Computer Graphics with Photoshop - Creating captions for jpegs

Author

Creating captions for jpegs

captions@att.net

2006-05-17, 6:19 pm

Is there a way to create a caption when saving a jpeg in Photoshop? The
intent is to display this jpeg in a web page, so that its caption can be
extracted by another program like PHP and displayed with the image.

Thanks.

2006-05-17, 6:19 pm

<captions@att.net> wrote in message news:446B2F75.D4DB30BC@att.net...
> Is there a way to create a caption when saving a jpeg in Photoshop? The
> intent is to display this jpeg in a web page, so that its caption can be
> extracted by another program like PHP and displayed with the image.

Keep it simple by not requiring that the file be opened with a server-side
application to read it's EXIF data (if you choose to retain that data in
PS).

You can add a banner along the bottom of your image which contains the
title. This keeps everything simple - no serverside or client processing
necessary. Or just add the titles when you create the web pages.

But I suspect you want something more complex. What's the whole story?

There are other alternatives which require some serious cooperation with
your server folks. We can discuss that if they work for you or the person
who holds the purse-strings. Server-side solutions range from simple file
naming conventions, simple indexed data files, peeking at the EXIF data
(just once to build the data!), and up to some spendy data-driven apps.

captions@att.net

2006-05-17, 6:19 pm

2 wrote:
>
> <captions@att.net> wrote in message news:446B2F75.D4DB30BC@att.net...
>
> Keep it simple by not requiring that the file be opened with a server-side
> application to read it's EXIF data (if you choose to retain that data in
> PS).
>
> You can add a banner along the bottom of your image which contains the
> title. This keeps everything simple - no serverside or client processing
> necessary. Or just add the titles when you create the web pages.
>
> But I suspect you want something more complex. What's the whole story?
>
> There are other alternatives which require some serious cooperation with
> your server folks. We can discuss that if they work for you or the person
> who holds the purse-strings. Server-side solutions range from simple file
> naming conventions, simple indexed data files, peeking at the EXIF data
> (just once to build the data!), and up to some spendy data-driven apps.

You are correct that my question is part of "something more complex".

I want to build a personal web site with photo galleries, but I'm rather
particular about how the image's thumbnails are ordered, how they
interact with their enlargements, and how all the navigation will work
between them. On top of this, I want the code to be flexible to allow
easy re-ordering, adding/deleting the images. Basically I'm trying to
solve the problems (or dislikes) I found in others' sites. I started out
thinking that this can be done with html/css hand coding (which I know a
little) and without any server side programming. But when I consulted a
web design "expert", I was told to do what I want will require something
like PHP (which I know nothing) on the server side. Then I think if I go
that route, why not figure out if captions can be kept with the jpegs
for PHP to extract them as well. Hence the question.

Does a jpeg has EXIF data associated with it? If yes, can a caption be
part of that data? How?

Thanks.

Mike Russell

2006-05-17, 10:17 pm

<captions@att.net> wrote in message news:446B6EA4.5386DEBB@att.net...
>
>
> 2 wrote:
>
> You are correct that my question is part of "something more complex".
>
> I want to build a personal web site with photo galleries, but I'm rather
> particular about how the image's thumbnails are ordered, how they
> interact with their enlargements, and how all the navigation will work
> between them. On top of this, I want the code to be flexible to allow
> easy re-ordering, adding/deleting the images. Basically I'm trying to
> solve the problems (or dislikes) I found in others' sites. I started out
> thinking that this can be done with html/css hand coding (which I know a
> little) and without any server side programming. But when I consulted a
> web design "expert", I was told to do what I want will require something
> like PHP (which I know nothing) on the server side. Then I think if I go
> that route, why not figure out if captions can be kept with the jpegs
> for PHP to extract them as well. Hence the question.
>
> Does a jpeg has EXIF data associated with it? If yes, can a caption be
> part of that data? How?

Php probably does offer the most flexibility, and there is a large body of
existing work. Do a survey of the PHP based gallery pages out there. The
one I use for curvemeister is coppermine, which does offer some ability to
display the EXIF data using a variety of themes, and the ability to sort the
order of images in various ways. There are several of these packages out
there. Curvemeister's gallery uses coppermine:
http://www.curvemeister.com/coppermine/

If you decide to roll your own and modify an existing PHP gallery package,
you'll need to take up the considerable task of writing software. As a
software person, I encourage people to do this, but this may be a barrier
with no previous experience.

Another alternative is a free utility called JAlbum, which generates fixed
HTML which you then typically upload to the server. There are several
templates available. I recall that at least one of them is designed for
selling images.
http://jalbum.net/

A final method would be to set up your web page using Dreamweaver or another
html editing program. This gives you lots of flexibility, at least
regarding the appearance of the images, without the need to learn
programming. There is the added requirement that you add your new images
manually and upload them to the server, and JAlbum creates a static web
page, with no options for sorting dynamically, though you can re-create the
web page sorted any way that you want.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/

captions@att.net

2006-05-18, 6:17 pm

Mike Russell wrote:
>
> <captions@att.net> wrote in message news:446B6EA4.5386DEBB@att.net...
>
> PHP probably does offer the most flexibility, and there is a large body of
> existing work. Do a survey of the PHP based gallery pages out there. The
> one I use for curvemeister is coppermine, which does offer some ability to
> display the EXIF data using a variety of themes, and the ability to sort the
> order of images in various ways. There are several of these packages out
> there. Curvemeister's gallery uses coppermine:
> http://www.curvemeister.com/coppermine/
>
> If you decide to roll your own and modify an existing PHP gallery package,
> you'll need to take up the considerable task of writing software. As a
> software person, I encourage people to do this, but this may be a barrier
> with no previous experience.
>
> Another alternative is a free utility called JAlbum, which generates fixed
> HTML which you then typically upload to the server. There are several
> templates available. I recall that at least one of them is designed for
> selling images.
> http://jalbum.net/
>
> A final method would be to set up your web page using Dreamweaver or another
> html editing program. This gives you lots of flexibility, at least
> regarding the appearance of the images, without the need to learn
> programming. There is the added requirement that you add your new images
> manually and upload them to the server, and JAlbum creates a static web
> page, with no options for sorting dynamically, though you can re-create the
> web page sorted any way that you want.

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't intend to code PHP myself, but will
find someone who can. Since the candidate may not know much about EXIF,
I'm trying to figure out whether my request is doable or reasonable. So
here are my questions again:

Do all jpegs support EXIF?

How do I enter a caption into EXIF?

Or, where can I find out more about EXIF?

Mike Russell

2006-05-18, 6:17 pm

<captions@att.net> wrote in message news:446C6D44.DC00714F@att.net...
....
[re exif support via php]

> Thanks for the suggestions. I don't intend to code PHP myself, but will
> find someone who can. Since the candidate may not know much about EXIF,
> I'm trying to figure out whether my request is doable or reasonable. So
> here are my questions again:
>
> Do all jpegs support EXIF?

Jpegs can potentially contain exif data. The data needs to be added either
during image creation, or afterward.

> How do I enter a caption into EXIF?

A number of ways - there are free utilities, such as exifedit that will
allow you to add exif data to an existing image.

> Or, where can I find out more about EXIF?

From a PHP standpoint, here's a good place to start:
http://us2.php.net/exif
--
Mike Russell
www.mike.russell-home.net