Ever watch those Apple commercials or keynote speeches where photo sharing and publishing seems so simple? I know it has long been a cliché that Macs are preferred for these types of tasks, but there is no reason that PC users should be left out; trapped with only Photo Viewer and Paint. JAlbum v6.5.4 uses built in templates to take your photos from your hard drive to your website as easily as possible, while maintaining a professional look. So let’s see how well it can handle a novice like me.

The installation process is a simple affair, as most freeware apps are. Note that you’ll need a recent version of Java for JAlbum to run. You choose to install JAlbum as Personal, for the current user, or Common, for all users. You do have the option for a desktop shortcut; there is no quick launch. Lastly, JAlbum asks to be associated with .jap files (JAlbum Project File). When all is finished, you’ll see an entry in the Programs list and (maybe) a desktop icon with a tree frog. When I first opened JAlbum, a Windows Security Alert popped up about blocking or unblocking the app from Windows Firewall. Knowing that JAlbum is made for web publishing, the program must need internet access, so I unblocked it.

Starting as simply as possible, I located a photo folder for the source of my images and created an output folder. I’ll get into the web publishing in a moment, but I wanted to create a finished product as quickly as possible to start. I left all of the options at their default (aside from checking “output to image directory”. Then I hit “Make Album”. It took only a minute or two to “process” 250 images. The original images are not changed in any way, processing merely creates the thumbnails and html files for the album.  Then I went to View Album and my browser fired up with a slick looking album displaying all my photos in a black grid. Clicking on a photo opens it individually with a title on the top and a simple number line for navigation. This applies to the default Chameleon skin; the other skins will each be different. Clicking on a photo from the main album or the number line will fade into the new photo; the page does not need to reload, giving you a very seamless look that is sure to impress your audience. This applies to all skins.

JAlbum uses tabs to setup your various options. The Main tab focuses on your image folders, linking options (show photos in original or scaled size), customizing the scaled sizes, layouts for the thumbnails in columns and/or rows, ordering (date or name) and appearance (skins and their respective styles). The Edit tab only lets you edit photo captions. You’ll need a separate application for cropping, color correction, etc. The Share tab lets you configure JAlbum to function as a web server on your machine, so that others can connect directly to your computer to view your albums. You can customize the port for incoming traffic and add a password for security. I would recommend publishing the album to the web for security reasons though, and the Publish tab lets you do just that. The included wizard will set you up with one of two web hosting companies but you can skip this to use any personal website with FTP access. Just add the address, username and password. The Advanced tab lets you setup various preferences for JAlbum itself, while the final tab changes based on the skin you are using. There you can edit format, slides, delay times, sizes and dozens of odds and ends.

JAlbum has some other extras and miscellaneous tools that I will let you explore on your own. But overall JAlbum is a very well-made program that offers some very professional layouts for your photos. If you want to share your photos online with friends but don’t have the coding skills for anything more then links or thumbnails, let JAlbum lend you a hand. It is a sure fire way to make a splash for sharing vacation images with friends or presenting images to colleagues. Download the 18MB program from www.jalbum.net.