I need a program which takes pictures from a directory tree and
automatically resizes the pictures to thumbnail size, can be set up to
not display picture names (e.g. P0000123.jpg), allows one to caption
the pictures (e.g. Jimmy after partying), batches the pictures into 12
or some other number of thumbnails per page, maintains the hierarchy
of the directories (e.g. highest level: events folder, friends folder;
within events, xmas 2000 folder, debutante ball).
Ideally each page of thumbnails should have minimal "nice touches"
like borders and a minimally pleasing background.
I'd prefer not to spend more than $59 for this program.

---

Clarification of Question by ryanbeach-ga on 02 May 2003 18:15 PDT

Need program for Windows2000 or WinXP

Hello ryanbeach,

Thank you for your question.

Whenever I need information on anything relating to digital
photography, I trot on over to Steve's Digicam for the latest and most
complete information I have been able to find.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm

Under Digicam Software, you will find just the category you seek under
Web Page generators.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/digsoftware_web.html

For example, the first listing shows:

"ThumbsPlus v5.0 - The ultimate Windows graphics viewing program

Directly reads all popular graphic formats and many proprietary
digital camera formats - v5.x now supports Canon CRW files via a new
plug-in. View, print, adjust, convert, resize, catalog and batch
process files. The Web Page Wizard builds web-photo pages with
thumbnails and links to the full-size picture files. Database search
by keyword or the filename. Windows Color Management support (ICM, ICC
profiles). Loads and observes embedded ICC profiles in TIFF, JPEG and
PNG files. Auto-launch with scanner or when a digital camera is
attached. EXIF info is now displayed in text for many fields. Support
for JPEG 2000 (read and write) for both lossless and lossy compression
modes. Many new batch processing features and slide show options
including transitions and improved scaling. ThumbsPlus is 100% "Steve
Approved" digicam software - don't be without it!..."

You'll find ThumbsPlus here:
http://www.thumbsplus.com/

with excellent features explanation here:
http://www.cerious.com/thumbsplus.shtml

Although this is slightly more than your requested budget at $79.95,
you might consider this program.

Steve's lists a number of other Web Page generators including Gallery
Wizard:

"Gallery Wizard for Windows

Gallery Wizard is a template based program for creating thumbnail
gallery pages. It accepts over a dozen different input formats, with
the possibility for creating galleries from several different folders
at once. It renders the gallery pages, thumbnails including various
effects (like 3D Border), and can optionally also create HTML pages
for each image. By using easy to understand HTML template files with
various variables, you can create thumbnail galleries that suit your
existing site design..."

This program is free and requests a donation if you like it and
continue to use it.
http://www.b-zone.de/software/galwiz.htm

  
Then there's MyGallery Maker:

"MyGalleryMaker for Windows

With the myGalleryMaker you can make nice galleries of your picture
collections. Small preview pictures of every image and HTML pages to
browse through the gallery are created. There are plenty of options to
customize the look of the pages. It works on folders with subfolders,
realtime preview, find duplicate pictures, framing and drop shadow
effects, many nice templates, adapt pictures to screen size, animated
buttons, picture copy protection, HTML viewer and slide show..."

http://www.mybytes.de/ehome.html

This program is only $20. The author has an example page of a trip he
made to the Us at this address:
http://www.mybytes.de/usa/

There are a number of other programs at Steve's worthy of your
exploration. I would venture to guess one of them will be exactly what
you are seeking. Since they do vary in features, pricing and
customization, do spend a little time evaluating them. Most have a
free downloadable trial version.

Steve's also has a discussion forum and at this page users discuss web
page creation software:
http://www.stevesforums.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=34

You might benefit from the experiences of others by browsing through
this forum.

And if, by chance, you do not find what you desire here, the following
are links to this type of software at CNET and WebAttack, which are
two of my favorite shareware sites.

CNET
http://download.com.com/sort/3120-2001-0-1-3.html?qt=web+gallery&ca=2001

There are 91 entries here, though some do not have the features you
are seeking. Some are free and most fall below your set budget.

WebAttack
http://www.webattack.com/shareware/webpublish/swgallery.shtml

You will also find several dozen programs here with ratings and good
reviews. For example:

arles image web page creator
http://www.digitaldutch.com/arles/

This program is highly rated, only $49 and makes a variety of very
appealing web page galleries.

"Use Arles Image Web Page Creator to quickly and easily create image
collections on the web. Arles creates high quality thumbnails,
modifies images and automatically creates HTML pages.

