Filing and displaying Jpegs
Discussion
I have spent the last few months on and off scanning in historical documnets and pictures of our village, which various people have lent me.
I now want to put them all on CD so that everyone I have borowed from can have a copy.
I want to be able to organises the documents in themes and dates, and to somthing similar for the pcitures (for example I have a set of aerial shots of the vilage takne over a 20 or 30 year period).
Any ideas on how best to do that without using software that not many people will have. I have an Adobe writer if PDF might work.
The absolute simplest way to make sure everyone can use it is just to use a file structure to organise.
With folders branching off to encompass various subjects, PH won't let me format but basically "root of disk > Village > 1960 > Town Hall" sort of thing.
It'd be a bit of a pain I admit but it will make sure that pretty much any version of Windows, Mac OS or Linux can read the disk and see the photos in the right places.
With folders branching off to encompass various subjects, PH won't let me format but basically "root of disk > Village > 1960 > Town Hall" sort of thing.
It'd be a bit of a pain I admit but it will make sure that pretty much any version of Windows, Mac OS or Linux can read the disk and see the photos in the right places.
website idea sounds good
Front page in html code only with say picture of each section like roads, houses, etc, u click on the picture to goto the relevent section, then have disc something like
roads directory, with a thumbs dir inside it, make thumbnails which when clicked open the main picture
acdsee 8 has a trial version and a html album generator which can be adjusted with notepad editor, I tend to use netscape composer
or even simpler is a cd where the file names are in section order...
Front page in html code only with say picture of each section like roads, houses, etc, u click on the picture to goto the relevent section, then have disc something like
roads directory, with a thumbs dir inside it, make thumbnails which when clicked open the main picture
acdsee 8 has a trial version and a html album generator which can be adjusted with notepad editor, I tend to use netscape composer
or even simpler is a cd where the file names are in section order...
Wow, a subject I'm now an expert on! I'm assuming that you want users to be able to search, whether to find a selection or run a limited slideshow (e.g. The Town Hall Through The Ages). I've been building a similar catalogue for motorsport history.
First, a useful and overlooked feature of jpegs (and many other graphics formats) is metadata. You can embed:
- A caption/full description
- Copyright/Source information
- Photographic-specific information (camera, lens, etc.)
- Keywords
Use this, embed the data in the file, and find a program that can read and use the data, and you can do what you want.
The three areas to consider are:
- A program for you that manages the process of categorising the files and adding the metadata
- A free program or other free delivery method you can distribute on the CD
- A good keywording system
I use a commercial system (used in design studios) called Extensis Portfolio (includes a 30-day trial), and have constructed my own logical keyword system.
Pro's of Portfolio:
- One administrator (me) can load and manage every picture. It will import the metadata (saving me time if it's aleady there), modify it, embed the updates, and move the files in my file structure.
- It includes a free read-only app for both Windows & Mac. They can search either the keywords or caption to create a smaller 'gallery' of images that meet the search criteria
- In three easy steps it can burn a CD that includes the original files and reader.
- Has facilities for creating html, even hosting a website (the latter costs a bit more)
- It can do other useful things like attach a specific file to an email or locate the original file (so I can edit it, or drop it into a Word file, etc.)
- It can manage multimedia (video, sound files). It can also manage other files (web pages, pdfs, Word, etc.) though not quite as well (but better half a facility than none at all).
Con's of Portfolio:
- It's a typically frustrating piece of Windows software, and can't do things I would like to do. For example, in slideshow mode, it will only display the first line of the caption.
- It costs rather a lot of money.
So in concept it is brilliant and would do what you want, but in practice it can be very frustrating
Now there are other cataloguing programs on both Mac and Windows - try browsing www.versiontracker.com and the computer magazines or review websites.
Another option is to create a database (which is all Portfolio is), and design it so any web browser is your reader app (also solving platform compatibility). Filemaker (by Apple but available for Windows) can do this easily, and is the next step for me. Although more expensive, it at least has other uses. Access might be able to do this as well - worth considering if you have a copy with your MSOffice. Whilst you need to construct all the features, at least you can make the output work exactly as you want it to.
- You need to set it up from scratch, including learning about database design (though not that difficult)
- But the end result will deliver exactly what you want, not what some programmer has decided that you want.
Most graphics programs can edit the metadata directly into the file- try Apple-I or Control-I to get the window.
The other area is to get a decent structure for your keywords - good keywording makes quick searches so easy. For my system, I use only:
P: Stirling Moss
V: Silverstone
Y: 1955
M: Cooper
(PVYM for People, Venue, Year, Marque; prefacing this code makes the Keyword list sort into categories)
You might want something like:
Year or Decade
Document type (Photo, multimedia, parish records, newspapers, etc.). You can subcategorise (aerial photos, building photos, people photos)
Subject types (specific buildings/roads/features/events, specific people, areas of the town, etc.)
