--- 
layout: post
title: Gallery
created: 1060495320
categories: 
- PHP
- Web 2.0
---
Gallery has long been my only answer if someone asked for an image gallery. It has pretty much all the features you could ask for:
<ul>
<li>doesn't need a database (makes it very easy to backup as well -- just tar the entire directory)</li>
<li>makes nice URLs using mod_rewrite</li>
<li>generates thumbnails in multiple sizes</li>
<li>has a built-in permissions system for protecting albums</li>
<li>slide show mode, which goes throw all the photos in an album, cross-fading the images</li>
<li>easy, web-based install</li>
<li>supports commenting of images</li>
<li>Windows XP web-publishing wizard or stand-alone Java-based, cross-platform Gallery Remote app</li>
</ul>

Pretty much the only downsides to Gallery are that the HTML is a little crufty and hard-coded into the app, making it a little harder to customize. As well, not being based on a database, some more advanced display/sorting features aren't available. One gotcha with the install is that Gallery cannot run with PHP safe mode turned on, which is a problem with some shared hosting environments.

Gallery 2.0 is going to use a database and be re-written to separate content from presentation.