You can either use the default settings or fine-tune images and HTML
options to your needs. Users have total control over the design of the
generated web pages by using templates. You can fine tune images and
HTML pages using one the many available options or use templates for
full control over the pages. Arles supports 20+ image file formats and
includes the Arles Image Explorer for easy image management. All image
data is automatically stored in a database allowing you to sort,
select and provide titles for all images on your computer..."

Do view their examples and see what else WebAttack recommends for
gallery creators.



I trust my research has provided you with a variety of programs to
build web galleries near or below your set budget. If a link above
should fail to work or anything require further explanation or
research, please do post a Request for Clarification prior to rating
the answer and closing the question and I will be pleased to assist
further.

Regards,

-=clouseau=-

---

Request for Answer Clarification by ryanbeach-ga on 03 May 2003 00:22 PDT

These sound like great programs, some of which I've used. However,
none of them explicitly indicate that the folder structure for the
original picture files is faithfully preserved in the generated html.
All I can suggest is trying the most promising; I'm willing to pay for
the $79.95 if none of the others will work...

---

Clarification of Answer by clouseau-ga on 03 May 2003 00:46 PDT

Hello again,


MyGallery Maker defintely preserves the structure of subfolders:

"With the GalleryMaker you can make nice galleries of your picture
collections. Small preview pictures of every image and HTML pages to
browse through the gallery are created. There are plenty of options to
customize the look of the pages. You can choose from several templates
and with a little bit of knowledge about HTML easily create your own
look. Subfolders up to any level are treated as categories. You can
give each category a caption and a comment. You can also comment each
picture. This way you can nicely document your last holiday..."

Let me check to see if some of the others verify they support this
feature.

-=clouseau=-

---

Clarification of Answer by clouseau-ga on 03 May 2003 01:43 PDT

Hello again ryanbeach,

Here are a few other programs that appear to meet your needs for
directory structure:

Thumber   $18
http://www.tawbaware.com/thumber.htm

"Thumbnails/Web Page Creation. Thumber can create "contact-sheet"
style web pages with thumbnails linked to the full-sized originals.
Thumber can create a web page for just one file, several files or
multiple directories. When creating a web page Thumber can also
extract and include information about the images in which it finds a
thumbnail. Depending on the type of camera, Thumber is able to
determine time, date, file size, flash, aperture, shutter, exposure
compensation, ISO speed, program mode, whitebalance, picture number,
resolution, compression information (and more) from most pictures, and
can compute 35mm equivalent focal length and scene brightness. Thumber
can also create a master index page with links to all of the
individual contact sheet pages -- ideal for cataloging a large
collection of images before burning onto CD..."

Thumbs   $20
http://www.greggman.com/thumbs/why.htm

"Thumbs generates thumbnails for an entire folder tree.  Not just one
folder at a time

Thumbs generates in index page linking all the folders 

Thumbs links all the thumbnail pages to each other with Prev and Next
buttons..."


ImagENGngine  $45
http://www.insyse.com/imfeatures.htm

"...HTML pages generator: 
1. Create html pages with image thumbnails and direct links to full
size image pages.

2. Apply image editing commands to thumbnails and/or actual images,
during html pages generation. (For example you can define to create
thumbnails that looks like buttons and add borders and copyright text
to every full size image).

3. Create master index page linked to thumbnails pages. 

4. Generated html pages automatically include custom or standard
navigation buttons (link to home, next, previous,first, last page,
higher level ...)..."


ThumbsUp   $19.95
http://www.harmonycentral.com.au/demo/Index.htm

Has a setting to maintain directory structure.


Photo Librarian  $25
http://www.photolibrarian.com/

Maintains directory structure.


JPGallery   $25
http://www.jpgallery.de/

"...You simply provide the images and image descriptions and use the
graphical user interface to fine-tune the layout of the gallery.
JPGallery can then automatically create a gallery in mixed HTML/JPEG
format, including indexes and thumbnails...."


ePhotoAlbum  $29.95
http://www.picturegear.com/

"...Organize images into complex hierarchies of web pages with
thumbnails...."


So, you can see many of these programs allow directory structures and
provide differing levels of support for this feature. Try a few of the
more interesting to find a program with the feature set to meet your
needs.

Do let me know if I can provide anything additional for you and if the
programs above will meet your needs for directory structures..

-=clouseau=-

Did lots of research and found some that use subfolders

Have a look at Irfanview, http://www.irfanview.com/, it has most (if
not all) of the functionality you are looking for, and has the added
benefit of being absolutely free