The Quest for Great Tools
I am always looking for great tools for making stuff. One tool I have wanted for a long time is a tool for quickly and easily creating an online portfolio that is clean and slick. There are lots of tools to do this, but my requirements for this particular tool are strict. I wanted something that I could easily update. That knocks the obvious choice, Flash, out of the running. The last thing I want to have to do is disect a flash .fla file everytime I want to update my portfolio.
Other qualities I want for this job include: Easy to use, simple clean results (not ugly!), and if possible, FREE. Well, my quest is over. JAlbum, where have you been all my life? I have looked at plug-ins for Dreamweaver, php web based solutions, Flash with XML file solutions, desktop applications that generate files for the web (JAlbum fits into this category), photoblog solutions, and Content Management System solutions.
JAlbum is a great tool for free, with lots of customization possibilities and several skins included. You can design your own skin or customize a pre-made skin. To use the program, you just drop your files on the space provided and configure how you want your images to be presented on the web, and then create the album. Later, if you want to add or take away, or rearrange pictures, you just open the JAlbum file and make your changes and save the album again. That is it.
You can go to the JAlbum site and download the program for yourself. I will leave a link for it in my links on the right. Thanks JAlbum crew for making such a great application available at an unbeatable price! Also, how often do you get to ligitimately post a picture of a frog on your web site?
You can see my new portfolio, created with JAlbum here, and my old portfolio site is still up and running too at www.williammead.com, but I will probably retire that site at some point.