Category: jAlbum news

We have received a lot of requests for search on jalbum.net. We have now added a smooth search function to the site to help you find interesting albums. You are able to search for both albums and users. It has never been easier to find new inspiration for your own photography as well as enjoying…

We have made it much easier to connect with other Jalbum users through a brand new Explore section! Here you can browse users by their profile pictures, most favored albums of the community, featured albums and much more. If you see something you like, tell the person behind the camera lens. Post a message on…

The fantastic skin developers are busy creating new skins and updating existing ones. There are so many fun ways to present your photos, here are some skins you just have to download: Boxer by Alan927 A great example of high usability. Click on photos to have them slide out to full size. A combination of…

Have you tried out our printing partner Blurb? Blurb turns your favorite photos into a professional looking, customized photo book. Photo books are great for storing your family vacation photos, maintaining a portfolio of your artwork, creating a recipe book… the possibilities are endless. To spice up the inspiration, our friends over at Blurb announces…

 I was excited to stumble upon another great blog post about Jalbum yesterday on www.canonblogger.com. In this blog Jason Anderson writes about photography tips, tricks and tutorials. What makes the blog post really fun is that Jason has made an extensive video tutorial on how to use Jalbum. Thanks for the write up 🙂  Check…

We have been busy building new features to make it even easier to share albums and participate in the community. It is now simple for you to pick any image as thumbnail image to represent your album. When you add an album by URL on your albums page, click the "choose image" link to see…

Shutterbug is one of the leading magazines in the US (and the world) for advanced amateur, semipro and professional photographers. We were happy to find out that they just wrote a nice article and mini toturial on Jalbum. Thanks for the write up Shutterbug!  Wanna read the article?  

We have received a lot of feedback on the new site, which is really great! One of the things was that the top navigation was missing on the landing page of Jalbum.net. So we changed that, along with a new design that should make it clearer what Jalbum is all about. It also brings your…

  Dear fellow developers, we know you have missed the developer information since the launch of the new site. Now, it gives us great pleasure to introduce the new Developer center at jalbum.net. It will be an oasis for all the Jalbum developers and a place where we will gather articles, tutorials and lot’s of…

Today we launch the brand new Jalbum.net! We have been working on it for a few months now and we are really anxious to get it out to you. In 2007 we noticed that a lot of you who are using the Jalbum software wanted to share your wonderful album creations with the rest of the…

Sun flare is a phenomenon where direct sunlight comes into contact with the many pieces of glass in your lens, and then creates mostly unwanted flares and reflections in your photographs. The way to avoid sun flare is to use your lens’s hood, or simply place your hand in front and to the side of…

Todays photo blog entry is more of a tip than a technical lesson. The example photo is of exterior architecture, but the same principles can be used for many different styles of environmental photography. Have you ever taken a photo of a building and the formerly blue sky turned out completely white? Or, the sky…

A very easy way to get a painterly look to your images, and to produce photographs that do not appear to be photographs, is to utilize the setting sun. The only requirement for this type of abstract image is a window that receives light from the setting sun. If your house is not oriented as…

The Cycle skin has multiple options for slide transitions. Transitions include fade, fadeZoom, scrollUp, scrollDown, scrollLeft, scrollRight, scrollHorz, scrollVert, shuffle, slideX, slideY, turnUp, turnDown, turnLeft, turnRight and zoom. These transitions and timing of the transitions are all configurable in the Cycle skin tab in JAlbum. There is also an option for easing during the transition…

Regardless of where you travel to, if you have a camera in hand there will usually be an interesting landmark or building to photograph. As you already know, the subject matter that is in front of you has already been photographed ad nauseam. To set your photo apart from all the millions of other similar…

There are technical challenges involved in photographing mannequins, or any other subject, through store-front windows. They include loss of image sharpness due to uneven glass, a "muddy" appearance of the final image due to windows that haven’t been washed, but the major problem is reflection. If you take a photograph through a window you will…

