Gallery 2.0, an open-source, Web-based photo album organizer, is fairly easy to use, although its interfaces may seem much different from those used by commercial online image “services.” Gallery may also ask you to download and install code, such as that for a Java tool. These “applets” are harmless to your computer and allow Gallery to do what you ask. Once you get started, you should have some fun!

You may need to install two helper applications to successfully use the Java Upload applet:

• Gallery Remote
• Sun Java Virtual Machine

It’s better to go ahead and install these tools. Both are safe to download and install.

Register a Gallery Account

1. Click the menu link to the Aquila70 Gallery.
2. Click Register at the far right of the Gallery Web page.
3. Enter a username of your choice.
4. Enter your Full Name (John Q Public or John Public, for instance).
5. Enter your e-mail address (if you have multiple addresses, choose one).
6. Enter a password of your choice.
7. Verify your password by re-entering it.
8. Enter the numbers that appear in the security image in the field below the Verify Password field.
9. Click the Register button at the bottom of the form.

The software will confirm your account request; the site Webmaster will receive an e-mail notification and setup your account.

Too many people try this and, in their frustration, register a second and even a third account, thinking that their original account username and password have been lost. 

Your Album

Gallery 2 automatically creates an album for you after you’ve registered with the Gallery site and your account has been set up. You can change the name of this album—Gallery will assign your user name to it initially—and you can create sub-albums within your main album.

1. Go to the Aquila70 Gallery.
2. Click Login at the top right of the Gallery homepage.
3. Enter your username and password.
4. Enter the numbers displayed in the security pane below the Password field.
5. Click the Login button.

Gallery opens directly in your album. If there are no photos in your album, the bulk of the Web page will be blank and you’ll see this message: This album is empty.

Sub-Albums

Add Album

1. Login to the Aquila70 Gallery.
2. Click Add Album at the top of the left-hand menu if you want to create another album.
   The Add Sub Album interface appears.
3. Enter the name of the folder that Gallery will create for this album.
   It’s better to use lower-case characters; also, if the name you use has more than one word, don’t use a space between words. Instead, separate words by a hyphen or underscore (my_vacation). However, run-on words are fine (myvacation).
4. Enter the title for the album.
   This is the name visitors see: you can use spaces and upper-case characters here (My Vacation).
5. Enter a short description, or summary, of the album’s contents (“My European vacation-2008”).
6. Enter any keywords you can think of that apply to the images you will upload into this album (such as Rotterdam, London, Madrid, Eurailpass).
7. Enter an expanded description of the album.
   This would build on the short description, such as: Our whirlwind vaction in Europe in 2008; we visited and explored 9 countries in four days.
8. Click Create.

Edit Album

Next, you’ll see three additional tabs in the user interface. These are:

• Album
• Theme
• Custom Fields

If you’re really experienced with setting the configurations for image thumbnails, sort orderings, image blocks, and photo sizes, you should have a blast with the Edit Album page. Otherwise, you can safely let Gallery use th default settings here.

Only one layout theme is installed for the Aquila70 Gallery. You can choose a different color by clicking the Theme tab and choosing a different Color Pack at the bottom of the screen. Unless, of course, the Webmaster has already set this for all albums, no matter who owns them.

If you understand the nature of custom database fields, you can create them after you click the Custom Fields tab. Otherwise, Gallery uses the default settings.

Add Photos to an Album

1. Click the link to Add a Photo!
   A new page appears in the main panel of the page (center->right) while the User Menu options appear to the left. The main upload panel has several tabs across the top, as shown below:
2. Click the Upload Applet tab.
   Gallery invokes a Java applet—it may ask you to permit this to be installed on your computer. This application/applet is safe and will not cause any harm to your data.
3. After the Java applet completes its installation, a new interface appears to allow you to locate photos on your computer and upload them to the Gallery Web site database.
4. Click the Add Pictures… button.
   A Windows Explorer window opens.
5. Navigate to the appropriate folder in My Documents on your computer and select those photos you want to share in the Gallery.
6. Click the Add button in Windows Explorer.
   The Windows Explorer window closes and the filenames of the photos you selected are displayed in the left-hand column of the Upload interface.
7. Click the Upload button.
   You can sit back and watch the software work.

That’s it—you’re finished!

Add Photos to an Established Album

1. Login to the Gallery Web site.
   Remember: once you’ve logged into Gallery, you open directly into your album.
2. Click Add Items in the Member Menu to the right.
   If you have but a few photos to add to your album, you may wish to stick with the options under the From Web Browser tab in the Upload interface.

Select an Image

1. Click the Browse button.
2. Windows Explorer opens; navigate to the appropriate folder and select the photo image you want to add to your album.
   You’re only able to select ONE image at a time using this method.
3. Click the Open button.
   The path in your computer appears in the File field.
4. Enter a caption for this photo in the Caption field, if you wish.
5. Repeat these steps to select another image to upload into your album.
   You can add more than two photos at a time; click the option to add More Upload Boxes. Gallery will open another two File/Caption fields for you.
6. When you’re ready to upload the images you’ve selected, click the Add Items button at the bottom of the Upload interface.
   The settings used by Gallery to create thumbnails of your images have been pre-set by the administrator. You can choose to NOT create thumbnails, but that wouldn’t be a good thing. You can leave this setting as it is.
7. You’ve successfully uploaded more photos into your album, which is where Gallery takes you after you click ems.

Do You “Resize pictures before upload”?

Nah: Gallery is already set to generate thumbnails, and your digital images are already set from your camera at an optimum resolution. Disregard this check box.

Captions

1. If you want to create a caption for a photo, highlight the filename in the right-hand column.
2. The left hand column will open, allowing you to type the caption.
   If you don’t wish to do this, that’s okay. You can add captions later, if you wish.