two cons right off the bat: builds them in frames [oh yeah you said that] so you can't link to any image directly and i bet you can't add new images quickly to existing galleries, right? you have to create a new page or gallery from scratch?

tho it is pretty and functional!

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w

Yes you bet, I hate Frames too! But some skins dont use um...so it gives you options.

Sure you can link it anywhere man...your hosting it... JPG + Location = Link

Yes you cant add to existing galleries without recreating...BUT you can save the gallery you created with the options and select certain areas for it and recreate them that way.

I just build um one gallery at a time...if I have pics to add...i add a new gallery...PHP include me a footer to link them all together, and away i go.

who's that white woman you're hangin out with anyhow?

Personally I like using Gallery2, it interfaces nicely with a lot of different CMS's.

yes, i've been using Gallery since the beginning and have to say of all the different ones i've tried i like it the best for it's configurability and general low-maintenance.

the list of features is simply too long to list.

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w

After trying many free hosted solutions like google and flickr, as well as the diy ones like gallery2 I finally settled. Here's why I pay $60/year for smugmug (http://www.smugmug.com):

- Unlimited storage capacity, I upload 2MB photos, but I could feasibly backup our entire 12GB collection.
- Drag-and-drop upload from Picasa or iPhoto into existing or new albums.
- Auto-resizes and gives direct links to each (S, M, L, or Original) image.
- Create custom themes from scratch or modify the CSS, HTML, Javascript of existing ones.
- Cutting edge image display and very cool features like: tags and a tag cloud, preloading adjacent imgs in the bg, switch images w/out reloading the whole page, multiple gallery viewing options, order prints, order backups on DVD, etc.
- Nothing for me to maintain or install or upgrade or troubleshoot.
- Easy enough my wife does it.

I think in the future, concerns of this sort: "Easy enough my wife does it." and "Nothing for me to maintain or install or upgrade or troubleshoot" will dictate profit models in the software world. I think the idea of selling discreet licenses for software / music / etc will go away because they are expensive, difficult to police (pirating), etc.

Instead I think that there will be more and more services provided using Free / Open Source / Open Protocols for a fee covering ease of use maintenance, setup, importing / exporting, etc.

$60 per year is very reasonable.

but that NAME! SmugMug? and that URL!

that name is soooo GAY!

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w

the domain name doesn't bug me too much, but you can choose whatever vname you want... eg: blah.smugmug.com. Also for the $150/year Pro account you can use your own domain name, protect pics with custom watermarks, and sell digital or prints...

i'll keep my overpriced servers at hurricane.

now that i'm no longer in the IT world, have to keep my chops up somehow.

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w

Yes Gallery Is better...Anything with SQL is superior in my book. But this thing is just FAST! When u just wanna throw your crap up there and not worry about the endless features....ya know

Yes SmugMug is cool...but it costs money. I already pay for hosting, and my server has our 15GB Photo collection on a Raid Array...

so I just need a display medium that i can host and augment....thats fast and I can post up lots of pictures in a few minutes....Seems to work for me...

I totally re-did Jay's Site with it, to test it in a professional setting...seems to work okay...Wish i had more features (i.e. Titles, headers)...but the point is...i made this whole site in under an hour. Not ideal, but fricken' fast and free.

http://authenticimages.net/

fast and easy are good in my book!

and, lo and behold, a picture of me?!?!?!

i think the site looks and works great, Ax.

clean nav and very tasteful without a lot of clutter.

well done.

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w

Okay so lets see these galleries! I hear SmugMug and Gallery2

Post um up and let us know how much time you use to maintain and/or build um?

fair enough:

here's a link to my main gallery for personal shiat.

i usually upload brand new pics en masse via ssh to the server that hosts the gallery and then via the gui config the new gallery.

roughly it takes me approx 10-15 mins to create and add items to a new gallery, mere seconds to add something to an already existing gallery and virtually no time at all to back the db up via mysqldump.

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w

The JAlbum authimg site looks great axman.

Here's some examples of customized smugmug sites: http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1801307#118526631

For me to upload to smugmug from iPhoto or Picasa takes about 1 minute to create or select an existing gallery, another to select the pics, and then time to wait for upload. A newly created gallery takes on the default theme (which in my case is a slightly modified version of the original smugmug theme) but you can create themes and select from them during gallery creation.

I'll send the link to our personal site offline for anyone that wants to see it.