The Bottom Line
- Freeware - no nags, no ads, no spyware.
- Easy to use, yet incredibly versatile and customizable.
- No longer requires users to have a web site. Free hosting offers 30 MB of free photo storage space.
- Runs on any platform that supports Java 1.3 - Windows, Macintosh OS X, Linux, Solaris, OS/2, etc.
- Customizing and creating skins requires HTML and CSS experience.
- Some skins don't have previews.
- Requires at least v1.3 of Java VM runtime (a free download if you don't already have it installed).
Description
- JAlbum automatically generates a web photo album from your photos in a number of stylish layouts.
- Choose from ready-made 'skins' and styles to change colors and layout. Add new skins from the Web.
- Users with HTML and CSS experience can create new skins or edit existing ones and share them online.
- Supports JPEG, GIF, and PNG image files, plus many movie formats including AVI, MPG, and WMV.
- Supports deep hierarchies of image folders, recreating the directory structure in your Web album.
- Edit tab allows file renaming, lossless image rotation, and comment editing.
- Embedded EXIF data (camera make, shutter speed, aperture, etc.) can be included in albums.
- Import comments from EXIF, JPEG, or IPTC data, or add comments and write them back to the files.
- Thumbnails can link directly to originals, to scaled photos, or to originals via scaled photos.
- Apply effects during album generation with image filters (watermark, add text, zoom, borders, etc.)
Guide Review - JAlbum - The Free Java Web Photo Album Generator
Presets are included for quick access to the most common album settings. Albums can be saved as a project and later edited and rebuilt and only the changed files will be generated. An FTP upload client with synchronization capabilities is also included, or users without an existing web host can upload up to 200 pictures with the free account through JAlbum. Users with programming experience can develop scripts to further enhance and automate their albums and images. JAlbum can also be used to create index pages for local albums, or for generating thumbnail index pages for a CD-ROM of images. One nice feature that you don't see often in competing products is the ability to link to both a scaled down photo for Web viewing and the full-size, original photo for printing.
With so much flexibility in this free software, it's no surprise that it's also multi-platform compatible and localized for several languages.
