CMS For Photography Portfolio
June 21, 2004 | 
36 Comments
I’ve got a project coming up where I need to build something very similar to a photography portfolio that will be maintained and populated by a client.
I had originally envisioned using Movable Type for this, and I still may go that direction, but I wanted to explore some other options.
So, I thought I’d ask y’all if you have any experience building this kind of portfolio and if so, what you’d recommend as far as a CMS. I know MT can do the job, but it might not be the best way to go.
I’m looking for something that is easy to set up, will be easy to hand off to my client and flexible enough to be easily customized as far as the templates go. Any recommendations or lessons learned from this kind of project would be greatly appreciated.
I’ve not decided on a host for this site either, so I’m open to hosting suggestions as well. I really want someone who is going to be able to offer a high level of support for whatever I go with.
Filed under: Web Development
Comments
1. Caleb Jaffa said:
I’ve been using Textpattern for awhile now. Though I haven’t delved deep into it, it is pretty easy to use. I know I’ve been to a couple of sites using it for image portfolio type stuff. I am working on figuring out a good way to incorporate it into future projects quickly and easily. I haven’t really looked into this myself yet but I know its a priority for Dean Allen as he says in a thread. There is a plugin that does some gallery stuff textpattern gallery haven’t really looked at it myself but it might do what you want.
Posted on June 21, 2004 12:43 PM | #
2. Stephen said:
Well, I just signed up with www.aqhost.com and they were great to me, especially with Movable Type. They set the whole thing up as part of your new account, if that is what you want.
The contact there Simon, has been great, with getting back to me VERY quickly when i had a question.
Posted on June 21, 2004 12:45 PM | #
3. Josh S said:
One of the best ones I have found is 4images. It has English built in even though the site doesn’t always use it, and it is very easy to use.
Posted on June 21, 2004 12:48 PM | #
4. huphtur said:
There’s some Gallery hack for WordPress.
But I’m SO sold on PhotoStack. Super easy to configure and use.
Posted on June 21, 2004 12:58 PM | #
5. Randy said:
The best web host I have found is [ICDSoft](http://www.icdsoft.com). Their hosting plan is great: 333MB/storage and 5GB/transfer for $5/month. (They also have a business plan that triples these numbers.) Their support and customer service is also exceptional: I have been with them for over a year, and for all 10 or 20 support requests I have submitted during that time I have had email responses in less than ten minutes.
Posted on June 21, 2004 01:00 PM | #
6. Moises Kirsch said:
On my site I’m using a modified version of Photodir wich I found extremely easy to use.
Probably you would need to add a few things to let your client use it but i think that it is an excellent option.
Posted on June 21, 2004 01:18 PM | #
7. JDog said:
Here is a flash gallery program that looks good in any template/CMS http://www.imagevuex.com/ The company also has a browser based file upload system that could be used for the client to upload images. I have used this on a few sites, and it take about ten minutes to setup. No db needed.
Posted on June 21, 2004 01:23 PM | #
8. Adam said:
I echo huphtur’s (#4) recommendation of Photostack. I did a lot of research on photog-site solutions when designing my own little “for-the-family” photog-site (which is now starting to show signs of its age) TuckerRoy.com. After looking high and low, Photostack was the most flexible and easiest to use. Plus it gets bonus points for being standards-compliant and tables-free right out of the gate.
p.s. The pink wallpaper on TuckerRoy.com was insisted upon by my future wife (the site was her b-day present). It wasn’t my doing - promise.
Posted on June 21, 2004 01:38 PM | #
9. Kjell Olsen said:
I would second Caleb’s recommendation to use TextPattern, it’s a great intuitive little application. It’s very extensible, and more of a CMS then either MT or Wordpress. It’s quick and easy to use, built in php, and best of all - it’s free!
Posted on June 21, 2004 01:39 PM | #
10. daniel harvey said:
is the client site only this customizable gallery or are there other facets to it as well? Any e-commerce? How much asp/php/cgi/etc. support will you need?
