Jalbum
Introduction
Jalbum consists of freeware cross-platform software for managing and creating digital photo albums or galleries, and a free / paid-for photo sharing service on which to publish them. Users need not use the free sharing service though. Jalbum outputs a stand-alone directory structure/html indexes that users can upload to their own web spaces either with the built-in FTP software or via their own means. Jalbum software has been used to create over 23 million photo galleries, with over 40,000 users hosting theirs on jalbum.net.
Jalbum can be thought of as similar to Google's Picasa, or Apple's iPhoto, and is credited as being extremely easy to use, flexible and versatile. It runs on Java so can be run on most operating systems, and is available in 32 languages.
The software allows users to manage their photo collection, sorting photos into albums, performing basic digital editing and commenting (although not tagging) individual photos. The main focus is on producing HTML and Flash based galleries, for publishing online or distributing via other means. Users can customize the look and functionality of their photo galleries by using a small set of templates or skins that come with the program, or by choosing from over 100 skins available for free download. The community that has formed around Jalbum produces a variety of creative skins, offering galleries based on standard HTML designs, AJAX slideshows and popular Flash based image viewers.
Jalbum was created by Swedish programmer David Ekholm in 2002.
Installation
You can install Jalbum with the package jalbumAUR from the AUR.
Jalbum should now be available from your Applications>Graphics menu (Gnome).
Extra Skins
As mentioned above, there are many additional skins one can download/install to enhance Jalbum's options of photo albums/galleries. A complete listing of skins is available from this URL.
Installation of Skins
To install a skin unpack its archive to /usr/share/java/Jalbum/skins/skin.
Alternatively and preferable, users should consider making a PKGBUILD file for the skin and install it via pacman for maximal flexibility.
BananAlbum
BananAlbum is a (non free) flash-based album with a sexy interface, and is highly customizable.
Free Hosting Service
The website jalbum.net is used as a social photo sharing website, as well as to promote and distribute the software. 30MB of space for photos is offered free to all users who register, with upgrades to 1GB or 10GB available for a yearly subscription fee. Free galleries remain hosted indefinitely, with no risk of deletion due to inactivity.
Sample Jalbums
Sample Jalbums are available from the official Jalbum site.
Tips
- EXIF data from photographs can be displayed with most skins.
- One can further customize the bananalbum skin to display EXIF data to the right of the photo by following the advice in this thread.