Currently I am using, or rather busy trying to set up, a Joomla site, with a Deziner Folio gallery, which actually is the part that is working currently. No time yet to do anything else with it. Deziner Folio uses mySQL to store image information, is easy to use, but the admin interface appears not to be 100% bug free (minor issues, however).
I have used Rokin Gallery in the past as well, which is an add-in for Joomla, but it was quite a lot of work trying out the software and figuring out its logic, before I got it to work, as the manuals are essentially non-existing. Once set up, it does work nicely, however. It also allows one of these bouncy wall type setups (CoolIris 3D), which was a requirement for the person who asked me to set up a website with gallery. BTW, you can setup a local gallery with this, or use Picasa with it, or a few other photohosting solutions. You can also use it in standalone mode.
All of this is free stuff, or donation-ware (Rokin), so quite affordable.
A few weeks ago I embarked on a project to get a little more control over my gallery, so I ended up buying some flash components, SlideShowPro and ThumbGrid. I've got this working nicely now, with a bunch of external buttons which I created myself, essentially having zero knowledge of Flash programming or the Flash application for that matter. Out of the box it is easy enough to create something that straight away looks very similar to DezinerFolio, provided you have one of the CS packages which come with FlashPro, getting to grips with Flash itself is a little more complex, especially if you want to get better control over everything.
My next step is to try and figure out embedding Flash on an html-page, th eexact details that is, which isn't necessarily straightforward. Just a gallery is easy enough, but I haven't researched embedding yet.
One thing I did find is that not all flash learning sites are equally good, or even most articles on a single flash learning website for that matter.
Anyway, some links for the stuff I used so far:
Deziner Folio: [url="http://www.dezinerfolio.com/dfgallery-2/free-flash-gallery"]http://www.dezinerfo...e-flash-gallery[/url]
Rokin Gallery: [url="http://www.pageworks.nl/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&layout=category&task=category&id=9&Itemid=38"]http://www.pageworks...&id=9&Itemid=38[/url]
SlideShowPro: [url="http://slideshowpro.net/products/slideshowpro/#sspff-trial"]http://slideshowpro....ro/#sspff-trial[/url]
All of these I do recommend, because they all work well and do look professional, unlike many other cheap ones. I've tried many by now.
You could also buy a ready mode gallery/website, but be prepared to spend some money on something that looks really good. Have a look here: [url="http://www.flashmint.com/free/flash-gallery.php"]http://www.flashmint...ash-gallery.php[/url]
This is also a free one, which works very well, and is simple to set up, but I don't like the logo displayed. However, they also do very professional stuff, which you can buy, from $30 to thousands. I do like quite a few of their $50 to $250 designs, I must say. A few examples:
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2337.html"]http://www.flashmint...plate-2337.html[/url]
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2817.html"]http://www.flashmint...plate-2817.html[/url]
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2849.html"]http://www.flashmint...plate-2849.html[/url]
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2340.html"]http://www.flashmint...plate-2340.html[/url]
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2349.htmlAnd"]http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2349.html[/url]
And there is plenty more.
I specifically looked at these options because I want to run without mySQL if possible, and with Flash and XML if possible (for the gallery), and I also want to integrate with Joomla, Drupal, WordPress or e107 if it si at all feasible.
That brings me to another tool, Artisteer. With a little work this helps you creating quite nice templates for Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, plain HTML, and a few other CMS-type serverapplications. You can find it here:
[url="http://www.artisteer.com/"]http://www.artisteer.com/[/url]
Works very well, too, and is very reasonably priced.
Anyway, I think I have touched on al your questions, so I do hope that this information may prove useful to you.
Kind regards, Wim
P.S.: figured embedding out in the mean time, which was easier than I expected once I found a good explanation; now for the proper sizing and, of course linking.
I have used Rokin Gallery in the past as well, which is an add-in for Joomla, but it was quite a lot of work trying out the software and figuring out its logic, before I got it to work, as the manuals are essentially non-existing. Once set up, it does work nicely, however. It also allows one of these bouncy wall type setups (CoolIris 3D), which was a requirement for the person who asked me to set up a website with gallery. BTW, you can setup a local gallery with this, or use Picasa with it, or a few other photohosting solutions. You can also use it in standalone mode.
All of this is free stuff, or donation-ware (Rokin), so quite affordable.
A few weeks ago I embarked on a project to get a little more control over my gallery, so I ended up buying some flash components, SlideShowPro and ThumbGrid. I've got this working nicely now, with a bunch of external buttons which I created myself, essentially having zero knowledge of Flash programming or the Flash application for that matter. Out of the box it is easy enough to create something that straight away looks very similar to DezinerFolio, provided you have one of the CS packages which come with FlashPro, getting to grips with Flash itself is a little more complex, especially if you want to get better control over everything.
My next step is to try and figure out embedding Flash on an html-page, th eexact details that is, which isn't necessarily straightforward. Just a gallery is easy enough, but I haven't researched embedding yet.
One thing I did find is that not all flash learning sites are equally good, or even most articles on a single flash learning website for that matter.
Anyway, some links for the stuff I used so far:
Deziner Folio: [url="http://www.dezinerfolio.com/dfgallery-2/free-flash-gallery"]http://www.dezinerfo...e-flash-gallery[/url]
Rokin Gallery: [url="http://www.pageworks.nl/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&layout=category&task=category&id=9&Itemid=38"]http://www.pageworks...&id=9&Itemid=38[/url]
SlideShowPro: [url="http://slideshowpro.net/products/slideshowpro/#sspff-trial"]http://slideshowpro....ro/#sspff-trial[/url]
All of these I do recommend, because they all work well and do look professional, unlike many other cheap ones. I've tried many by now.
You could also buy a ready mode gallery/website, but be prepared to spend some money on something that looks really good. Have a look here: [url="http://www.flashmint.com/free/flash-gallery.php"]http://www.flashmint...ash-gallery.php[/url]
This is also a free one, which works very well, and is simple to set up, but I don't like the logo displayed. However, they also do very professional stuff, which you can buy, from $30 to thousands. I do like quite a few of their $50 to $250 designs, I must say. A few examples:
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2337.html"]http://www.flashmint...plate-2337.html[/url]
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2817.html"]http://www.flashmint...plate-2817.html[/url]
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2849.html"]http://www.flashmint...plate-2849.html[/url]
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2340.html"]http://www.flashmint...plate-2340.html[/url]
[url="http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2349.htmlAnd"]http://www.flashmint.com/show-template-2349.html[/url]
And there is plenty more.
I specifically looked at these options because I want to run without mySQL if possible, and with Flash and XML if possible (for the gallery), and I also want to integrate with Joomla, Drupal, WordPress or e107 if it si at all feasible.
That brings me to another tool, Artisteer. With a little work this helps you creating quite nice templates for Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, plain HTML, and a few other CMS-type serverapplications. You can find it here:
[url="http://www.artisteer.com/"]http://www.artisteer.com/[/url]
Works very well, too, and is very reasonably priced.
Anyway, I think I have touched on al your questions, so I do hope that this information may prove useful to you.
Kind regards, Wim
P.S.: figured embedding out in the mean time, which was easier than I expected once I found a good explanation; now for the proper sizing and, of course linking.
Gear: Canon EOS R with 3 primes and 2 zooms, 4 EF-R adapters, Canon EOS 5 (analog), 9 Canon EF primes, a lone Canon EF zoom, 2 extenders, 2 converters, tubes; Olympus OM-D 1 Mk II & Pen F with 12 primes, 6 zooms, and 3 Metabones EF-MFT adapters ....