Posted on June 21, 2004 02:22 PM | #
11. Keith said:
Thanks everyone…so far this gives me a few things to look into! Photostack looks pretty promising.
daniel – It’s pretty much a portfolio. There will be some basic pages that go with it, but they don’t have to be run by the CMS. There will be no e-commerce and the amout of support really depends. I doubt I’d need much scripting support, it more just making sure the servers are configured to my needs, perl modules installed and things like that.
Posted on June 21, 2004 02:30 PM | #
12. Michael Watts said:
Viste might be worth a try. It’s a designed to be a CMS for art portfolio’s.
I’ve not used it myself but it seems to be roughly what you’re after…
Posted on June 21, 2004 05:35 PM | #
13. daniel said:
I’ve been with ArteryPlanet.net for almost 2 years now, and I’ve loved it since. The linux hosting plans are great and full of features for cheap. At the moment, my plan (which is now changed) is 800mb space, 16gb transfer, and lots and lots of goodies for $75 per year. Check it out if you wish. As for support, I’ve always had a response within the day or at latest the next day when I submit a support ticket. They are also available via certain Instant Messaging prototcols.
Posted on June 21, 2004 07:48 PM | #
14. chris said:
The Viste installation is clunky and unclear… you might be able to get it working, but, I am not so patient. :)
Posted on June 22, 2004 12:06 AM | #
15. Phoat said:
Although I haven’t used it myself, I hear that Pictoralis is very good. It’s basically a modified version of Wordpress so that it acts as an image gallery/portfolio. You can see an example of how it works here.
As far as hosting goes. I use HostRocket They are very good, have great support and a bucketload of features. Also the good thing about them is their reseller program. For every account you have with them, they give you a discount. It’s been a very good way for me to make money of the hosting as well as design.
Hope I’ve helped.
Posted on June 22, 2004 01:26 AM | #
16. Cameron said:
Must say, i’m impressed by JDog’s suggestion of imagevuex. Using flash may be frowned upon by some but it’s easily the best looking of the solutions mentioned here!
Posted on June 22, 2004 01:41 AM | #
17. Nick said:
I really like the (Flash) interface of SimpleViewer - http://www.airtightinteractive.com/simpleviewer/ and there is a PHP based admin system available. (both free).
I’ve no connection, I just like it!
Posted on June 22, 2004 03:04 AM | #
18. Steve said:
big props for both Photostack and simpleviewer… used them both and consider myself to be a big dummy when it comes to PHP and all that DB stuff on servers. Both were a snap to setup and utilize. Ultimately I am working with Photostack now, piece o’ cake. When I upgrade to a larger weeb host this week, I am goign to swith probably to simpleviewer for the flash end of it all.
-steve
Posted on June 22, 2004 07:13 AM | #
19. Allen said:
I’ve used photostack also… easy to use.
I’ve also used Singapore in the past… it doesnt have commenting, but its really easy to setup and use. Its more of a gallery than a Content Management System (blog)… but its nice.
Posted on June 22, 2004 08:19 AM | #
20. Jeff Adams said:
Textpattern is a great CMS, simple, small, elegant. It is still in its infancy so it may not provide the solution you are looking for. Textpattern is still taking baby steps with the way it handles images built-in but, there are some great plug-ins available.
Jon Hicks recently converted his entire site to Textpattern and has written a few words about it.
Posted on June 22, 2004 10:15 AM | #
21. Christian said:
I’ve also played around with Singapore. It’s pretty easy to set up (despite a lack of documentation - never heard that before!) and is fairly easy to customize.
Posted on June 22, 2004 12:48 PM | #
22. beerzie yoink said:
Just checked out simpleviewer and it is pretty dang cool.
Posted on June 22, 2004 12:50 PM | #
23. Lea said:
I found this little ditty on ETC.:
http://folderblog.tetto.org/
I haven’t played around with it, but it’s a PHP application and it seems to be very straightforward and specifically just for photos and blogs. :-)
Try it out.
Posted on June 23, 2004 11:41 AM | #
24. Lea de Groot said:
I’ve been very happy with Gallery - http://gallery.sourceforge.net/
Quite configurable.
Posted on June 24, 2004 06:05 AM | #
25. Mehr said:
http://skmedia.net had a really cool, flash operated slideshow, I am pretty sure, it’s still there, it was so easy to look at and view, and I know it involved php, and flash, it was sweet, easy and simple
http://skmedia.net - hope it’s still up somewhere. They also have great designs.
