Why FlatGallery?

Why use FlatGallery when there are already umpteen thousand other gallery scripts? The difference between FlatGallery and other photo gallery systems listed is that other systems have one of three draw backs.

• They depend on a database backend store data about the images.
• They generate thumbnails for each image each time a page is loaded. Which puts undue strain on a server.
• They are cumbersome to use and require alot of configuration and forms to process a directory of images.

FlatGallery addresses these issues in the following way:

• No database is needed, only 2 directories for image files.
• Thumbnails are generated once when an image is added to the image directory and then cached away for later retrieval. They are also automaticly deleted when their partner image is deleted.
• There are no forms or any real need to configure FlatGallery. The least a user has to do is drop images into the image directory and the gallery does the rest.

It also adds useful functionality to a website because, since it is a small class and not a large system, it can be integrated seamlessly into a pre-existing site using the class functions.

I wrote FlatGallery specificaly because there are no other scripts like it on sourceforge or freshmeat in the respect of quick creating and low server load.