JetPhoto - How come I've never heard of this before?

[moerl]

I was searching del.icio.us for photo organization tools and of course I saw Picasa all over the place.. I don't know if it's just me, but I can't say that I really like Picasa and the way it does things. I don't think it's as transparent as it could be... (what are keywords, what are labels? and why are keywords not visible and editable directly in the interface? the only way to get to them seems through a keyboard shortcut which pops open a box... not exactly intuitive..) and it seems to like organizing pictures by folders, which I hate. I like organizing completely independent of folder structure :/

Anyway.. I keep hitting next.. and find this: http://www.jetphotosoft.com/web/

Looks amazing! Has anyone tried it? I'm looking for a great digital photo organization tool. That's until I can get Adobe Photoshop Elements v4.0 fixed on my system... I'm still having problems with that.

If anyone tries it out.. let me know how it is, especially compared to other similar software, such as Picasa.



Thanks

[Carol Haynes]

Hey you're right it looks great ....

I think I'll install the server software to have a play ... I'll give you the link when it is setup and you can drop by to have a look ...


actually you don't have to wait for me they have a demo site ... http://www.jetphotosoft.com/demo/web/default/index.php

Looks really slick if you want an easy to use photo gallery on your website.

OK I have had a bash ...

Here is a simple website - created entirely with JetPhoto ...

http://www.lairdswood.com/jpserver/web/default/index.php

(the birdies are in my garden)

The windows app creates albums by dropping photo files on to the window but doesn't include the original files (at least not by default).

I haven't played with it long enough to see what it is capable of but I get the impression its primary purpose is to create nice looking websites with slide shows. To that end it succeeds very well and is really simple to use and configure.

To set up the server side stuff I simply uploaded the files to the server and pojnted my brower at the folder ... it then siad 'configured'. That was it!!!

The Windows software installed simply, and it is dead simple to build albums. Enter your ftp loging details and sync your albums with the website (single mouse click) and you have a photogallery ...

Can't see how it could possibly be simpler.

Presumably it isn't that easy to set this up as a multi user system? You could give other people an FTP account to upload photos but I suspect everytime someone syncs it will sync with their machine - they could however email their albums to you for inclusion.

[tsaint]

I had no trouble (I thought) installing the server, but I couldn't get WebSync to connect to the server in test mode.
Tried Web Ready, their other recommended method and ftp'ed the files and it worked like a charm. So its a no hassle system (I didnt read any manual as usual).
I did feel a little out of control - eg adding folders to make an album, letting Jetphoto resize the images - kept wondering where stuff was being stored, was there any file optimization taking place etc. That's tomorrow's chore, to see where stuff has ended up on my h/d.

[Carol Haynes]

OK I have been having a bit more of a look at the Windows App.

It really is just a photo album designer.

When you install it it creates a folder in My Documents called My Photo Albums. Each album you create generates a subfolder in there with formated versions of you files. The originals are not stored. You can publish these albumbs to JetPhoto web server where you set it up.

Links are stored to the original files (so you can find them easily again) but these are always stored as JPG files. My originals were BMP files so they were converted (without asking me). My original files were left in tac, but these aren't the originals according to JetPhoto - the JPG versions are, and they are stored as part of the album setup.

All this means that JetPhoto is good at what it does, but it isn't a photo management tool for Windows (to replace Picassa, ACDSee etc). It also generates lots of extra data on your disc if you generate webalbums.

[brotherS]

Look what I found on that site:



How cool is this?!?

[Carol Haynes]

Looks really cool - shame I can't get it to work

[moerl]

I posted the same thing over at dslreports.com... haha.. and I'm finding it very interesting to see how my mind traces exactly the same things as yours. Check out the thread here, look at the third post, by me: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,14815864

brotherS's comment is what I said about the exact same feature, VERBATIM. Haha.. and I also reached the same conclusion as Carol Haynes (Sherlock Haynes?).. you'll see what I mean. Take a look.

[tsaint]

This is fun, though I wouldn't say its a big time saver for publishing. I resampled the images in another program, then used a compression program to get suitable file sizes. That left the main point of jetphoto to take care of the online viewing experience.
So far Ive done an album of where I go camping and a flowers one, the former letting jetphoto do everything, the latter with me doing what I outlined above. Its at http://tony.dcmembers.com/jpserver/web/default/ for what its worth

[moerl]

Some beautiful shots in there, tsaint. I must say JetPhoto's web-gallery creation is rather amazing. It makes things look very attractive and gives the user a lot of control. Sweet

I'm still looking for the best photo organization tool, however. For Windows.

[Carol Haynes]

Really nice flower shots tsaint ...

I have added a new gallery to mine of some photos taken on a Canoe trip in Northern Ontarion in the summer. I was particularly pleased with some of the lily shots.

Don't know why, but one of the thumbnails is missing ???

Anyway here it is ... http://www.lairdswood.com/jpserver

[tsaint]

thanks re flowers. Should have said my name is Tony btw.
Like your pics too Carol - as well as the coutryside you're camping in.
Can see donationcoders.com turning into a defacto art gallery at this rate:)