Write a feature comparision review for Picture Galleries

[hk_traveller]

Ouch! I had saved a copy somewhere...

Does any of the other devs have a copy?

You may find a copy here as well:

http://hktraveller.blogspot.com/2004/06/php-based-gallery-comparison.html

[GGallery]

menalto seems to be leading by far (they claim 100k installations and I believe that since everywhere I go I see them).
CPG impressed me once I saw how well it could be integrated into message boards and IMO it has a better codebase (and most importantly it's scalable)
I think CPG's strength is to combine photo galleries with forums => photo communities. That's an area in which cpg could become the clear leader (perhaps it is already?) and in the long run everything on the 'net goes towards people communicating in one form or an other, even ecommerce sites do better if they have some kind of 'community feeling'.
Users do love little details (avatars, ranks for forum members etc.) - I immediatelly saw traffic/photo uploads go up after adding friends view, thumbnails next to commenters and email noticies on new comments, these little things can/do make a huge difference (factor 2 to 3) and once other users get involved they'll start their own galleries etc.
People love to share their photos but most of all they want to get feedback (if they wouldn't then they would stick with the old fashioned photo album)

[Tarique Sani]

menalto seems to be leading by far (they claim 100k installations and I believe that since everywhere I go I see them).

It must be much more than 100k - CPG has 425k downloads and I noticed that now the weekly difference between Gallery and CPG in terms of downloads is just 3K it use to be more than 100% a few months a go.... We must be doing something right

[GGallery]

Code Select Expand

We must be doing something right
agreed. What convinced me was a non technical design guy being able to install CPG+phpbb within a couple minutes - he then told me about CPG and that it's better than menalto (after looking into their code+slow g2 development for a couple weeks) and once I saw cpg's code I was... convinced+impressed.
To be honest I don't understand why you're even bothering comparing CPG with anybody else besides menalto... a couple k installations for the 'paid' packages will get them nowhere, regardless how many great features they have - and the other free ones... I never heard of them... unless the other 'free ones' are going to invent a completely new view like fotolog did or an other new 'killer feature' I doubt that they'll be able to catch up with menalto and cpg. Users will expect/adopt to 1 or 2 different galleries - similar to the current phpbb/vb dominance... so 'high volume' is the key here... similar to the adoption of OSes and text processing software etc. (in a couple years the common user will be unable to tell the difference between software and internet sites/applications).
One feature menalto is currently working on is the 'plugin' concept... cpg needs to get something like that going and/or should ship with the most useful/popular add-ons by default which then can get activated... almost like building a kernel. I am also wondering if it'd make sense to prepackage cpg+phpbb and offer both here and on phpbb.com - that would be great for both groups and could dramatically accelerate the adoption of both of them.

[Tarique Sani]

To be honest I don't understand why you're even bothering comparing CPG with anybody else besides menalto... a couple k installations for the 'paid' packages will get them nowhere, regardless how many great features they have

The comparision is precisely for that - to incorporate great features - regardless of the fact if the original gallery is popular or not

One feature menalto is currently working on is the 'plugin' concept... cpg needs to get something like that going and/or should ship with the most useful/popular add-ons

I have been wondering on that as well... However most of the current mods require modifications to the core files of CPG - there are indeed a whole lot of mods that have been incorporated and now are configureable via config.php - this however is not a very clean approach - we will have to think of some way to provide hooks for plugins at critical places and actions.

That said I really like the plugin architecture which is there in WordPress

[olegario]

I am still on the fence between the debate of using CPG or Menalto.  I started off using 1.1.1 and upgraded to 1.2.0.  What I liked about CPG was the simplicity of the layout and also the ease of installing/upgrading/customizing.  What I felt that it missed was the ability to order photos through an online service, such as Shutterfly, and also the ability to upload to https secured sites.  At that point, I figured I'd give Menalto a try.  After installing and upgrading, I found that I was able to order photos, and also use their Gallery Remote application to upload pictures.  What I didn't like was the look of the layout, and the complexity of customizing the site.  I definitely do not consider myself any type of PHP programmer, but at least with the help of CPG support forums, I'm able to do most MODS on my CPG site.

