2009-07-19 01:17:13 UTC
OK, this isn't the feature-rich All Singing, All Dancing Bear that everyone seems to be looking for. But, after testing WordPress' built-in Gallery, the Open Source Gallery Project software, Coppermine Photo Gallery software and NextGEN Gallery WordPress plug-in, this was the first piece of software that didn't die on memory errors when loading my photos. I'm even using an obsolete digital camera, so I can guess how frustrated (with the just-mentioned software) folks would be with their 12 MegaPixel photos.
XML Photo Album just does what I wanted to do when I set out on my software search. And even gives me new ideas for ways to use the software.
What I wanted:
- no resizing required; just upload the original picture (max. resolution of camera)
- create captions in a "permanent" way that I can easily extract for many different purposes
- easy export to database of picture file name and caption, such as MySQL
- easy to share with family and friends either on a DVD or web site (it does both!)
Ideas it gave me:
- use it to store and catalogue Scanner scans, too
- by setting Max Width and Height for a new Album created just for the purpose, I can get the software to automatically resize a whole bunch of pictures in preparation for upload to WordPress' built-in gallery
A very nice piece of work!