Including flowing water in a photograph will add a sense of time and calm, if done with a slow shutter speed. No doubt you have seen countless waterfall photos where the water flows like silk down the rocks. I took this photo in a mountain hot spring town near Mt. Fuji, Japan. Because many temples…

We are amazed of the support we get from our users. JAlbum would never be what it is today without all dedicated users. Just take a look at the contribution from Hervé, a french speaking user: An introduction to JAlbum 7.4 in French . Yu Naito, a Japanese user also chipped in with a Japanese…

PositionMap was the first JAlbum skin which built photo albums with Google Maps integrated. This allowed viewers to see where the pictures were taken on a map within the album. Two more skins have so far added this functionality, NospOfToml and Chameleon. Gero Vermaas, a dedicated JAlbum user has made an even tighter integration with…

I’m really glad to announce that JAlbum 7.4 is out JAlbum 7.4 has these improvements: 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…

I’m really glad to announce that we have a beta version of JAlbum 7.4 out JAlbum 7.4 has these improvements: 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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

Last month we launched our own hosting service. We have so far seen over 10.000 new hosting accounts. I’d say a success! If you don’t already have a web site to publish to, our hosting is a simple and free alternative to get your albums on-line. You can not only store your albums there, but…

Did you know that, on average, JAlbum is downloaded 3,500 times each day and more than 3,500 skins are also downloaded each day?  Which begs the question, what do you look for in a skin? You’ve chosen to use JAlbum – that’s why your reading the blog after all.  And you know it ships with…

With PostcardViewer now released, I took the opportunity to swap out the flash software with another similar software from Airtight Interactive called AutoViewer.  This is useful when you have a storyboard to tell.  The play buttons currently don’t show up in IE7, but other than that, it works quite well.   Have fun! Albert 

We recently released JAlbum 7.3.1. Apart from fixes to some really annoying bugs, this release focused on addressing small usability issues that we were totally unaware that people were having trouble with. You are probably aware of this phenomena: When you start using a piece of software you bump into all kinds of smaller issues…

I am currently staying in Stockholm, even though I’m originally from Berlin. I have a blog, so that my friends and family from Germany can read how I am doing here in Sweden. Of course I also make a lot of pictures and I want to share them with those at home. I use JAlbum…

This photo was taken at 4 in the morning in the Dominican Republic. It was a starry black sky with no sign of sunrise, perfect for taking star trail shots. Film SLR cameras (the kind with removable lenses) work far better than digital cameras, however it is possible to take these images with professional DSLR…

In compositional theory, certain geometric shapes are often used by artists to guide the viewer’s eye throughout a picture space. Triangles, circles, arches, and curves have shown up in countless images throughout the history of photography and painting, and the "S" curve is one that bears mentioning. While this image of a spiral staircase is…

  I’ve been waiting for years to write this. We now finally have a smoothly working, free album hosting solution for JAlbum. Most people you and I know probably have a digital camera and a computer these days, but to be honest, hardly anyone has their own web site. Perhaps you’re one of them? This…

We have a new version of JAlbum. Apart from some important bug fixes it focuses on more flexible and simple publishing. The publish window of JAlbum now allows you to drag and drop any file or folder to publish them, not just JAlbum albums. This allows you to use JAlbum to publish your whole site.…

I just started using JAlbum and one of the key things I like are the wide variety of skins that are available.  I especially enjoy the skins that makes the albums more interactive, yet simplistic.  SimpleViewer, HighSlide, and BananAlbum are my current favorites.   SimpleViewer uses an open-source album engine developed at Airtight Interactive, a company…

Adobe Photoshop Album Edition Starter Edition 3 is an excellent software to classify your photos and personal videos, but this version doesn’t have the possiblity to  publish your photos on Internet. Jalbum is a great tool to create and publish photos on a web site. I have created a tool called AdoPhotoAlbumExportJAlbum to make the…

For those of you that read my other blogs, yep yet another one dealing with the Jalbum Webserver. If you want to get an overview of the Webserver, you can see my other blogs with links to manuals and tutorials, this one starts to get a bit more technical.  There is a potential problem with…

