Photo galleries are now awesome
[ Posted by Ryan Rickerts ]
Okay, I am getting pretty close to serving up the beautiful pictures of our family just the way I hoped I could. Check out our galleries in the sidebar for the new look!
Before I get into the technical description, let me give you some basic instructions. First, hopefully it is intuitive already. Just click on any image to see the larger version (as you might expect). Once in preview mode, click on the right half of the image to see the next one. Click on the left side to see the previous image. Click the close button (or anywhere in the shaded region outside the image) when you are done or want to start from another photo. That’s it!
Now, how is it done, you might ask? First, the pretty rendering of the thumbnails comes courtesy of ImageMagick. I have used this on other projects and really like the potential, especially for SVG (vector-based) output, which is responsible for the rounded corners.
Next, the ubiquitous Lightbox project has provided all the functionality in the full-size preview - thanks again Lokesh Dhakar!
But don’t forget the final key ingredient - our Pro Flickr account. As described previously, none of these photos are stored on my server. The multiple sizes are generated by their service, and we can manage a growing list of photo assets more easily with their interface.
Enjoy the new photo experience!
