• User interface redesigned to be more workflow-logical. These changes have been performed after analyzing user behaviour on a test group. I believe these changes will double the number of users that successfully publish albums with JAlbum

• Publish window now capable of password protecting albums hosted on myjalbum.net

• Windows Vista support

• Improved handling of foreign characters and spaces on Mac

• JAlbum can now help users telling about their new albums after publishing them (via email and web)

• Mac user interface improvements

• New printing partner support

• Skin developers can now use the new ja:switch and an improved ja:if statement (see http://jalbum.net/skincreation.jsp)

• Various bug fixes

SmoothGallery

SmoothGallery is a javascript gallery and slideshow system using the mootools library and incorporating slightbox, a lightbox extension for SmoothGallery. It allows you to show images from SmoothGallery in a lightbox ( as in my LightBox 2 skin). This is a preview version but seems pretty bug free. Version 2 will have the option of gallery sets and many fades and transitions between slides. Hope you like it!

One of the frequently asked queries is on integrating the album to the main website. It won’t take much time for users with HTML exposure to realize that album integration is no different from integrating any other html pages. But, for some of the users who’re new to site design, it may prove hard and may need a site template to start with to understand how album integration works.

Keeping such users in mind, FP user guide now includes new section to explain different techniques to integrate FotoPlayer to the main website. Includes demo and you can also download the full site templates! More site templates will be added later.

Link: http://www.fotoplayer.com/v3.0/userguide/index.html#Overview.htm

SimpleBox Skin

New LightBox skin based on jQuery
SimpleBox is  a simple and fast Lightbox skin. It is used to overlay images on the current page through the power and flexibility of jQuery. It has basic lightbox functionality, is lightweight and a small file size. It's for those that just want a simple lightbox, no bells or whistles. Quick and easy!

Skin download hits 100,000 mark!  Thank you all for helping and supporting FotoPlayer all the way! One of the main reasons behind the success of FotoPlayer is its active JAlbum forum community. I would’ve never made it without your feedback/suggestions. So, thanks again!

Some of the new features recently added (still under testing)
1. Google Analytics support to track the important events.
2.  Lots of new shopping cart features
3. Password protected full-size image download
4. Album in HTML format for search engine indexing

This photo taken of a Greenwich Village shopkeeper always makes me smile, as I believe it represents the soul of that eclectic and atmospheric Manhattan neighborhood. When doing street photography I keep my equipment to a minimum; one camera body and a 50mm f1.4 lens (also try 35mm or 28mm). It is important to keep a low profile while photographing people on the street, and you will need a small and fast aperture lens to shoot quickly and move along. As soon as people realize they are being photographed, the scene loses its natural un-posed look. In this photograph I quickly composed so that there would be more space on the right of the subject than the left. An easy rule to remember (but feel free to break it!) is to allow more space in the picture on the side that the subject is looking toward. In other words, if the subject is looking right, allow for more space on the right side of the photograph. The opposite is of course true as well. A natural composition has the subject looking into the picture space, as opposed to looking out of it. A note on street photography: There is a fine line between street photography as art, and voyeurism. While I don't care what you photograph, keep in mind that others might take issue with your activities, and decide to relieve you of a few teeth and maybe your camera. Keep moving, and if a situation doesn't feel right, don't stop to photograph it.

Thanks to professional photographer Mark Hemmings (www.markhemmings.com) for writing this photo tip.

We are approaching Christmas time. Have you though out that perfect present already? Does your uncle really need another tie you might question yourself when looking for presents. Let me then recommend what will be my present this year. I will give something personal, that I've put some time and design into, that brings memories to life and brings us closer together. This Christmas I'm going to give away bound photobooks from our last vacation and newborn. (I'm sure my mother and sister aren't reading this newsletter. That's why I take the risk to tell about it ;-))

To start designing your photo book, just download the photobook software. Like JAlbum, it's freely available for PC and Mac and easy to get along with! When you're happy with your album design, you can order photo books within the software.