Product ReviewsMultimedia software
The traditional method for creating online photo galleries is tedious to say the least: export the pictures, import them into Photoshop, resize them to make thumbnails, create some web pages in Dreamweaver and then upload the whole lot via FTP and repeat. Little wonder, then, that web-based photo-sharing sites such as Flickr are becoming the hot Internet trend of 2005: who needs to mess around with FTP when everything can be done from within a web browser? However, such services charge for storage and features beyond simple image displaying. What if you already have web space or want to do your own thing, with your own design? Web Photos Pro aims to allow users to do just that. Creating an album is a simple matter of pointing the application at a folder of photos. Web Photos Pro will take over from there, creating thumbnails as it goes. In terms of Mac integration, the program scores highly because it integrates well with Apple's iPhoto, reading its albums directly. Unlike iPhoto's relatively basic HTML export and sharing features, Web Photos Pro offers a great deal of flexibility, allowing photos to be stored on the web server and then shared via RSS feeds and tagged. Tagged images are automatically linked back to the Technorati blog search engine,
Those seeking advanced features, such as preserving EXIF data, private gallery creation or the ability to keep tagging limited to their site instead of using Technorati, need to install the server edition, a $49 piece of PHP code that extends the application. That said, even without the server component, Web Photo Pro can quickly produce galleries of images and take the hassle out of uploading them. The program's basic functionality is easy to access, but it's far from being intuitive - the single-window, brushed-metal interface isn't quite iTunes. Uploading is a simple matter of highlighting the photo album, choosing a gallery and clicking Upload. You have to enter your FTP details in the preferences panel, but only once. Web pages can be one of two basic designs, or you can design your own using the 'skinning' process. The skins consist of HTML and CSS - easily edited if you're familiar with the web design process. In truth, it's not too hard to pick up, but Web Photos Pro could be greatly improved by the inclusion of a wider selection of skins. The increasing popularity of photo-logging - in particular, photo-sharing sites such as Flickr and SmugMug - means there's more incentive than ever to share your pictures with the world, even if it's just to illustrate a blog about your cat. Running Web Photos Pro allows you to turn any web space - from an ISP's free allocation to a fully fledged hosting setup with a domain - into a miniature photo-sharing site, complete with the most important features such as auto thumbnailing, tagging and RSS. Professional photographers will get a lot out of Web Photos Pro - the ability to create online photo galleries with ease makes updating a portfolio much easier, while tagging and RSS make it more rewarding. By Jason Walsh |
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