My requirements for a gallery script

After looking at the popular Gallery and Coppermine gallery scripts, I'm a bit disappointed of having not found what I want, so I document my own requirements here. Maybe I start coding my own gallery, maybe interested coders find some inspiration.

I have now added an evaluation of both Coppermine 1.2.0RC2 and Gallery 1.4pl2 for your orientation. Note that this is not a comparison of features but a comparison of which program currently satisfies my own requirements. X means "yes, implemented", "(X)" means "half implemented" or "implemented with shortfalls", "-" means "not implemented in the way I intend that feature".

Please don't bother to send flame mails -- this is my personal opinion and no offense against the programmers of these two great scripts.

	A really cool gallery script...	C	G
1.1	...must support both browser-based upload of a small number of files as well as batch upload of files previously FTPed to the webserver	X	X
1.2	...must support .JPG and .PNG images	X	X
1.3	...should allow for upload of .ZIP archives of images, ignoring unknown files	-	X
1.4	...must allow for inclusion of previously generated thumbs and "normal size" pictures, if both match the configured values for these (that all as a documented feature, not a hidden fact)	(X)	-
1.5	...should be able to extract and display EXIF information from images	X	X
1.6	...should try to auto-rotate images using the EXIF information from the camera, if present	-	X
1.7	...must be able to generate thumbnails	X	X
2.1	...must be able to organize images in a filesystem-style approach, with albums and subalbums, and the ability to add images not only to the leaf of the tree but also inbetween, ie. to any "album" on any level	-	X
2.2	...must allow for a custom ordering inside a photo album, not just alphabetical or by date	-	X
2.3	...must display images in a flexible grid style	X	X
2.4	...must support for selection of an image as the highlighted image for the appropriate album	X	X
2.5	...should provide a slideshow function	X	X
3.1	...must allow for editing also after the images have been added to the database, ie. image filename, rotating the image	-	X
3.2	...should allow for batch editing, eg. batch renaming of images to date/time-composed filenames	-	X
3.3	...must support a title and a description for each image	X	X
4.1	...must support users and associated permissions (view/add/edit) on albums and pictures	X	X
4.2	...must support groups and associated permissions (view/add/edit) on albums and pictures	(X)	-
4.3	...should be integratable with phpBB, LDAP servers or whatever	(X)	(X)
4.4	...should allow for a rating/voting system	X	X
4.5	...should allow for a comments system	X	X
4.6	...should allow for keywords to be associated with a picture and an appropriate search function	X	-
4.7	...must provide a intuitive user interface, with options available at places where one thinks they belong to, not hidden somewhere else	-	-
4.8	...must be themable, ie. provide multiple "outfits", selectable by the user running the photo album	X	-¹
4.9	...in general must look nice and not like some hack	X	X
4.10	...should support different languages	X	X
4.11	...should provide statistics such as "most popular pictures by voting", "most viewed pictures" etc.	X	-¹
4.12	...should provide a "last added images" feature	X	-
4.13	...should provide an "eCard" feature (mail a picture)	X	-
4.14	...should provide a per-user "favourite images" feature	X	-
4.15	...should be able to generate static HTML pages for export to eg. a photo CD-ROM	-	-
4.16	...must have its config stuff within the main web interface	X	-
5.1	...must be written in PHP, not Perl or Python, because I don't understand those	X	X
5.2	...should not require MySQL, although it could support it	-	X
5.3	...must be written in a way that a minimum set of files is accessible under public_html (security!) and subdirs must have appropriate protection	?	?
	If all points were considered equally important and a X gives one and a (X) gives half a point, the scores would be	22.5	21.5

¹: supposedly added in Gallery 1.4.1, will have to check that version out...

This page last changed:
July 26, 2004