Recently I've working on a HTML based Image Gallery CD Creator. I know that they already exist in great multitude but the ones I have used always had certain drawbacks that annoyed me. Two of the main drawbacks that I am addressing are the thumbnails and file organization.

First off, when creating an Image Gallery for the Web, it is important that the thumbnails be small and quick to download. Since mine are all CD based there is no restriction on file size, so instead of creating seperate thumbnails my version sets the largest dimension to a number the user selects and calculates the remain dimension based on the original proportions. Height and Width tags are then generated in the IMG tag to create the appearance of a thumbnail.

Secondly, the mixing of the images, thumbnails, and HTML pages makes it difficult for users who wish to use their own viewer or recursive slide-show program. By eliminating the thumbnails, 1/3 of the problem is already solved. By then creating two folders in the root (i.e. Pages and Images) and putting only Images into the Images folder, users who wish to use a recursively scanning viewer can view everything in the Images folder without stumbling across thumbnails or HTML pages.

 

The other project I've been experimenting with is a VRML based desktop.

By creating a simple command parser that will read commands passed to it out of text files, I have created a somewhat 3D desktop. I created a VRML file that contains links to text files stored on my computer. By embedding that VRML file in a HTML and then setting that HTML file as my active desktop in MS Windows (after hiding the icons), I can use my mouse to navigate the 3D world and click on objects that are links to URLs or the Text files. When I click on a text file link, it is sent to the parser which reads the contents and launches the desired application.