Construction of a dynamic digital site.

[Paul Kuroda]

Not sure where to post this, but since this is related to digital images and its delivery to clients, I hope I can post this query here.

I'm trying to research how to get hundreds of SEARCHABLE images on my website. I not a computer coder or want to spend a lot of time designing and upkeeping my site. But I do need the ability to add images and keywords to each. This site is to be built from scratch. Are there companies that have the template already set up for this purpose or stock agencies that will build a private site for you?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[Chuck_Kimmerle]

There are a few applications that will create a customized and searchable database with little web experience on your part, but your web host may not allow such scripting.

Check out WebData Pro, among others. I've played with the demo, but was not able to actually load it on the server since my host admin won't allow scripting. I think it may also have a purchase template.

Chuck

[Tor_Berg]

Hi Paul.
Have a look at this site: http://photography-on-the.net/ee/ . Here you'll find an excellent script that maybe is suitable for your needs.
I'm using it on my website and it's working great [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] .

Tor

[Paul Kuroda]

Thanks Tor!

[Robert_Sorbo]

Hi Paul:

After searching high and low for a solution that allowed IPTC and boolean searching as well as lightbox functionality
I found:
4Images
It's quite robust in what it can do.
The big thing for me is it can import the IPTC metadata from a group of uploaded images automatically. No need to caption each image individually.
That really helps if you already have a big archive.
It's PHP based.
I'm still working on it but you can see it in action here:
Sorboimages.com Search
It's also has great support from the author and the users.
My experience with PHP/MySQL is nil so that's really helped.
Oh and it's free though, you can purchase a license for commercial applications.

Rob Sorbo

[robert_baker]

Even though web development is part of my product offering, I felt stymied with your same dilemna. I ended up using a Perl script from www.imagefolio.com. I still cannot figure out how to seamlessly meld their code and my graphics, so I just used a frame script...but, it works pretty good. My website is www.photoalaska.biz

Also, I use Thumbs Plus for mostly viewing...but, they seem to offer some decent databasing for your imaging to include .eps files.

[Matt_Lambert]

Robert I was very impressed with your site, is there an option to use E-Commerce with the database ?

It seems very fast how many images do you have in it so far ?
does it run on your own server ?