Feedback on new photo gallery website I started!

the_buzz_m

the_buzz_m

Member
I just started a photo gallery website that tracks the progress of my two tanks. I am asking for some feedback on what I could change to make it better.
http://www.mbusby.com/aquarium
Enjoy the pics and don't hesitate to critique the pictures and tanks either.
FYI: One tank is 10 months old 70gal and has went through a bad spell in June, so some of the pics from July will show some poor looking corals. The other is a 20gal I just started up a few weeks ago.
I appreciate the input.
the_buzz_m
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
Nice job setting that up. Tank looks great too. Good luck with the tang in there, normally they say 6 feet of swimming room is required over the long time. Mine likes the sides of the tank and very rarely swims the length so I don't know, but looks good.
 
npage

npage

Member
Looks great! Awesome colors. Great job on the navigation. I think I know of something you might want to look at.
Being a computer graphics guy I know how much time and effort went into putting together an online photo gallery. You may want to check out a really cool web based photo album organizer called Gallery2. http://gallery.menalto.com/
It's open source, so its free! Has a ton of features like picasa import, slideshows, auto rotate and auto resize for web.
You can create sub albums for each date to replace the calender.
Another idea is to add custom meta data keywords to your photos and have the whole thing searchable. ie Find all the "starfish" photos.
I've been exporting Photoshop galleries for clients for years and I know how much of a pain they are to manage.
I started a small galley for my son's photos. Its not done yet and only shows a few of the features of Gallery2. After I started, I realize from the exif data that the year in the camera's date was 1 year off. I have about 2000 photos to fix. Ugh!
Anyways here the gallery. http://www.masonpage.com
Nick
 
the_buzz_m

the_buzz_m

Member
NPage, thanks for the info. I had checked into that one some.
I did go ahead and try out another free program called JAlbum. I redid the website and put it under a different folder. Tell me what you think of this one and if you like it more. One thing for sure, it is much easier to create and update.
http://www.mbusby.com/aquarium/album
the_buzz_m
 
npage

npage

Member
The JAlbum one is VERY nice. Great theme choice. The black background looks great with the reef lighting.
I didn't mean for you to get the impression that I didn't like the original one. I like it a lot.
Not to get into a long story but I used to be the "image guy" for an online supply catalog and had about 1.5 million photos to manage. I know first hand the headaches of managing Photoshop web galleries.
(IMHO)
I have used JAlbum before. Its cool, but I didn't like the whole java dependent thing and all of the work was still done on your computer before you upload the gallery. What I really like about Gallery2 is its a server based app. You install the program onto your web server. The only thing you have to do on your side is upload pictures. If you want to add one picture to an existing album, just add that one picture. You don't have to recreate the whole album. The gallery itself is managed from a web browser, so you can tweak your gallery from anywhere.
By no means am I saying one is better than the other. I just personally prefer this one and wished someone told be about it earlier.
Rambling aside... Awesome Job!

feel free to drop me a me a line if you have any questions. "nick at nickpage dot com"
(no at or dot sign keeps the spam away)
 
the_buzz_m

the_buzz_m

Member
Originally Posted by mazzymadde
hey buzz, how do u organise your ablum into separte folders for each date, using Jalbum ??
Actually, I keep my pics organized on my HDD in folders by the dat they were taken. JAlbum keeps those folder names for me and puts them in order. So far, I really like this program, though I haven't had the time to dive in and see what all it can do.
Mike
 
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