I’ve finally sorted out the gallery section of Broken Kode. This has been on the backburner for nigh on 2 months now, with the only reason I can give for the delay being that I couldn’t decide on the final format for the gallery. Originally I was actually waiting for Zenphoto so that I could incorporate the functionality in there for my needs (thumbnails, navigation between images etc). Unfortunately, although a very nice package, I’m not proficient enough in php (yet, something I’m hoping to rectify in the near future) to be able to hack the thing to my needs, and with the lack of an extensive online resource (much like WordPress’s Codex), I was effectively fighting a loosing battle.

I thought about going for a Flash solution, however again this would bring about the problem of me not updating the section on a regular basis. I needed to go to a very simple CMS type solution. After bashing my head for 2 weeks now, I decided to use my default WordPress install, and just HACK it to death. The truth of the matter is that I’ve only touched one file from the core WordPress files, so hacking to death is a gross overstatement. I’ve just used plugins and hacks set out by others.

Much in the same was as I’ve done with the main site I’ll be modifying things slowly but surely till I get it the way I want it, so hopefully now I can concentrate on content only rather than spending far too many hours design, coding and then going through the process all over again. This final look was done in one evening, after I’d spent the better part of 1 week going back and forth with what I wanted. Part of the design was remove ANY clutter that would distract from the images themselves, so simplicity is the operative word here. Grab the RSS feed to stay up to date with this section of the site.

As a matter of interest for all those looking for Flash based solution to their gallery needs here’s a pretty extensive list of solutions that came my way on my hunt:

1. Example by Tutorio
2. FIG (Flash Image Gallery) - Very promising solution, I just wish I had access to the FLA. I contacted the author to buy a license off him, I'm still waiting.
3. Eyelash Photo Gallery - Didn't get very far with this solution to be honest. Seemed a bit too convoluted.
4. Swinburne Tutorials - Neat solution, good tutorials.
5. Flash XML roundup from the ParticleTree boys
6. Dynamic Flash Gallery - Very nice, except why the hell does it resize my browser?