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JAlbum by David Ekholm |
JAlbum lets you take your digital and scanned photos and arrange them in one of several different presentation styles for uploading to your online photo album. There's tons of nice extras too! |
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JAlbum by David Ekholm Recently, I've been finding myself using my digital camera more and more. It seems so convient to be able to take those pics and work on them myself, doing the changes I'd expect a developing business to do, then printing them out. Another aspect of digital photography I've enjoyed recently is to be able to place all of my photos “online” so that I can share them with friends and relatives. Now I could take the time to plan a layout, work the editor, design the page and place the pics, but who has the time!? Along comes JAlbum which I've been using for the past few months now. JAlbum will take your photos and transform them into dynamic HTML presentations, and let you even upload them to your site if you'd like. Here's the details: Platform...... I'm running it on XP so I'd assume it will run on Windows 95, 98, Me, and 2000 too! Web Site.......... A nice layout makes this site easy to navigate. The home page gives you instructions on installation for just about every flavor of operating system made! There lots of awards and info on the program with flags representing the different languages available. Of interest would be the “sample albums” area where you can get a glimpse of some of the actual results of using the great program. Links to Java, Partners etc. Downloading........ Size
Downloaded: With the Java virtual machine (a must!): 7.1 to 10.6 megs depending on the flavor Installation.......... Your download is a self install .exe file. Running the file gives you one of the newer versions of the installation engines called InstalAnywhere to get this program on your computer. Smooth, fast but you still get the usual questions on directory, EULA, java location, and so on. Here's just a couple of pics of the engine in action:
Help Files.......... The help files have a couple of nice tutorials which explain how to make a photo web site and how to modify the internal working of the program so that you can customize the look of the finished products. The programs help files are also .html based and will show on your default web browser. The web site is chaulk full of help files, tutorials, information on creating skins, and a super JAlbum forum which is very current to 2 minutes ago from this writing! Interface ........... The layout of JAlbum is designed on a tab format, with each tab giving you access to different setting for the program. Here's a pic of the startup window giving you a look at this:
Features ........... This helpful program has many nice additions which make it special. As you can see in the above image, you can change the thumbnail size, the generated image size (if you link to scaled down images), the quality of the images, the amount of columns and rows, direct linking to originals and of course, the skin and style of the layouts which includes an excellent selection of design skins. There are many nice preset layouts available! Here's a pic of the FTP tab where you input the information necessary to allow Jalbum to upload your presentation to your site:
In the edit tab, you are given the ability to change and add to the pictures that you'll be using, including putting comments right onto the picture file which will show on certain layouts in the program. Adding comments is especially nice if you have a detailed photo and you'd like to explain every detail of it's features. The Edit tab will allow you to modify the positioning of the picture in regards to flipping and rotation, as well as turning it 90 degrees by right clicking on any image. Here's a pic of the edit tab with right click menu exposed:
Double clicking on any image brings up the editor where you can insert text into the picture itself. Here's a pic of that window:
The “Advanced” tab gives you other options such as changing the index page name and extension. Here's a pic of the advanced tab:
As JAlbum does it's thing, it gives you a little window of it operations and the ability to “peek” at the progress of what is being developed for you. This is a nice feature for observing what is being created, letting you decide if you should abort and start over if you aren't satisified. Here's a peek at the window:
Depending on which layout you choose, the presentations can be dark and warm, or light and cool. I made a small presentation for a couple of co-workers with the photos that were taken at their retirement party. I used the “colorful” layout and it turned out really good. Problems....... I've found nothing wrong with this program since I've started using it three months ago. In Closing .......... Honestly, it would take me hours to do what JAlbum does in a matter of minutes. This time saving program should be your next download if you'd like to do more with your photos than just send them to relatives via e-mail. Enjoy!! Buzzy J |
