Looking for easy way for client to post images online

[Robert Charlton]

I have a client who provides location scouting services and needs to make images available to his clients online. I'm trying to come up with an easy way for him to do this...

Pictures will be coming from a digital camera... will need to be saved, sized, and compressed, and then uploaded, probably each to its own page in a password protected directory... and they'll need to be captioned. Pages won't need to look beautiful.

My approach would be to provide an html template and a set of instructions. Is there a better way... maybe something designed for non-technical people to get family photo albums online?

[straysparrow]

People like Yahoo (and Excite?) provide photo album services for those who aren't technically inclined. I've never used it for my own photos so I'm not too sure how it works. I do know you can allow public access to only parts of your album (but I don't know if you can password protect it or not). I don't know if this helps you or not.
Sparrow

[Robert Charlton]

Thanks... No, this would be a commercial site... just fairly non-technical people putting the stuff online.

[minnapple]

DeBabelizer Pro has automated processing not sure how robust its configuration options are.

[toadhall]

There may be something suitable at hotscripts dot com.

[token]

If you can install cgi scripts--Perl or PHP-to your server, there is a large selection of scripts that will do the job. Try Image Arcadia, or do a search for image gallery scripts.

Ken

[SmallTime]

get him a copy of radio 8, from Userland, the weblog software- browser editing, drop a photo into a folder and it appears in a browser editing window for captioning, press publish, and it ftp's it to the location of your choice. desktop app. Pages named by date. $40

[Robert Charlton]

Thanks for reminding me of this software. It's perhaps a possibility. Radio UserLand 8, though, requires that Radio UserLand hostes the picture pages, with 10Mb basic space.

Ultimately, this client wants to keep hundreds of pictures online with restricted client access, a feature I don't think Radio Userland provides, so I'm not sure this is the best model. Any other suggestions?

[NFFC]

We do something very similar for ecommerce stores, basically allowing them to upload and edit products and images. We find that it is better for the client if it is custom coded to their exact requirements, the downside will be cost as always.

[toadhall]

If you have php/mysql at your disposal you might like jj-gallery. Do a google search for it.

[Robert Charlton]

>>the downside will be cost as always<<

That's a big factor for this operation... Right now they're operating out of a few filing cabinets using drug-store photos and manila folders.

[otravers]

You can configure Radio 8 to ftp to your own server, so you're not limited to Userland's servers.

You can also post pictures with Blogger Pro ($35), which is less powerful but easier to use by laymen.

[radio.userland.com...]
[pro.blogger.Com...]

[nell]

PHP/MySQL is a good way to go - and it's FREE. Use a hosting service with the later version of PHP (4.2) installed on the server and you can, by code, create new images from the ones stored in the database. You can specify size and JPG quality of the new image on the fly. GIFS as well as JPGs can be stored in the database.
Although images can be resized using HTML they still have the same file size and can be distorted. With PHP I can store a 200x200 78K .gif image in my database and convert it to a 85x85 .jpg at at a quality level that will give it a file size of 5K or less and it will look just fine. (A simple routine can replace the .gif in the string to .jpg before creating the new image.)

[SmallTime]

otravers is right, I post to my server, not UserLand, with Radio 8. You can also turn off other features you don't need. You could have it post to a specific directory, adjust the page template (which sits on the desktop side), basically use it the same as a wysiwyg editor with ftp, except from a browser window.

[brotherhood of LAN]

If you have confidence in the client, maybe you can give them the password and username of the account so they can upload themselves

on IE, you can go to file > open > open as webfolder, and they would only have to copy images into a folder designated for such images

[token]

Fluid Dynamics Software has an excellent script called Genesis, a file uploading script where you can set user permissions to a password-protected directory for any number of individual users, each with their own private directory. It can be customized in just about any way possible. They offer a free auto-install, too.
[xav.com...]

[lawman]

I post my family pictures at fotki.com . They have a free service, which I use, and a premium service.

Don't know if that's what you're looking for. Hope it helps.

Lawman

[Mr Green Thumbs]

Not sure if this will work for you but have you loked at Whalemail. Good for large files and I believe that it is password protected.

[Barry]

Hi Ya Doin!

I found a very useful article which covers exactly what you are looking for.

[zend.com...]
This shows you how to create a 'thumbnail' gallery and you can use many images.

To do a good job, you will need to use a database with server scripting like php/mysql which has a reasonable learning curve.

[Robert Charlton]

Thanks for the huge amount of good information... They're already looking at Radio 8.

>>You can configure Radio 8 to ftp to your own server, so you're not limited to Userland's servers...<<
>>basically use it the same as a wysiwyg editor with ftp, except from a browser window.<<

This makes it sound much more attractive than the way they're pitching it on their website. I guess UserLand's business model is selling server space.

[rcjordan]

Robert, just to round out some possibilities for exploration, Noah Grey has a "photolog" out there
[foshdawg.net...]

I think it bolts onto, or has been incorporated in, the greymatter blog. (This may be photolog in action [noahgrey.com], not really sure though.)

Built-In File Uploading & Easy Image Handling—Not only can you now upload files and images to your account right from within Greymatter, you can also instantly create new entries with the files or images already linked to or displayed in your new entries. You can even have Greymatter make fully-customisable instant popup windows out of the images you upload; what before would take several minutes and a lot of hassle (creating complicated code, making an HTML page for each window, uploading the files to FTP, and so on) can now literally be done in about three clicks of the mouse.

[noahgrey.com...]

[oneguy]

Robert,

I have some custom made php scripts (using MySQL) for the purpose you are looking for. (Or close to it, I think.)

I had a customer who needed to have non-techie (a *big* understatement) employees take pictures on-site and get the info back to the office.

We took care of the sizing and compression issues by setting up the cameras properly and training the employees regarding what they could and couldn't do with camera settings. The cameras were simple enough that an email could fix difficulties even if they did accidently change the settings.

Images are uploaded via an html interface. At the same time, we also had the employees input other information through text boxes, drop down boxes, and searchable fields where they could type notes. The hard part was teaching the employees to remain organized while they visited 6-8 sites per day.

We had store numbers, drop down boxes, easily edited in a config file, and an upload for as many images as needed for the particular store number.

We also had an admin area where the admin could add and subtract users and give them different priveledges. (very few options there, but it did allow some control. I can create users to edit or just view, but I think all users can see everything.) We had a few clients with many locations each. We set up a new system for each one. If you have many clients with a few locations each, you might be able to modify the scripts and it would be better than starting from scratch.

Stickymail me to take a look. If you can use them, I'll donate them for a particular use. (and maybe you can help me sometime with something else.) Depending on needs, nell might be on the right track for modification.