This is one of those tips that most people say "No Duh", but it’s quick and useful, something Windows really isn’t known for… 🙂  (Now that’s funny right there). Okay, you decided to copy all your pictures off of your camera, and trying to organize them in Jalbum.  You have pictures from Vacations, Birthday Parties,…

This scene in South Korea was too good to pass up, but conditions were less than ideal. It was noontime with direct and very harsh sunlight, and 40 degrees celcius! I knew that the only way to get a good shot out of this was to put a blue filter on the lens and underexpose…

JAlbum helps you make stunning photo albums in only a few clicks. What makes JAlbum unique is that everything is customizable, letting you resize thumbnails, write descriptions to every picture the way you want, and set the look and feel of the album to fit your photos and the rest of your web site. All…

  About a year ago I was contacted by UK publisher Dorling Kindersely in London. They are producing a range of photographic and illustrated educational books for children aged 8-13 called "Eyewitness series", each with a different theme like "Crystal & Gems", "World war I" or Dinosaurs". Each book is bundled with a clip-art cd,…

JAlbum is available for many different platforms. We have noticed that our previous download page, displaying all download options at once, has been a bit confusing. That’s why we have created a new download page. It is now OS sensetive, meaning that if you are on Windows you will be exposed to a download button…

Panoramics are often up to 10:1 aspect ratio, and given that most people view these on landscape orientated computer monitors, the first restriction is image height. Generally, a user doesn’t mind scrolling in one direction, so panoramics that are as high as the monitor but extremely wide can be viewed relatively easily. This therefore dictates…

I wanted to be able to display reasonably sized thumbnails on a page.   I also wanted the images to load and display fairly quickly within the browser and not to have to scroll around the window to see all the images. So I came up with the idea of stacking the thumbnails.  Think of it…

   We have just added commenting in the skin section of the site. In addition to rating the skins with stars, you can now give kudos to your favourite skin developer, post feature requests or share skin related experiences.Give it a try!

I recently had a mishap and lost my trusty Kodak DX6490 digital camera.  It dropped to the floor and forever joined the dead electronics bin in the sky.  Looking at new cameras to buy,  I started to relive some of my favourite photos this camera took. The Kodak DX6490 was no powerhouse, it was a…

I’m a switcher, not from the PC to the Mac but to JAlbum!I’ve tried various ways of making web sites, all worked but each had a limitation or a complication.   JAlbum allows so much flexibility that I can, for the first time, make and update a web site, that looks how I want it…

Navigating web sites should be easy, you don’t want visitors getting confused or lost!  A site navigation that system that lets you jump between sections is, to me, better than one where you have to go forwards and backwards. So a key feature of my Notables skin is the ability to have a fixed navigation…

I found Jalbum during my search for an easy to use Photo Album generator.  I’ve been impressed ever since.  One feature I found a bit "ignored" in the forums, which by the way is an excellent source of information, is information on the built in Webserver in Jalbum. You can visit my family album here…

(Please note: this blog entry is for advanced users)Building a complete web site with JAlbum and the Notables skin. Most people who are using JAlbum are probably only building photo albums with it.  A few use JAlbum to build an entire web site and this is an overview of how I do it. First I…

As you probably know we are offering you the brilliant possibility to have your digital images bound in a book. Select your most beautiful pictures, re-arrange them and tailor them to your needs. You can also add texts or captions, as well as choose the colour and binding of your photo book. Now, together with…

  It is so stimulating to run JAlbum. I can feel the good vibes from the good-will we generate by providing JAlbum for free. It shows in all encouraging emails we get every day. I think this must be the very opposite to running a parking ticket company where you only cause anger and annoyance…

Maintaining large albums and combining existing ones into one can be a bit complicated. If you have a large number of albums already added to your site you might not want to rebuild the whole album again each time you add new albums. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to handle the sub-albums individually…

Notables is my first and currently my only skin.  Why call it Notables?Because it uses no tables (html code) and I hope other people can use it for their notable pictures. This skin has, as far as I know, a unique feature – an option for the "slide" page is that one image can transition…