If you get the structure right, you can always add extra keywords following the system, and correct the keywords for each file.
FYI, my Portfolio catalogue runs to over 2,000 files and it does almost exactly the same thing that you want to do. If you want a picture of Silverstone in 1955, I can find all of them in 10 seconds, then filter them down to the handful of pictures that meet your exact criteria (e.g. only pictures of the pit & paddock) in another minute. I can issue cross-platform CDs with a free reader in 15 minutes (plus 5 minutes to print the insert card). It has proved extremely useful in sourcing, cataloguing and cross-referencing items. However, I am frustrated by its restrictions. I intend (one day) to export it to a Filemaker database into which I can then add far more information, such as driver biographies and race results.
I'd say try the Portfolio trial, then decide whether it's worth the money. Feel free to ask for advice.
First, a useful and overlooked feature of jpegs (and many other graphics formats) is metadata. You can embed:
- A caption/full description
- Copyright/Source information
- Photographic-specific information (camera, lens, etc.)
- Keywords
Use this, embed the data in the file, and find a program that can read and use the data, and you can do what you want.
The three areas to consider are:
- A program for you that manages the process of categorising the files and adding the metadata
- A free program or other free delivery method you can distribute on the CD
- A good keywording system
I use a commercial system (used in design studios) called Extensis Portfolio (includes a 30-day trial), and have constructed my own logical keyword system.
Pro's of Portfolio:
- One administrator (me) can load and manage every picture. It will import the metadata (saving me time if it's aleady there), modify it, embed the updates, and move the files in my file structure.
- It includes a free read-only app for both Windows & Mac. They can search either the keywords or caption to create a smaller 'gallery' of images that meet the search criteria
- In three easy steps it can burn a CD that includes the original files and reader.
- Has facilities for creating html, even hosting a website (the latter costs a bit more)
- It can do other useful things like attach a specific file to an email or locate the original file (so I can edit it, or drop it into a Word file, etc.)
- It can manage multimedia (video, sound files). It can also manage other files (web pages, pdfs, Word, etc.) though not quite as well (but better half a facility than none at all).
Con's of Portfolio:
- It's a typically frustrating piece of Windows software, and can't do things I would like to do. For example, in slideshow mode, it will only display the first line of the caption.
- It costs rather a lot of money.
So in concept it is brilliant and would do what you want, but in practice it can be very frustrating
Now there are other cataloguing programs on both Mac and Windows - try browsing www.versiontracker.com and the computer magazines or review websites.
Another option is to create a database (which is all Portfolio is), and design it so any web browser is your reader app (also solving platform compatibility). Filemaker (by Apple but available for Windows) can do this easily, and is the next step for me. Although more expensive, it at least has other uses. Access might be able to do this as well - worth considering if you have a copy with your MSOffice. Whilst you need to construct all the features, at least you can make the output work exactly as you want it to.
- You need to set it up from scratch, including learning about database design (though not that difficult)
- But the end result will deliver exactly what you want, not what some programmer has decided that you want.
Most graphics programs can edit the metadata directly into the file- try Apple-I or Control-I to get the window.
The other area is to get a decent structure for your keywords - good keywording makes quick searches so easy. For my system, I use only:
P: Stirling Moss
V: Silverstone
Y: 1955
M: Cooper
(PVYM for People, Venue, Year, Marque; prefacing this code makes the Keyword list sort into categories)
You might want something like:
Year or Decade
Document type (Photo, multimedia, parish records, newspapers, etc.). You can subcategorise (aerial photos, building photos, people photos)
Subject types (specific buildings/roads/features/events, specific people, areas of the town, etc.)
If you get the structure right, you can always add extra keywords following the system, and correct the keywords for each file.
FYI, my Portfolio catalogue runs to over 2,000 files and it does almost exactly the same thing that you want to do. If you want a picture of Silverstone in 1955, I can find all of them in 10 seconds, then filter them down to the handful of pictures that meet your exact criteria (e.g. only pictures of the pit & paddock) in another minute. I can issue cross-platform CDs with a free reader in 15 minutes (plus 5 minutes to print the insert card). It has proved extremely useful in sourcing, cataloguing and cross-referencing items. However, I am frustrated by its restrictions. I intend (one day) to export it to a Filemaker database into which I can then add far more information, such as driver biographies and race results.
I'd say try the Portfolio trial, then decide whether it's worth the money. Feel free to ask for advice.
aldi said:
How about making it all into a simple website and putting it on the CD with an autorun?
Give JAlbum or something similar a go, as this compiles galleries (for a website, but could be used on disk too) from the directory structure you have in place, so could be just the trick.Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff