8 replies to this topic

[noname111]

I've picked up a project that I have been interested in writing for a while, whether it has been done before does not really matter in this case. I'm more looking for a learning experience and to put out my own version out there as a future alternative.
My goal for the moment is to open a photo and to give it information such as name, place, event, people, comments, etc. Then store all the information to a local or remote database. Giving a smooth filter for finding images you are specifically looking for, especially if you are one of those people that have thousands of photos like I do.
I am looking for ideas for what I should add to it. I'm trying to make it as complete as possible at first go.

*I'll edit this as progress is made, and new are ideas are discovered.

Edited by theusedfire, 17 January 2013 - 04:39 PM.

[BlackRabbit]

Just to be clear, you want every individual photo to carry its own info. So when a program reads the photo, it also reads the photo's information, am I right?
Then I think you should first standarize the tags to be recorded, that will help the apps to read it and load it into databases.

[noname111]

Essentially, yes you're correct. But, elaborate on what you mean by standardizing the tags.

[BlackRabbit]

I mean you need to do some sort of dictionary of possible data in order to create a solid data structure you could put into a database.

Because you allow the tags to be free named it will not be easy to organize. So your dictionary would be like:

<Date> only that name, no day, hour or anything else
<people> list of people separate by commas
<place>
<comment>
etc

once you have the whole set of appendable data you can start with the programs and the databases.

[noname111]

Okay, that's what I thought you implied I just wanted to double-check. But, I am working on that currently actually. I consider that the most important part of this entire project.

[BlackRabbit]

You know what I think it would be great, if you do a browser plugin that reads your image format. So, if you have the images hosted somewhere and you open them from your browser it shows it like Facebook does: picture big at left, data at the right, you could even tag people
And then, when you select an images folder it takes it as an album, so it pre-reads all the header info and sort the images by date, and gives you a sort criteria option where you can resort by other tagged info or even view only pictures that accomplish with some criteria
That will be a good product, you have your album, your data and you don't need to expose your privacy by posting them in FB or any other site alike.

[BenW]

How will you handle lazy users (like me) who won't tag their photos right away? Will you have options for applying multiple tags to multiple photos at once, or some sort of auto tagging feature? I'm not sure that you'd want to tag your own thousands of photos one by one when you first run the program, either. If you're going to import EXIF data or Windows file tags, what will make your program worth using over the standard Windows filtering?

Edited by BenW, 21 January 2013 - 12:40 AM.

[noname111]

You know what I think it would be great, if you do a browser plugin that reads your image format. So, if you have the images hosted somewhere and you open them from your browser it shows it like Facebook does: picture big at left, data at the right, you could even tag people
And then, when you select an images folder it takes it as an album, so it pre-reads all the header info and sort the images by date, and gives you a sort criteria option where you can resort by other tagged info or even view only pictures that accomplish with some criteria
That will be a good product, you have your album, your data and you don't need to expose your privacy by posting them in FB or any other site alike.

Can you go into more detail on the browser plugin? It sounds fantastic, I am just thinking in depth. As for the tagging, I had the idea of replicating Facebook's to a degree. I already have a basic facial recognition option in it, which is a nice start I think.

How will you handle lazy users (like me) who won't tag their photos right away? Will you have options for applying multiple tags to multiple photos at once, or some sort of auto tagging feature? I'm not sure that you'd want to tag your own thousands of photos one by one when you first run the program, either. If you're going to import EXIF data or Windows file tags, what will make your program worth using over the standard Windows filtering?

That is a massive goal of mine. High priority. Being able to mass edit photo info is a key component. But, why my program will be worth using over the standard Window's filter, is that you will be able to access information that you cannot easily do in Windows. If you want to find photos specific to an event, place, people, time period, etc you can easily find them. I am also going to have the option to add categories of your own. So, the filtering will much more extensive and personable.
When you have thousands of photos, regardless of how organized they are in folders this will give people the ability to quickly find what they are looking for.

[BlackRabbit]

The plugin idea comes from this, we both know what a plugin is, something for the browser to react to certain data. For example, without the flash plugin you can't play flash videos right?
This plugin, for small starters, should work like this:
- When it detects a photo of your format, instead of displaying it as it regularly does it opens a frame, and then put your image in one side, and the metadata in the other. So, you don't need the software to see the picture, you can see it in your webmail or in whatever page you uploaded it. That helps the lazy users like Ben who wouldn't install your software to see the extras.
And you can build from there on, if you see a sequence you can do some kind of photo browser inside the webbrowser, and it will be activated just with the presence of your photo format.
That I got so far, lol