HuegoGallery - user friendly photo gallery written in php

NEWSFLASH! (01/05/06)

DOWNLOAD NOW: VERSION 0.99 or VIEW DEMO

HuegoGallery is distributed in 2 forms: GPL and commercial. If you are 100% GPL, then it's free for you to use. Please email q@huegostudio.com for pricing for commercial licences.

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FEATURES

Features that I like about this software:

• Clean and application-like interface
• Dynamic thumbnail and image generation
• Resizes photos to suit screen size
• Filestrip of thumbnails allows you to see all photos in the current album (scrolls along too)
• Preview of album contents (random photos chosen)
• Displays EXIF information
• Slideshow capability
• Supports custom descriptions for each image and album

INSTRUCTIONS

• The php files are designed to be place in the root directory of your photo gallery
• There may be albums directly under the gallery, but albums are not allowed to be nested within other albums
• In the photo gallery root directory, you can write something about the photo gallery in gallery_info.txt or just leave out the file
• The album directories must have an ".album" extension, otherwise they won't be displayed
• The albums are sorted in descending order. Sof if you name your albums by date (Y/M/D)eg. 050801_scenery.album, then the latest albums will appear at the top
• Inside each album, you should write something about the album in album_info.txt
• Large versions of your photos (JPEG's only at this stage) go directly under the album directory
• Thumbnails will be generated in a subdirectory "thumbs" under each album (you need to enable write permission, I had to set mine to 0777), it is recommended to run admin.php and tick the "Generate thumbnails" box (no need to change directory permissions manually).
• Run clearthumbs.php directory to clean out thumbnails for album deletion. You may have trouble deleting the thumbnails manually as php is run as different user
• User options can be modified near the top of includes.php (display EXIF, show latest images, number of albums/page)
• admin.php is the new admin interface for generating/editing gallery/album information, you will need to create an FTP a/c to default to the gallery home directory after login. Alternatively, change the $FTP_BASE constant in includes.php eg. public_html/gallery

Workflow - This is what I do when I upload a new gallery/album:

• Create a new directory on the web server for the gallery and link a new FTP a/c to default to that directory (so $FTP_BASE doesn't need to be changed from the default ".")
• Copy the HuegoGallery source files to the newly created directory
• Point my browser at admin.php to set the gallery info
• On my computer, creat a new folder YYMMDD_EVENT.album
• Copy the large images (1200px long) I want into the album directory
• Use an FTP client (FileZilla or SmartFTP are good) to upload the album
• Point my browser at admin.php to set the album info, and tick the Generate Thumbnails box
• Thumbnails should start appearing as the page reloads

WHY DID I WRITE THIS SOFTWARE?

I used to only ever look at small, stylish digital cameras because I always thought of carrying a camera around was a hassle. I've gone through quite a few in the past few years (Canon IXUS 400, Pentax Optio S4, Sony DSC-F77, Fuji S602Z and Panasonic DMC-FX1) and their medicore performance in low light never bothered me much - that is, until I got my hands on a Pentax *ist DS.

After watching a particular Japanese drama series where the main character was a photographer going blind, I thought to myself: "Hey, I'd look good holding that SLR!". So I started reading up on reviews and digging up forum threads (especially on http://forums.overclockers.com.au). Within 2 weeks of my "research", I popped down to JB Hifi in the city and got myself a Pentax *istDS with the kit lens for $1k. I got some 2nd hand lenses and an external flash soon after, bringing the total bill to around $2k. I did think about going with the Canon 350D or 20D, but they were at least a few hundred more, so I thought I'd start with something cheaper and go from there.

To those of you who haven't played with an SLR/DSLR before, I strongly urge you to pop into a camera store and try them out. The quality is just amazing! I found myself taking a lot more photos, and they all looked much better than the ones taken with my old cameras (I still kept the Panasonic one to take to the ice rink though).

I wanted to put all the photos I took on the web to show my friends, but the online album software available didn't fit my needs, so being a computer nerd, I decided to write my own. I wanted the album to behave more like an application than a website (no constant refreshing), have a clean design and show thumbnails of the album at all times.

UPDATE: I have now traded my Pentax *ist DS in for a Canon 30D. The focusing speed at night even with the focus-aid provided by the external flash was too slow for my liking. Although the Canon is very fast with focusing, the placement of AF sensors leaves a lot to be desired, and only the centre one is a cross-type. The most frequently used AF sensors on my old Pentax were the corner ones (the ones Canon lacks)! I have a feeling that I may go back to the Pentax camp if the new Pentax DSLR coming out at the end of the year fixes the focus speed issue.

USER PHOTO GALLERIES

I'm hoping that you will find this software useful and use it for your own personal album. If you do use it, please email me at q@huegostudio.com and let me know the URL. I will put up a link to your site here.

• http://gallery.huegostudio.com - Huego Studio Photo Gallery
• http://jamas.james-photo.com/slides/ - Photo Gallery for James & Maria Sanders

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