What is the best way to display a selection of photos?
Hey guys,
I need a bit of help.
I have a page on my Web site where I display photos I have taken. Right now, I am using a JavaScript slideshow to display eight photos. There is also text on the page.
I'm wanting to add more photos. I'm wanting to get rid of the slideshow. But I'm wanting to keep the text I have.
Over the years, I've tried various layouts for photos and have yet to come up with one that, I felt, worked well.
I want to keep the photo area of my site contained to one page.
Also, I don't want to have the photos themselves be too big. I hate it when you have to scroll down a photo to see the whole thing. But yet offering it in a small size makes it impossible to appreciate the detail in the photo.
Is my best bet to offer thumbnails of a decent size and have them link to pop-up windows? When I view photos in pop-ups, I enjoy the experience and feel I have seen the full photo. But as a designer, I'm reluctant to put pop-ups on my site because they have such a bad rap thanks to aggressive advertisers and spyware.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Here is the URL to my current photo page:
Abhishek Reddy posted this at 05:12 — 9th January 2005.
He has: 3,348 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
Thumbnails - yes, definitely.
Pop ups - they can be appropriate in some cases but I personally don't like them. As a user of sites like deviantart.com, I'm quite used to loading full-size images in the same window. Up to you -- just be prepared to make changes if your users don't like it.
Design - yeah, it can be hard to perfect. When it comes to sites like these, they're usually perennial works-in-progress. Still, you're on the right track with wanting to put thumbnails up.
You might, in the future, consider using a gallery script on the server-side to manage your images. Javascript, which is client-side scripting, has potential to be flaky if not done right or if users turn it off in their browsers.
Nice photos.
And welcome to TWF.
AyntRyte posted this at 06:00 — 9th January 2005.
He has: 145 posts
Joined: Jun 2004
As a suggestion, take a look at Jalbum
You can select different skins, layouts, thumbnail size, and scaled pic size. You can also link to the full size version in most layouts.
\\// Robert
The grass is always greener on the other side -- but that's because they use more manure.
Scorpio Moon posted this at 19:37 — 9th January 2005.
They have: 2 posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Abhishek Reddy: I took your advice, did a search for a gallery script for my server. I found what I needed, installed it and am happy with the results. There's one pop-up window for all the photos and no javascript. I think it's a nice compromise.
Thank you for the suggestion.
AyntRyte: Thanks for telling me about Jalburn. I couldn't find a design I liked, but this is the kind of thing I would use on my mom's Web site. Thank you!
If anyone wants to check out the changes I made to my photo page:
http://www.wendywallace.com/photo/gallery
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