited storage. You only need to send the link to others and they can automatically view them without signing up by simply clicking the link.

SmugSmug
This is also a good photo-hosting site. But you need to pay $40 a year for storing high-resolution images. Others can also download your pictures with your permission.

Flickr
This site allows you to share you photos with others, and also allows you to connect with people who have the same interests that you do. You are usually asked for some information when you sign up, and based on your hobbies and favorites, you can share pictures with people who have similar interests.

Multiply
Multiply is like Flickr in the sense that it has networking and photo-hosting capabilities. Multiply, on the other hand, also has blogging, music and video sharing capabilities.

Grouper and Qnext
Both these sites are free and do not only have photo-sharing abilities but also have editing, organizing, and even chat features.

Of course, these are just a few of about a hundred photo decent hosting and photo printing sites on the Internet, each have its own features so have a look around for the one that will suit you most.

Online Privacy
With all these online photo hosting sites that allow you to publicly share your photos, the issue of online privacy becomes more and more significant. You may want to limit the people who can take a peek at your pictures. Most online photo hosting sites have privacy settings that you can manipulate for your own good.