Mehr
Posted on June 25, 2004 12:46 PM | #
26. Tarique Sani said:
Blowing my own trumpet here - Try Coppermine - http://coppermine.sf.net
Posted on June 25, 2004 11:17 PM | #
27. Anthony Yager said:
There is a Wordpress “fork” that makes it easy to publish a photo album/log including EXIF information worth checking out.
Pictorialis II: WordPress PhotoGallery System
http://wordpress.org/support/10/7485
Posted on June 27, 2004 07:31 AM | #
28. jason Wall said:
My brother mostly, and a little bit of myself, have been working on a perl based photo management system that deals with gallery publishing exclusively. Its still rought, but you can contact me for more info if you’re still interested.
Posted on June 28, 2004 08:04 PM | #
29. Anil said:
MTPhotoGallery is a pretty good solution, especially since you’re already familiar with MT.
Posted on June 30, 2004 02:20 PM | #
30. Keith said:
Anil – Oh boy. Don’t I wish I could use MTPhotoGallery. My host won’t set up the necessary modules to get it up – I’ve been down that road. But, I am looking into a new host and if I do that I’ll be looking into that for sure.
Posted on June 30, 2004 03:05 PM | #
31. Gwen Harlow said:
I have several photoblog tutorial links in the sidebar of http://strobelit.com and more on the ‘techniques’ archive page…Frank Kolodziej’s http://ExitWound.com is really sharp, though he uses a homemade CMS. Jon Day-Reiner’s tutorital for his b-lists on groundglass.ca (also MT) is also good http://www.photojunkie.org/archives/2004/04/12/fun_with_mt_photogallery.php
I use MT with the Embed Image plugin – it’s not very portfolio-y but it would be pretty easy to make it so.
Posted on July 3, 2004 01:21 PM | #
32. Gwen Harlow said:
p.s. Am very happy to recommend http://www.continuity.cx. Nice and fast, excellent uptime, run by a bunch of geeks who keep the mods up to date.
Posted on July 3, 2004 01:25 PM | #
33. c said:
Is this a professional portfolio or a fun photolog? There is a difference. If this is a professional portfolio any weblogging CMS will be a poor choice for the client, regardless of how easy it is to maintain or customize. Weblogging CMS screams amateur, and if I were hiring a web designer to make my photography portfolio dreams come true, I would be insulted if I got a hacked MT or other weblogging CMS. It would not only show that the designer doesn’t take me seriously as a professional photographer, but show that the web designer isn’t competent enough to pick the right tool for the right job and prefers to dump all the work onto MT or whatever.
There are only thousands of CMS out there for making photo galleries. I must warn you that a lot of care must be taken in chosing the right one, *especially* with PHP gallery CMS. Not all PHP galleries (or anything for that matter) are written equally and may depend on certain things like registered globals being on, which is a security issue and it is recommended that you never turn it on… never mind the fact that PHP 5 no longer *has* registered globals.
Posted on July 30, 2004 08:57 AM | #
34. brant winter said:
hi - i have used both, and whilst simpleviewer is asthetically pleasing out of the box, i find that the viewer has to wait whilst the entire pages images have loaded, granted the images are all then preloaded, it was just taking a long time for people who were on dial up internet access.
I love simpleviewer, but my vote goes to photostack.
Posted on August 19, 2004 08:48 PM | #
35. Ronald Geerligs said:
Hi, I am in favor of Exhibit Engine.
http://photography-on-the.net/
Now version 1.5 is out. I adapted version 1.3 to a Commercial Easy to use site: Pandora’s Image Box. http://www.pandorasimagebox.com. They will also sell good photos.
Posted on April 17, 2005 02:30 AM | #
36. craig said:
hey all
i am looking into building a photo gallery as a college project and was wondering why i cant just have a simple database and php setup made in dreamweaver???
plus the gd image for resizing uploaded images???
sorry if this is a stupid question!!!!
any helpfull tutorials for building from scratch much apprecialed….
Posted on April 29, 2005 07:21 PM | #
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