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In my previous article about publishing online photo galleries, I have addressed the two major solutions available for hosting your photo galleries on your own web site. The first solution that I have talked about was to use gallery generation software that will produce all the files necessary for publishing your gallery. This article will explore some of the implementations that are available for this solution.
1. What does an online photo gallery consist of?
A web photo gallery consists of two modules (most of the times): the thumbnail pages and the image pages.
- The thumbnail pages contain the thumbnails of the pictures contained in the gallery. Each thumbnail contains a link to the larger picture. The thumbnail page(s) provide a quick overview of the pictures available for viewing and provides the readers with a visual summary of the photo gallery [ Santa Barbara, California photo gallery ].
- The image pages contain the actual images and navigation controls. This is probably the most important feature of on online gallery: namely, that each pictures is presented in such a way that the reader can easily navigate back and forth between the pictures. This is achieved by wrapping the picture in a presentation container that provides links to previous and the next picture. See my example of Santa Barbara, California.
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2. What does it mean to generate a web photo gallery?
In order for the two modules (described above) to function properly there are two steps to be performed. The first step is preparing the images for web publishing and the second step is creating all the code for gallery navigation.
- Preparing the images for publishing means that the original images have to be resized in order to produce thumbnails and web-ready images. The resolution and size are very important things to be considered when it comes to publishing pictures online. If the resolution is too large, the pages will load too slowly.
- The second step is the creation of the necessary code for the image navigation functionality. This usually involves quite a bit of HTML code that has to be produced for each image. This step also includes choosing a color theme for the final look of our photo gallery.
3. How does automatic gallery generation software help?
If you’re not familiar with HTML and CSS coding standards, using gallery generation software is your only choice for creating web image galleries. Even if you’re a pro at HTML and CSS, the process for creating a web image gallery is time consuming and very repetitive. It is a lot easier to use existing software and generate your gallery and then change the color scheme and functionality if you please. The more photo galleries you’re trying to publish, the more you will benefit from such software.
Next Page: What software should you use ?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi: I am a (hobby) developer and have developed an open source photo album generator. I was browsing through the net to find some help text and found your tutorials. You’ve explained these concepts pretty well and thought I could use some of these – not a copy of these text but the concepts. Of course I will provide a link back to your page; just thought I will get your permission before going ahead with that.
BTW: if you want to check out the application it is hosted in http://code.google.com/p/fowdotnet/ . It is only the first version; planning to add more styles and features as I go along.
Thank you.
Joseph
Joseph…thanx for your comment. It’s ok to use my concepts as long as you point to my site. Make sure you check out Extreme Thumbnail Generator…I believe they have a mature product.