• 05-21-2006, 08:37 AM
    ekstasis16
    New photo gallery software
    Hello all,
    I've recently launched my new site and I've implemented a new photo gallery technique that I found called Lightbox. For those who are aware, it works off of the Prototype library and Scriptaculous javascipt effects, and is incredibly easy to set up.

    I've been trying to find the perfect web photo gallery solution for quite some time, and Lightbox Lightbox fulfills all but one of my needs. My "tenets" of usability are:

    1. User can see all or most thumbnails at a glance to quickly browse for something that catches their eye
    2. An unobtrusive way to view larger versions that doesn't make you go to a new page and come back every time
    3. A method for viewing the larger versions that doesn't pop up a new window (I had previously been using a method like this)
    4. The large photo and the thumbnails panel should be scalable (this is the one Lightbox doesn't do, but short of using Flash, nothing will currently)

    I guess my ideal gallery would be a web version of Adobe Bridge. We're certainly getting closer to that.

    Anyway, I'd like some feedback as to what you think of it.
    http://www.erikhagen.net/gallery/

    I've also been using it at work, and its been a big success: http://www.callutheran.edu/commencement/gallery/

    Also, if you notice any layout glitches on the site, please let me know. I've checked it in as many browsers/platforms as I could get my hands on, but there's always something...

    Thanks much.
  • 05-24-2006, 04:59 PM
    Axle
    Re: New photo gallery software
    Looks good in Firefox (my browser of choice).

    I downloaded the viewer software to try out, I use simpleviewer.
  • 05-24-2006, 11:50 PM
    ekstasis16
    Re: New photo gallery software
    I've seen Simpleviewer before and was considering using it. Its very slick and does just about everything I needed a gallery to do for me. The only problem is that all the content is embedded in Flash, and isn't accessible without it. With Lightbox, if someone has javascript disabled or uses a browser that doesn't support the effects, it degrades gracefully so that they can at least view the image on a separate page. The big plus is that the content is contained in a valid, accessible HTML document that can be used in a variety of ways and indexed by search engines. But aside from that, and its not a real big deal honestly, Simpleviewer looks fantastic.