ZenPhoto
For some time, I have been looking for a PHP database-driven image gallery. I tested both Coppermine and Gallery2 but I concluded that both of them are extremely complicated and very confusing in their use.
I ended up sticking with ZenPhoto, an excellent and lightweight piece of software that does the job with extreme elegance and simplicity. It is worth mentioning that ZenPhoto was granted an honorable mention in the Web2.0 Awards.
It can be integrated easily with WordPress. I followed the instructions by Stephen Rusitschka to integrate my WordPress theme with ZenPhoto and now my photo albums look and feel as part of the web site. There is a WordPress plugin (ZenPress) that is designed to provide an easy way to include ZenPhoto images into your blog posts.
Zenphoto is an answer to lots of calls for an online gallery solution that just makes sense. After years of bloated software that does everything and your dishes, zenphoto just shows your photos, simply. It’s got all the functionality and “features” you need, and nothing you don’t. Where the old guys put in a bunch of modules and junk, we put a lot of thought. We hope you agree with our philosopy: simpler is better. Here are some of the wonderful things about it:
- Your standard gallery stuff, the way everyone knows it should work: index, albums, and images. And of course, automatically generated thumbnails and sized-down images for your time and bandwidth saving pleasure.
- Upload any way you like. Want to use FTP? Stick your photos in a new folder in the /albums folder, and it’s an album. Want to use your web browser? Hit the control panel, click upload, enter some names and load your pics. Simple. Want to use e-mail? Sorry, not ready yet. E-mail your picture to your grandmother and she can probably figure it out.
- Comments! Just like on your blog, people can leave comments. Just like on your blog, you can smite them down with a single click if you don’t like them.
- AJAX-powered edit-while-you-browse, yes, just like flickr (we like flickr, but we also already pay for lots of online storage, hence, we like zenphoto).
- Theme engine! Kind of like a steam engine, but more powerful… except when pulling a train. The theme engine is completely flexible; you can make your own themes, you can switch how your whole gallery looks at the click of a button, and you can make it look like your blog! (yeah, let’s see you do that, flickr…).
The only feature that I would really like to see implemented is the support of password protected albums and spam-filtering for the comments section. There is already a fix for the spam-filtering that integrates ZenPhoto with Akismet.
Whoa! Does this mean you'll be abandoning EPIG? I was hoping
Benjamin JancewiczWhoa! Does this mean you’ll be abandoning EPIG?
I was hoping you might be developing a version with comments. Is it now dead?
No I am not abandoning EPIG. EPIG intentionally does not
ApostolosNo I am not abandoning EPIG. EPIG intentionally does not take advantage of a database like MySQL. ZenPhoto on the other hand requires a database in order to function. I am always looking for additional features to include without compromising the simplicity of EPIG. You can let me know of any wanted features in the comments section of EPIG.
Nice a software. I think , great.
mIRCNice a software. I think , great.
Hello there ! I stumbled upon your page, while doing
ubikHello there ! I stumbled upon your page, while doing some searches regarding Zen Photo issues. I have discovered Zen Photo very recently and i’m in love. Until two days ago that I made some other discoveries, among them this fantastic little thing a dude has made called Phormer. The link is here, (I hope the comment is not deleted as spam) http://p.horm.org/er/
It does not make use of a server database at all !!! The greatest thingie it has is the custom cropping of the thumbnails.
If someone could combine this with Zen’s AJAX goodness, then there is perfection! :B I am exaggerating of course, it’s just that i’m equally in love now with both.
Other discoveries include one similar to Zen ( but without the AJAX stuff) called Singapore, and a very good photo-blog one called Pixelpost (also has thumbnail customization). Easy to find with a search.
I have hacked my Zen Photo to include thickbox or highslide, I’ll try to stick them to Phormer too , to see what comes out .
Anyway, my rant ends here, i wrote because i saw that you have your own little thingie up there too. So it’s good to share discoveries like that. Anyway, keep up the goodness ! :B
Very nice image gallery. Congrats.
estetik ameliyatVery nice image gallery. Congrats.
i usually using it too.....
mirci usually using it too…..