So now, I'm back to CPG.  I've upgraded to 1.3.0, and I really like the new video interface.  Also, I've been able to find a way to use the XP publsiher with my https site now.  So now, the only thing that I feel is missing is the online photo ordering mechanism.  If/when that's done, I feel that CPG would be the perfect app...at least for me!   

Great job on 1.3.0 guys and thanks a lot!

[GGallery]

CPG should definitely add shutterfly etc:
=> great service for the users
=> might create a little income for the CPG admins now and a (well earned) fortune in the future.

Why would anybody need https? just secure your (wireless) network.

[Tarique Sani]

We are drifting from the topic on this thread

[avagyan]

Sorry for offtop, and bad English.
Could you suggest what software, which you have been looking is best suitable for me?
I am an event photographer, just need that the person comming to my web page, will enter his numeric code (which I gave him when took picture) and it will generate the page with his pictures. Like in nbcpix.com or partypics.com
I also need bulk uploading to the server with ftp, not one-by-one through web form. And if there will be any payment engine it will be better.
I have very few php skills and little more html skills.
I appreciate your help, thanks very much.

[Joachim Müller]

There's a nice review between Coppermine and (Menalto) Gallery2 - see http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=19893.0

[Joachim Müller]

split unrelated reply into a separate thread: http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=19931.0
This one deals with the request to have someone write a feature comparison; it's not meant to tell people wether coppermine suits their needs or not.

[artistsinhawaii]

I've used a few easy to use packages like gallery2, EE, jalbum but I found these lacking in that they did not allow me to create multi-level galleries.  In other words, I was restricted to one category with any number of albums.  NOT good enough to organize photographs for easy viewing once you went beyond a couple of hundred pictures.  Furthermore, they created HTML pages for each which ate up too much space on my server.

One not mentioned is Lightbox.  A commercial product that is almost identical to CPG. It uses a feature called "lightbox" which is the same as CPG's "my favorites". 

The more expensive packages like photostore have one thing that CPG lacks and that is (forgive me Joachim and Tranz) a customizable, theme consistent, entry page with a whole lot of built in options (the most of which the average user has little use for).  I like the idea of an entry page that is consistent with the selected theme, I just don't want it to be hard coded with difficult to modify frames and tables.  The very expensive commercial packages I tried,  look like sterile business sites, much like a standard page from Microsoft's site, with limited themes that are more often just color changes. Usually menus are on the left either drop down or fixed (a more sophisticated menu system than CPG's  'fruity' theme.   One could accomplish the same thing with CPG-nUke -- now called dragonfly -- which uses CPG as it's core gallery engine.  Dragonfly, however, has a more customizable entry page than photostore and most other commercial packages.

Most seem to have built in commerce plug-ins.  But the one's I've tried are no better than Casper's various MODs.  With most, you have to set prices to individual pictures. 

The greatest advantage that CPG has over these commerical packages, in my opinion, is this support forum.   You folks are great.  Replies are fast and everyone is helpful. I'm impressed and I do recommend Coppermine to all my artist friends.    Commerical programs won't help you if you want to change the hardcoded look of their programs - but Not Coppermine.   And what artist doesn't want to change the look of their page? 

Customizable, big plus!  It makes it interesting to work with, and you really feel like you OWN your gallery. You really can't say that for most other packages.

I've been at HTML and PHP for seven weeks, just over four weeks with coppermine and I've accomplished much more than I had ever envisioned was possible - thanks to these boards and all of your great help.

And now that you have a fast server - previously Coppermine's biggest drawback, I couldn't be happier.

Thanks again for all that you people do,

Dennis
www.artistsinhawaii.com/evj/default.php using heavily modified CPG 1.4 with Singapore theme.

[Joachim Müller]

A similar posting on the support board of our fellow devs over at our open source "competitor" Menalto Gallery shows a pretty concise and up-to-date list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_photo_gallery_software
http://gallery.menalto.com/node/1184
http://www.gallery-addons.com/Gallery-Addons/Component/Media_Gallery_Feature_Comparison/
http://www.tonyleung.com/gallery.htm

[MISHA]

http://www.photopost.com/

[Joachim Müller]

We haven't asked just for a link to a "competitor"'s website. We know that PhotoPost exists. You're suppossed to post a feature comparison instead of just dumping a link. 

Joachim