Using HTMLAlbum
This section describe the use of HTMLAlbum for managing digital photo albums. The program could be used in two ways: as a standalone application or as a java applet embedded in a HTML page. It is recommended to use the application because it is faster and easier to install.
Starting the program
After you followed the instructions in the previous chapter you are able to start the program by executing the run.bat under Windows or run.sh under Unix systems. These files could be found inside the top level directory. If you are starting the program for the first time, then you normally don't have an album yet. Therefore the program will start with the creation of a new album. Please follow the instructions below how to create a new album.
If a album is already existing, you will find a run.bat or run.sh inside the album. Use these scripts to start the program inside an existing album. Use the other scripts only to create new albums.
Creating new albums
An album is a directory containing many photos together with HTML files to display the pictures. You could create subdirectories inside an album to hold the pictures. Everything below a given directory is seen as an album. The top level directory of a album contains a subdirectory ".themes" holding the themes for this album. An album is fully self contained. This means that everything which a album needs is inside the album.
Is is often a good idea to have more than a single album. E.g. if you want to burn a album onto a CD-R then you should make the album not bigger than the available space of the CD-R. Therefore you should make different albums, each smaller than 650 MB. One album could hold all pictures of 2001 and another one the pictures of 2002.
To create a new album you must select the menu item "new album" or start the program in an empty directory. The program will then ask for the name of a directory where the new album should be created. Enter the name e.g. C:/albums/2002.
Adding pictures to an existing album
If you want to add pictures to an existing album, then simply copy the new pictures into an existing or new directory inside your album. If you then start the program and changes into the directory with the new pictures, the programm will find these new pictures and regenerate the html code automatically.
Sorting photos
You could drag and drop the pictures to change their order.
Writing comments for photos
Use the message window at the bottom of the program to enter a comment for a selected picture. This comment will be shown below the picture in a web browser.
Generating HTML
The program will generate HTML files whenever anything is changed by the user. This is done automatically. So you make your changes and use a browser to look at the HTML files afterwards.