Recently, I began working on a photoblog theme for WordPress. Since my work on Colugo, I started thinking about more elegant ways of locally storing and presenting not just mobile photos, but the archive I’ve amassed on Flickr over the years. Essentially, if I wanted to build a locally installed, Flickr-like photo gallery- what would I want out of it?
I’ve started looking at sites like Deviantart, SmugMug and, as I said, Flickr for inspiration. I intend on using HTML5 for the structure, WordPress for the backend, and CSS3 and the Canvas element for some polish. I want it to be dead simple, but also beautiful — of course, minimalist designs are often the hardest to pull off respectfully.
Here’s some early mock-ups:
So, at this early stage in the design process, I ask you; what photo sharing sites do you love, and why? What elements would you like to see in a photoblog theme? If you built Flickr, what would you change?
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I find the navigation through photo streams on flickr drives me a little nuts. I’d love to have left/right arrow keys for navigating through photos or something similar.
I agree, it can be really obnoxious. I’m considering the more elegant layout Deviantart uses for moving back and forward through shares. It’s obvious and simple, which is what I’m going for.