jennybrown Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 I have been investigating several web publishing and image keyword and cataloging software but so far have not found any with the feature combination I want. I'd like recommendations from people who have actually used the product they're talking about (using it very short term is ok though). I want a convenient approach to hierarchical category/keyword tags. It should have unlimited depth of categories. I want it to handle large files sanely - I plan to use it with 60 meg photoshop format film scans primarily. Mainly this means fast thumbnail generation and scrolling. I want it to be able to publish web galleries of my photos, based on the categories (not only restricted to my on-disk folder structure). It must also provide a category navigation page or structure. I don't want to have to export every individual category by hand and then link them in. I want to be able to pick a point in the category tree (for instance, 'By Subject') and export a web gallery of every sub-category underneath that, and it should do all the work for me. The web export must differentiate between my huge original files and a web-viewable 640x480 (or so) version. This means the web export must both create thumbnails and create screen-viewable sizes. I don't want my originals shown on the web where just anybody can make high quality prints - I want to publish an easy to see size but not my full size image. I'm hoping for something under $200 since I'm not a working pro yet. So far major apps I've tested and discarded are: Adobe Photoshop Album (severly limited keyword category depth) ThumbsPlus (awkward gallery creation and image sizing, some struggle with category browsing) Picasa (too dependant on file folder hierarchy, couldn't browse by category easily, couldn't make web galleries by category) iMatch (didn't let me web export a category tree) Canto Cumulus - didn't test, there's no trial download, and the web publisher add-on is $500. Looks neat, out of my price range tho. If I'm simply missing an obvious feature of one of these, please point it out. If there's a product you think may do what I need and I haven't found it yet, by all means recommend it. I'm very familiar with databases and HTML, as I'm a web programmer, but I'm tiring of rolling my own solutions when I suspect packages now exist that do it better. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellis_vener_photography Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Try<A HREF = http://www.hindsightltd.com> StockView from Hindsight, ltd.</A> Look under product info. Specifically Catalog 4.1 and the browser function will do want you want. If you have questions give them a call and talk to real live human beings! who actually know their product inside and out! Specifically Catalog 4.1 and the browser function will do want you want.<P>It isn't cheap but you do actually get what you pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennybrown Posted March 3, 2003 Author Share Posted March 3, 2003 That looks neat but again at $500 it's out of my price range... it also does a lot more than I need. Neat stuff, but I can't justify it... Seems things run either $80 or $500 for this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majid Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Try IMatch again. Its web generation is a Basic script (the whole app is scriptable in Sax Basic, which is Visual Basic compatible),. You could relatively easily customize it for your purposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsc Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 ACDSee 5.0 at $50US. Should do everything you mentioned save one exception: there will be one extra step to resizing your image down for the web. However, this is minor as ACDSee will do this as well (just not automagically). DPReview just posted a full review of this latest edition. I'd suggest downloading the free 30 day trial: they send you promos via email on a weekly basis and include one of their software add-ons free with purchase. Best, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellis_vener_photography Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 let me put the StockView price in perspective: How much do you pay for a lousy quality zoom lens? How much for an okay quality lens? How much do you pay for a high-end, professional quality zoom lens ? <P>How much time would it take you to build the customzed database application you want? How much money is that time worth to you or your employer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_landrigan Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Have you tried Extensis Portfolio? http://www.extensis.com/portfolio/31f.html There's a free trial, so you can test it. Not bad, but i've moved to my own custom DB for my needs- not out of a real need, but I'm a geek and needed a challenge:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennybrown Posted March 4, 2003 Author Share Posted March 4, 2003 Thanks for all the recommendations; I'll check them each out in detail. Regarding price: I currently have a single income and no effective way to turn time into money beyond that... thus at the moment dollars are worth a lot more than my time. However, I do put some limit on that - a $50 program that would have taken me weeks to write myself is well within my budget. :) An extra $500, though, I just don't have right now. You've all mentioned several items I haven't seen and will certainly check out, so thank you. If I remember I'll post some followups (if this note still exists) but it may be a while. I just figure it could be useful to others looking for software too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_hawkins Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 Portfolio by Extensis is fantastic. $200, very powerful and very easy to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qtluong Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 If your goal is eventually to reach a wide audience via web publishing, the pages will need to be optimized in a way that I doubt would be done by any canned software. If you have the technical ability to do so, you might be eventually best served by yourself even if this looks a lot of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony kohn Posted March 8, 2003 Share Posted March 8, 2003 I will recommend ImageDB, a $25 sharware program. It has the hierarchical categories, and works with PSD files. The web pages are generated by category, and can be somewhat customised. It will not, currently resize images automatically that you generate for web pages, however, it is a a painless process to do a batch resize. Moreover, in emails with the developer, he indicated that he does intend to add auto resizing for the web. Have a look at www.mike.franklin.btinternet.co.uk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_mcdonald1 Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 Canto Cumulus (can download demos) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gail_south Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 <p>Have you visited Lightbox Photo Gallery Software's website? <a href="http://www.lightboxphoto.com">www.lightboxphoto.com</a> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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