Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PeteB

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 14, 2008
523
0
I'm currently thinking about getting some kind of Flash-based software for my online galley (see my sig).

My current software is ok, but not particularly "slick" and it would be nice to have some cool navigation and slideshow/thumbnail features. Being able to resize the photos to fit the user's screen would be good as well (I tend to be spoilt having a couple of 1920x1280 laptops, but people who typically view my gallery aren't so lucky.

The demo galleries at http://www.imagevuex.com look pretty nice, but I don't seem much in the way of recommendation for them (apart from one of their guys spamming other photo forums!).

Any recommendation from you guys would be very appreciated.

Hosting-wise, I have my own web-space (50Gb) and domain with full ftp access, so Zenfolio-type solutions wouldn't really fit.

Thanks.
 

jaseone

macrumors 65816
Nov 7, 2004
1,245
57
Houston, USA
I used to do the whole self hosting thing but it became too much of a pain in the rear so now I use SmugMug for any of my showcase type stuff and Flickr or PicasaWeb for snapshots depending upon the audience.

If you want a god flash based gallery you are likely going to have to purchase the software anyway (plus pay for your own hosting) so the expense of a SmugMug account pays for itself pretty quickly.
 

PeteB

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 14, 2008
523
0
I got a pretty good deal on my domain/hosting/email so I'm not all that interested in going back to using someone elses hosting just for the web-site.

Also, I have my own ftp site which I use on a regular basis. I want full control over my web-site, so I don't mind buying some software to install.
 

anubis

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2003
937
50
I used to do the whole self hosting thing but it became too much of a pain in the rear so now I use SmugMug for any of my showcase type stuff and Flickr or PicasaWeb for snapshots depending upon the audience.

If you want a god flash based gallery you are likely going to have to purchase the software anyway (plus pay for your own hosting) so the expense of a SmugMug account pays for itself pretty quickly.

+1 for smugmug... super easy to use, unlimited storage and transfer, and it's designed to do one thing and one thing very well - organize and display photos. Tons of customization options, and of course photos are automatically resized depending on the browser window size.
 

PixelFactory

macrumors regular
Jun 6, 2003
233
0
Chicago
There is a web module on the top right.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 6.png
    Picture 6.png
    278.7 KB · Views: 71

PeteB

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 14, 2008
523
0
In the end, I went for ImageVue. The software was only $50 and seems to work really well (if an idiot like me can do it, anyone can!!).

Take a look, I'd appreciate any feedback...

(link in sig).
 

anubis

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2003
937
50
In the end, I went for ImageVue. The software was only $50 and seems to work really well (if an idiot like me can do it, anyone can!!).

Take a look, I'd appreciate any feedback...

(link in sig).

1. To be honest, the little floaty bubbles everywhere are kind of a distraction and don't add much to the user experience. I'd get rid of them.
2. The menu can be hard to read because the menu is semi-transparent and when there's a photo taking up the background space of the menu, the text can get hard to read.
3. When you click on a menu item, I think it's kind of annoying to wait for all of the pictures to pop into place one at a time It's too distracting to view the photos while that's happening and therefore I feel like I have to wait unnecessarily for the gallery to load fully.
4. When you click on a picture to view it, the huge box that covers part of the picture that shows aperture, shutter speed, etc. is completely unnecessary.... 99% of people viewing the photos either won't care or won't even know what those things mean, but the fact that it blocks part of the photo will bother people. If you want to display the metadata, maybe put the box somewhere on the screen that doesn't cover the photo up.

OK, I know I was hard on you, but if you make these improvements, you'll elevate your gallery to a new level!
 

PeteB

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 14, 2008
523
0
Thanks for the honest feedback on this. I made a few adjustments (comments in your quoted text below)

1. To be honest, the little floaty bubbles everywhere are kind of a distraction and don't add much to the user experience. I'd get rid of them.
They've gone, and the theme's been changed.
2. The menu can be hard to read because the menu is semi-transparent and when there's a photo taking up the background space of the menu, the text can get hard to read.
I've increased the opacity, so the menu has better contrast against the bachground
3. When you click on a menu item, I think it's kind of annoying to wait for all of the pictures to pop into place one at a time It's too distracting to view the photos while that's happening and therefore I feel like I have to wait unnecessarily for the gallery to load fully.
There's not much I can do about how this part of the software works. It gets quicker over time as it's cached.
4. When you click on a picture to view it, the huge box that covers part of the picture that shows aperture, shutter speed, etc. is completely unnecessary.... 99% of people viewing the photos either won't care or won't even know what those things mean, but the fact that it blocks part of the photo will bother people. If you want to display the metadata, maybe put the box somewhere on the screen that doesn't cover the photo up.
I agree. I've taken it off the roll-over event and added an "info" button so people can see the EXIF if they want to see it.

OK, I know I was hard on you, but if you make these improvements, you'll elevate your gallery to a new level!
 

Grimace

macrumors 68040
Feb 17, 2003
3,568
226
with Hamburglar.
SlideshowPro and SlideShowPro Director are amazing, and well worth the value. You need Flash or Lightroom, but the end result is stunning.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.