hverven.net

Introduction

jQuery really simplifies and makes magic of web galleries. Since there are many galleries out there, I will try to map your needs when choosing your next gallery script. Anyway, the contenders are:

1. jQGallScroll 2.0 and jQGallView/jQGallViewII/jQGallViewIII.
2. jQuery slideViewer 1.1.
3. Lightbox
4. EOGallery
5. NextGEN Gallery.

What do I test for?

1. File size & Dependencies
   Because users need to load the script, this affects the loading time. A lightweight script is more wanted than a large with just about the same features. Dependencies also needs to be updated once in a while.
2. Look & Feel
   Does it look good? Is it smooth? Is it too much eye-candy?
3. Intuitiveness
   This is a very important step of having serving a great gallery. Though this is only a semi-subjective test of mine, but it may point something out.
4. Setup & Use
   Can you add images from administration-panel? Can you create an unsorted list of images and it will be generated automatically?
5. Styling
   The use of CSS and styling possibilities that comes with the script.
6. Support for multiple images
   Although you can make an unsorted list of thousands of images, that may not be as clever as you think. How does the gallery support multiple images.
7. Overall score
   Each test counts as 1 point. That adds up to max 6 points, the same as a dice! To get a point on a test, it will be evaluated as either good or bad.

The test

1. jQGallScroll 2.0 and jQGallView/jQGallViewII/jQGallViewIII
   
   File size: About 8 kb. Both the javascript and the stylesheet.
   Look & Feel: Very flashy effects. (It really looks like it is flash). The images are loaded on-the-fly and not preloaded! Good! Though, the thumbs are placed in the list when the page load. (Doesn’t look especially good).
   Intuitiveness: The “current image” is above the selectable thumbnails. The thumbs are placed under the image, and the container has it’s own scrollbar.
   Setup &Use: Unsorted list of images. You need to create thumbnails yourself.
   Styling: Separated CSS file included. The styles are already defines, but you have plenty of space to do modifications.
   Support for multiple images: Yes. Example contains at least 66 images.
   Webpage/Demo: Webpage
   Score:
2. jQuery slideViewer 1.1
   
   File size: 1.5 kb (Great!). Dependencies: jQuery easing.
   Look & Feel: Nice effects. You have plenty of effects to choose from (jQuery easing). By default the image slide horizontally. Looking good and smooth.
   Intuitiveness: You choose the next image by clicking on a link under the view. A list from 1-n as generated for every image.
   Setup &Use: Unsorted list of images.
   Styling: Separated CSS file included. The styles are already defines, but you have plenty of space to do modifications.
   Support for multiple images: Yes. BUT: Images are preloaded. In other means, many images = long loadtime.
   Webpage/Demo: Webpage
   Score:
3. jQuery lightbox
   
   File size: 6 kb packed. About 18 kb unpacked.
   Look & Feel: Fades the screen, preloads the image and resizes the viewer on the screen to fit the image. Very nice effects, though it can be too much for someone (effectwise).
   Intuitiveness: By moving your cursor to the right corner or left corner you can browse the images. Press CLOSE X to close the view. Pretty intuitive.
   Setup &Use: Unsorted list of images. You need to create thumbnails yourself.
   Styling: Separated CSS file included. The styles are already defines, but you have plenty of space to do modifications.
   Support for multiple images: Yes. Images are loaded only when they are about to be viewed.
   Webpage/Demo: Webpage
   Score:
4. EOGallery
   
   File size: 3 kb packed. About 5 kb unpacked. Depends on jQuery thickbox.
   Look & Feel: Views 3 images at the same time. One large in the middle, and one on each side to navigate. Large images is opened in thickbox (pretty similar to lightbox explained in this article). Though I find the gallery to be unsmooth. I also couldn’t find any counter on how many images the gallery displays. You can also display the images as a automated slideshow.
   Intuitiveness: Browse next or previous image by clicking on the thumbnail. A bigger image is displayed if you click on the current active image.
   Setup &Use: You need to type some HTML-code. Unsorted list with some CSS-code. You might want a PHP-script to generate the code.
   Styling: Separated CSS file included. Quite large file.
   Support for multiple images: Yes. Images are loaded only when they are about to be viewed.
   Webpage/Demo: Webpage
   Score:
5. NextGEN Gallery (Wordpress plugin)
   
   File size: Large. Can be minimized by deleting components or customizing.
   Look & Feel: There are many possible configurations. You can display images as a flash gallery, or as ordinary albums. You can even display by albums or slideshows. Everything is done quite smooth.
   Intuitiveness: Browse the demo-pages to get an impression. In my opinion it’s quite well-done.
   Setup &Use: This is a wordpress plugin. So there are some new steps. Read the instructions.
   Styling: Multiple separated CSS-files.
   Support for multiple images: YES! And even galleries. All this is with a great administration interface. You can even upload zip-files with images!
   Webpage/Demo: Webpage
   Score:

Conclusion

They are all good candidates. NextGEN Gallery is in it’s own category and is recommended if you use wordpress and is in need to handle a lot of images. JQGallView is a very nice try to accomplish a good gallery that is also easy to setup. It must be the best example of the candidates that is pure jQuery and manages to display a lot of images. If you just want to display a nice bunch of images, as you normally would slideViewer is a great gallery script! Very smooth effects and preloading. Though it has it’s limitation, it may be the best gallery out there to just show the few images you want with minimal code and effort. Lightbox is also nice if you want to display few images, though you must setup the lists and thumbnails yourself (Could be very good if implemented together with a php-automation of thumbnails etc). EOGallery on it’s side, didn’t impress me that much.

In my opinion the winner IS:

jQuery slideViewer 1.1

Most users won’t install hundreds of images. If so, they would choose a complete different type of script. If you want to display your images fast, with style and with almost no effort. Choose slideViewer. Now, go take a look at the slideViewer webpage.