As I have said, I am pretty new to all of this, but I have seen some amazing albums and slideshows.

I have looked into the ShowIt web slideshow software and it looks like the best software out there...is this true? What else have people used - especially software that is not too tough on the budget?

My real question is what software do you use for your albums? I want to create one for my daughter's first year and maybe a couple others, but I don't want to lay down $700 for InDesign. Any other thoughts on this?

Thanks!

I use photoshop for album design and if you dont want to drop the cash right off the bat then have the album company design it for you. I have an album company and we design for way less than the others out there. Contact me if you need help.
Shaun
info@inlightphoto.com

for album software, you have InDesign, photoshop, foto fusion from LumaPix, auto album from Kevin Kubota, Gary Fong's Album Designer, You Select It, Yervant's Album Designer and more!

For now I freehand in photoshop, but hope to move to InDesign soon.

For slideshows, showit web rocks! Its one hickup is the dvd aspect, but that may be integrated soon as an outsourcing option. Pro Show Gold is a stanard for DVD shows, but their web shows aren't installed on your site, advertise the product, and require the user to install software to view them. I'm sure Rick will chime in with Foto Magico, I haven't played with it yet but its an option.