Gallery software list:

just on the brink of buying imagevuex for use on my website to show my portfolio and advertise my services to clients. 3 things worry me about the system:

1) Its flash based
This is bad as I see it on 2 levels:

a) What if the viewer doesnt have flash installed, and cant be bothered or doesnt know how to install it. I loose prints or work. The majority of my clients are for prints are over 40 I'd guess so it lowers the chances of them being computer savy. (I'm not saying all over 40's are not able to use a pc!)

b) Flash is near invisable to search engines?

2) Its bulky
If people have dialup then they will loose patience and go elsewhere

Am I worrying over nothing? How many people use flash now? I think a lot, but I'm sure not everyone has flash plugin installed on thier pc?
 
The figures i've seen always claim 99% + of web users have flash installed.

You might want to consider making a flash and non flash version, and then giving the user the choice which they want to view, or alternatively detecting if they have flash installed and displaying the correct version based on this.

As for flash being bulky, it depends what gallery software you are using,for Simple Viewer I have a total amount of 30kb taken up by the flash file and other scripts and generated files, so I would certainly not say it was bulky :)
 
morgan said:
Am I worrying over nothing? How many people use flash now? I think a lot, but I'm sure not everyone has flash plugin installed on thier pc?
Click to expand...

Flash is installed on every XP machine. According to Adobe its on 97.3% of computers. My professional portfolio is Flash based because it looks nicer and more "professional" :) I use SlideShowPro as it allows me to have a nice slideshow, thumbnails and allows direct linking to each image.
 
Evil-Penguin said:
You might want to consider making a flash and non flash version, and then giving the user the choice which they want to view, or alternatively detecting if they have flash installed and displaying the correct version based on this.
Click to expand...

great idea. I didnt realise or know this could be done automatically. So it could be the sort of thing that works in the background? any idea wher i could get the code for such a thing (i've googled quickly but nothing found yet)
 
I've tried to install Gallery 2 on several different servers from different hosts over the past year or so and its always got a problem, whether with or without safe mode.

It has this stupid validation feature where you have to upload a text file with a code that the first installation page shows you, but then there is a bug that never accepts the code or lets you advance a couple of installation pages and then loops back to the first gain and sayas your code is invalid. Many people have this issue and post it on their support forum but they still insist on it in the name of security, and there's no simple fix for it.

I just gave up and installed coppermine.
 
Alex53 said:
I've tried to install Gallery 2 on several different servers from different hosts over the past year or so and its always got a problem, whether with or without safe mode.

It has this stupid validation feature where you have to upload a text file with a code that the first installation page shows you, but then there is a bug that never accepts the code or lets you advance a couple of installation pages and then loops back to the first gain and sayas your code is invalid. Many people have this issue and post it on their support forum but they still insist on it in the name of security, and there's no simple fix for it.

I just gave up and installed coppermine.
Click to expand...

Bizarre. :confused:

Worked prefectly for me. Still to find a layout I like though.
 
After searching for ages for good gallery software, I found and purchased the 4.1 version of i-gallery

There is a free version v3.5 which is missing some features, mainly the ability to have subfolders.

But the 4.1 commercial version is $9.00 and I find it really easy to use. Its for IIS servers as its ASP based.

I've got it running here but be gentle its on my DSL :p
 
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cyKey said:
Flash is installed on every XP machine. According to Adobe its on 97.3% of computers. My professional portfolio is Flash based because it looks nicer and more "professional" :) I use SlideShowPro as it allows me to have a nice slideshow, thumbnails and allows direct linking to each image.
Click to expand...

I think Adobe is slightly overly optimistic with 97.3. Quick look around my office suggests flash is present only on about 25% of machines or 60% of actively used desktops. There is few other issues too - first - the unprofessional way flash is made for other platforms than Windows. On Linux flash often creates 100% load on CPU, displays content incorrectly etc. It is a pain in four letters for a lot of alternative desktop users out there. Second - flash is mainly used for unprofessional content - popups, sticky adverts, video websites and simple arcade games, and as such will be uninstalled, blocked or disabled in many offices with strict "no third party software content" policies. It is the leppereous java of 21st century. Third - because it is mostly used for annoying adverts sticking to screen and google word whatsits all over pages, many home users have it disabled or blocked in Opera and Firebird. I know I do. Remember that we still live in the last country in the world that charge us by gigabytage of internet usage, we have fair usage policies, daily download limits on cable etc, so less bull flash means more actual content.
 
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Using simpleviewer on mine now, i like it a lot
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Bumping this as the question has appeared a couple of times recently.

Also adding that I've seen a couple of galleries done with Web Gallery Wizard Pro recent and they didn't look half bad for a $35 piece of software.

Simon/~Flibster
 
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