  If you are curious to know what is being said about JAlbum on the net, the JAlbum buzz page is where to go. The page displays a continuously updated list of links from forums and news sites where JAlbum is mentioned. The buzz page is also where you will find the latest version of…

Hello there! My name is Michael Schøler, and I’m a frequent user of JAlbum, and have been for quite some time now. I run my family website as a WordPress blog, and having a couple of twins, age 2½, our little family produces "a few" photos each and every month of the year that need sharing with family…

When I got my first Mac in 2005 (coming from Windows, as a happy JAlbum user) I was fascinated by iPhoto — for the first time photo handling was easier than ever (at least for me). Importing images from the camera, managing folders/albums/captions/comments, diashows, ordering prints – everything in one single application, which is also…

Welcome to the JAlbum blogThere is so much going on in the JAlbum community with skin updates, new plug-ins, updates on the site and software, that most JAlbum users never hear about. The JAlbum newsletter and the forum simply isn’t enough to cover everything. That’s why we have created the JAlbum blog. Since we didn’t…

We have recently released JAlbum 7.2. I’d like to take the time to tell you about some of the things we have focused on this time. Better orderingFor years users have been wanting more flexible image and folder ordering. Imagine you have one album folder for each event/trip you make. It would then be handy…

Did you know that more than 3000 people download JAlbum every day? We were curious on a more visual way of displaying downloads so we developed a rather neat map service showing current JAlbum downloads over the world for the last hour (powered by Google maps). It includes location for download and if it’s a…

JAlbum is all about creating web photo albums where you have full control of the look and feel of your album. Now, in the same spirit, we can offer you the choice to get your pictures bound in a real photo book. We do this together with a German partner we’ve picked carefully. I hope…

As you probably know, JAlbum is appreciated for allowing you to customize your albums by the use of skins (album themes). These skins are developed by JAlbum users all over the world and also add functionality to JAlbum. There is a lot of cool activity in this field. We have now opened a "skin exchange"…

JAlbum 7 represents the biggest rewrite of JAlbum since its first launch. The goal has been to make JAlbum easier to use for beginners and professionals and at the same time enable us to add more features without ending up with something looking like the control panel of a nucelar power plant. Here are some…

When I started on JAlbum in 2002 I never dreamt it would be as popular as it has become. Today, there are over 7 million JAlbum albums on the net. The program is being used every 5 seconds around the world. What people especially seem to like about JAlbum (apart from being free of course)…

So far the JAlbum web site has mainly been about downloading the program and perhaps asking some support questions in the forum. We want our site to be more than that. It will be a gathering place for album lovers! You will be able to easily browse at other people’s albums for inspiration, discuss albums…

Dear JAlbum user, I hope you’re enjoying the summer and have many new photos to share. You haven’t heard from me for a while, but now I have something I think is really cool – JAlbum 6.5 with file sharing! JAlbum is now fitted with a small web server that allows you to instantly share…

If you have an existing web site, you probably want the album to feel like part of your site. That is, instead of the album popping up in a separate web page, you may want your existing navigation menus and site graphics to stay around the album. In short, you want an album integrated in…

Dear JAlbum user, JAlbum 6.4 has just been released. This version has an important memory related bug fix and a nice improvement to the handling of movie files as the most important changes (see the history page for the version history). You can update directly from the JAlbum download page. As usual, there is no…

As you may know, much of the power in JAlbum is actually delivered by highly flexible skins that are being developed by users all over the world. There are several skins with interresting special features out there, many even having their own web sites with extensive documentation. Let me just mention a few: PositionMapThis is…

Dear JAlbum user, I have the pleasure to announce that JAlbum 6.2 is available for download. I hope you enjoy the improvements and bugfixes that have gone into this update. I aim to make JAlbum the easiest to use and most flexible tool for sharing your images. The most important improvements are listed here: –…

Dear JAlbum user, I have the pleasure to announce that JAlbum 6.1 is available for download. I hope you enjoy the improvements and bugfixes that has gone into this update. I aim to make JAlbum the easiest to use and most flexible tool for sharing your images. The most important improvements are listed here: –…