Posts Tagged ‘pygmyfoto’
Pygmyfoto 1.3.7 Released
Besides minor tweaks and fixes, the latest release of Pygmyfoto features a couple of significant changes. The Python script that took care of processing photos and pushing data to the pygmyfoto.sqlite database has been replaced with a Bash shell script which does the job with less code. This means, among other things, that Pygmyfoto has fewer dependencies.
Version 1.3.7 also provides integration with OpenStreetMap. Geotagged photos can now be viewed on OpenStreetMap via a dedicated link.
Photos can now be easily published and unpublished using the dedicated links.
The new version of the application also does away with the Google+ button and adds a simple view counter. The source code and a neatly packaged archive containing the latest release of Pygmyfoto are available in the project’s GitHub repository. A demo of Pygmyfoto is available at dmpop.dyndns.org/pygmyfoto
Pygmyfoto 1.0 Released
Version 1.0 of Pygmyfoto, a no-frills application for publishing a photo roll on the web, is now available on GitHub. The first stable release features a handful of new features and improvements added since the latest beta version of the application. The older 1.2.3 version of jQuery bundled with the beta release has been replaced with jQuery 1.7.2. The jQuery lightBox plugin has been replaced with the Lightbox2 plugin. The pygmyfoto.py script features improved handling of EXIF metadata. Pygmyfoto now integrates the +1 button which can be used to share the published photos on Google+.
Pygmyfoto 1.0
Probably the most important improvement in Pygmyfoto 1.0 is the addition of the auto-pygmyfoto.py script which automatically processes photos placed in the uploads directory. Using this script, combined with a cron job, you can publish photos by simply putting them into the uploads directory.
Pygmyfoto 1.0 and its latest source code is available in the project’s GitHub repository. A demo of the latest version of Pygmyfoto is available for your viewing pleasure at
http://dmpop.homelinux.com/pygmyfoto/
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Pygmyfoto Goes Beta
In my spare time, I work on a a simple photo roll publishing application called Pygmyfoto. Since the project’s launch, I’ve been working steadily on adding features and improving Pygmyfoto.
Pygmyfoto
Besides a handful of interface tweaks, the current version of the application features several major improvements.
- A dedicated navigation menu makes it easier to move around Pygmyfoto.
- The application now uses the jQuery lightBox plugin to display photos. This offers a much better way to showcase your photographic masterpieces.
- A new search feature can be used to display photos that match a specific tag.
- Each photo now has a permalink which points to a separate photo page.
- The pygmyfoto.py processing script has better error handling, among other tweaks and improvements.
All key functionality has been implemented, so Pygmyfoto now enters the testing stage. A demo of the latest version of Pygmyfoto is available for your viewing pleasure, and you can grab the latest source code distribution from the project’s GitHub repository.
Introducing Pygmyfoto
WordPress is an excellent platform for publishing photos on the web, but what if you don’t need all the bells and whistles it has to offer? Surprisingly, decent no-frills photo publishing applications are few and far between. After thorough research, I returned pretty much empty-handed, so I decided to hack something myself.
The result of my coding endeavors is still pretty crude, but it does the job with a minimum of fuss. At first sight, Pygmyfoto may look like a bare-bones photography blog application, but I prefer to think of it as a no-frills tool for publishing a photo roll on the web. As such, Pygmyfoto doesn’t have the features that are de rigueur of any decent blogging engine. There are no search capabilities, tagging is limited, there is no support for commenting or rating, there is no RSS feed, and all photos are presented as a single stream. In fact, Pygmyfoto is not even a pure webapp: it uses a simple SQLite database as its back end, and a couple of PHP scripts for rendering the photos and the accompanying info. Publishing photos (i.e., resizing them, adding title, description, tags, retrieving EXIF metadata etc.) is done using a relatively simple Python script. Another equally simple Python script lets you quickly archive and re-publish the photos. Data in the database that powers Pygmyfoto can be edited using an SQLite administration tool like the SQLite Manager add-on for Firefox or the phpLiteAdmin web-based tool (included with Pygmyfoto).
Pygmyfoto is not designed to replace a dedicated photography blog or gallery software. Instead, it offers a straightforward way to publish your photos as a continuous roll. Key EXIF data, such as exposure, aperture, focal length, and ISO are provided for each photo along with the link to its high resolution version.
The lack of embellishments means that, once deployed, Pygmyfoto requires practically no maintenance: you don’t have to moderate comments, manage users, remove spam, and perform other administrative chores (although you might want to back up Pygmyfoto’s files and databases regularly). The simplicity of Pygmyfoto’s overall design and its core components (Python and PHP scripts, an CSS file, and the SQLite database) mean that you can deconstruct, tweak, and improve the application even if your coding skills are not up to scratch.
A demo installation of the latest development version of Pygmyfoto is available on my server, so feel free to take a look at it. The source code is available in the project’s GitHub repository along with brief installation and usage instructions.
