Java Web Images Gallery 0.3.2 review

Java Web Images Gallery project is a server-side application that generates Web image albums on the fly. Users need only upload im

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 1292K Developer: Constantin d'Ribin

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Java Web Images Gallery project is a server-side application that generates Web image albums on the fly.

Users need only upload images by FTP. It provides a navigation tree, a simple way to manage and customise image gallery views, and basic image manipulation.

Here are some key features of "Java Web Images Gallery":
Simple image upload. You need only FTP client to manipulate with your gallery.
Original images stay untouched.
Albums are simply represented by the directory structure.
Cutomizable Album tumbnails.
Image and album titles can be assigned indidvidually by the .properties file
Albums can have individual thumbnalis.
Easy albums navigation using tree directory structure.
Images can be resized and all verisions are cached and updated on demand.
Watermark can be added to every image and can be customized per album and/or image.
You are free to change the whole gallery design by you wishes.
No POSTS, sessions or cookies required! Every page and image have direct link and you can be sure that person who receive your link will see exactly the same.

Requirements:
For image processing gallery use additional programs from the ImageMagick package, which must be installed at your system. Current Gallery.war package tested at the Tomcat5.5 environment, so you need to choose application server with the same set of features (i.e. Java 5 support).

Configuration:

before you start using your gallery you have to configure some variables in the configuration file. This file could be find at the Gallery's web application home in [Gallery home]/config/config. Format of this file is simple and easy to understand:

image.dir=[place path to you image directory here]
theme=default
cache.dir=[place path to directory where images will be cached]
name=[your gallery name]
thumbnail.width=120
thumbnail.height=120
Followed threee lines defines path to imageMagick utilities:
convert=/usr/bin/convert
identify=/usr/bin/identify
composite=/usr/bin/composite
default.size=800x600
allowed.sizes=320x240 640x480, 1024x768, 1280x1024
[path to watermark file relatively to the image.dir]
watermark=.watermark.png

After that you can upload your images to the image.dir and access them from web. Just point your browser somewhree like: http://[my web site address]:8080/Gallery/

What's New in This Release:
The templates were cleaned up to make the HTML code valid according to the "HTML 4.01 Transitional" rules.
Background image and cache watcher threads were added to syncronize the image repository with the cache.
Album view now reloads dynamically, which will speed up browsing on big galleries.
A new thumbnail layout is used for albums.
Favicon file handling was fixed.
New configuration parameters were added for watermarks: dissolve, gravity, and background threads.