Will software maintain my file and folder names?

[bobtreu]

I have not yet installed the software because I want to know how it handles file names and folder names.
I have my photos organized in folders and files that make sense to me, when viewed with a file browser.

For example, I may want   albums/Xmas/2012/jones-group.jpg
or albums/2012/Jones
    albums/2012/Peterson/birthdays/billy.jpg

Will coppermine interpret and protect my folder structure and file names?   I tried to find this information in the documentation, but I could not see examples that answer my questions.

Software to manage the photos could be very useful, but the photos and categories should be meaninful when browsing the file structure, especially since you cannot depend on any software or environment to last forever.

[sjj1805]

Yes, in fact you are encouraged to do so.
My filing system is year/month/album
and so I have folders like
2012
2011
2010
etc.

within each folder is a sub folder eg.
2012/jan
2012/feb
2012/mar

Within each sub folder is an album e.g.
2012/jan/Llandudno
2012/jan/kids party
2012/feb/scotland

I resize the photo's beforehand with an image editor such as Photoshop / PhotoImpact etc. and place them in the respective folder above.
In Coppermine create a category, then an album in that category.
You then use the batch import method to import your photographs into coppermine. Your original photographs remain intact but coppermine creates additional resized copies as necessary - for example the thumbnails. This method preserves your EXIF information which you can display within coppermine.

You can see my albums structured in the above way here http://sun/photo/index.php

[sjj1805]

Apologies I gave you my local link, I should have posted this one
http://stevejjones.co.cc/photo/index.php

[Αndré]

Your original photographs remain intact

Be careful, this is config dependent. There are setting for maximum image dimensions. You can set Coppermine to either ignore or resize photos, if they exceed that limit. The rest of your explanation is correct. Thanks!

Additionally, you cannot use some characters in folder names (e.g. the dot), as they may cause trouble. Furthermore, by default Coppermine transliterates and replaces almost all non-latin characters for compatibility reasons. Those behavior could of course be changed in your gallery.

[sjj1805]

To avoid the issues highlighted by Andre perhaps I need to explain a little further what I do.
The original pictures from the camera are of course huge - too large to put onto a website, so I keep copies using my filing system mentioned above, outside of the web server.
It is always good practice to keep more than one copy of your album anyway in case of a hard drive failure - an external hard drive or even another computer on your home network is a good choice
I then copy those pictures into the web server maintaining the same directory structure.

You then need to work out by trial and error what the best maximum picture size is that is suitabe for you and your web server. Mine are set to 1053 x 700 - but I have my own Web Server, if you are using one of the "free" servers available on the internet you might need to have something a bit smaller.

Once you have worked out YOUR maximum picture size, most image programs such as Photoshop have an option to batch process an entire directory and you resize them this way. This is quick and also preserves the original EXIF information. Coppermine will do the rest. In my case there will be 3 copies of the picture in the coppermine album
1. The "Full size" picture - in other words the one you resized with photoshop or your favourite editor.
2. An intermediate sized picture - this is the one that appears after clicking its thumbnail and also used in the built in slideshow option.
3. The thumbnail.

Keep in mind the naming convention issue mentioned by Andre, stick to letters/numbers. In fact the name given to the file by your camera is perhaps best, in copermine you can optionaly give each picture a title should you have the need to do so.