Best online gallery scripts other than Gallery?

[amy_hoy]

I'm wondering if anyone has found a better script to publish dynamic web galleries of

photos other than Gallery (http://gallery.menalto.com). I like Gallery OK, but I would

like to see what other options there are out there.

 

So... any opinions? :)

[qtluong]

danheller.com writes that he will share his perl scripts.

Since I have yet to see a more successful individual photographer

site, this might be something to consider.

[sk_arts]

I do not know if this is in bounds or not, so i am sorry if it is a violation of any rules.

 

But if your gallery is very large, my father has much experience with picture servers and gallery front ends. I am sure he would write something for your needs at an acceptable cost.

[rcoda]

Believe it or not, I use FrontPage and ASP (of course, along with Photoshop and Illustrator). My entire site is database driven (although the content is not all up yet).

 

Rich

[phule]

Amy,

 

Just wait until Gallery releases G2! :)

 

Seriously, many of the other php or perl-based galleries are not as well put together as Gallery. It would take a LOT for me to switch to anything else.

[brendan_mcmahan]

I use my own software, called Jigs, to generate my galleries. For an example, take a look at <a href="http://gs164.sp.cs.cmu.edu/pics/Hikes_Climbs_Travels/">my pictures</a>. In addition to support a wide range of different template styles, Jigs supports a lot of features for managing picture meta-data, including categories. For examples, it's easy to put all of your favorite waterfall pictures in one gallery even if they live in a lot of different directories. Automatic extraction of EXIF information from digital cameras is also supported. The software is still in development, but hopefully we'll be making a well-documented release soon. Information will be posted on the <a href="http://jigs.sourceforge.net/">project website</a> when that happens.

[photomark]

Amy, since you describe yourself as a computer nerd, may I suggest that you take the

nerdy route and write some scripts to suite your own needs. I wrote the (fairly simple)

scripts for my site: <A HREF="http://www.photo-mark.com">www.photo-

mark.com.</A> It wasn't too hard and it is nice knowing how it all works so I can

customize it my exact needs. If this is something you are going to try, I would

be happy to send you my perl source with the understanding that it has not been

dressed up and is really not ready to leave the house.

[amy_hoy]

Thanks guys!

 

After extensive research online, and reading your responses, I've basically come to

the conclusion that there's nothing out there that does things the way I want them

done. Which basically means that it's time for me to develop my own gallery script,

which I can do since I'm a web developer. It just takes away time from other things,

like taking photographs :)

 

When it comes to Gallery, I couldn't pin down exactly why I dislike it, but it just

doesn't feel right. It's put together very strangely for a PHP web app and it has quite a

few issues with its database design. And it's really, really tough to customize and

insanely delicate in many ways. Yeah, it has the most & most powerful features of

anything I've found, but it just feels wrong! Argh. I must sound nuts!

 

In case other people are in the same predicament, I'll release my work when I'm done

& write about it here. Maybe I'll save someone else some frustration :)

[www.graemehird.com]

Amy,<p>

 

Try using <b><a href="http://www.datadosen.se/jalbum/">Jalbum</a></b>. It's completely customisable, very easy to use and it's free. All the galleries on <a href="http://www.goldeneyephoto.com">my web site</a> were developed with it, but have a look on the developer's own site for other examples of the skins that come with the program.<p>

 

I have no hesitation in recommending the program.<p>

[seven]

Graeme, I checked your website from another thread where Jalbum was mentioned. Very impressive - the photographs too! Would I be right in assuming you're working on Windows platform though? I have several issues with running Jalbum on Mac OSX - can't customise style sheet; can't view automatically in my default browser; have problems with the ftp (though have Fetch so can use that) for example.

 

Frustrating because I see the results you're getting.......I've checked the Jalbum forums; the author is presently in mourning so I don't wish to bother him. I have noticed a few other Mac users experiencing difficulties though.

[www.graemehird.com]

Seven,

 

Although I can understand your frustration with not being able to operate Jalbum in OSX, I can't help very much, never having been a user of Apple systems.

 

I change the style sheets (called skins) by editing the source of the HTML templates with Dreamweaver. Any HTML editing tool will do it. That's the biggest strength of Jalbum, but you have to learn a little HTML to get the most out of it (I knew very little before I started using Jalbum, but it only took about half an hour to figure it out. A slightly skilled HTML user would do what I did in about 5 minutes.)

 

I believe there is an option somewhere for changing which browser opens when you press the view button. I haven't searched for it, since my default matches.

 

I also use a third party FTP program to upload the files to the server, so I can't comment on the publish option in Jalbum.

 

Persevere - it's worth it.

 

Graeme

[seven]

Cheers Graeme, I will - not surprised to learn you have Dreamweaver in there though!

 

For others, I've been playing around with a programme called Image Rodeo - it is a tiny download (less than 1 Mb) and seems fairly functional. I've not uploaded anything to the web yet, but there are sample galleries on their home page. Don't have URL to hand, but a - "Image Rodeo" gallery - Google search ought to get you there.

[brian_wood1]

I liked Gallery until I found Exhibit Engine http://photography-on-the.net/ee/ His page shows version 1.22, but 1.3 is what I use and he just made 1.5 (beta) available, but I haven't tried it. I'm very happy with 1.3. He does most of the support through his forum and many questions you might have are probably already answered in it. Use your programming skills to modify the output of Exhibit Engine to your likings, instead of writing your own application.

 

Just my opinion.

[marian_vicena]

Brian, thanks for the tip. i really like the way it looks and how customizable it is. I found Gallery to be uncomfortable for my needs as it has lot of features but is not as customizable I'd like.

 

I will give EE a try for sure.