Montage
Style DescriptionMontage
Style DescriptionThe montage style is quite similar to the table style, except that several of the images (4, 9, or 16 depending on thumbnail size) are combined or montaged into a single image (and a single file). The advantage to this approach is that packing several thumbnail images into a single file is more efficient for downloading over the Web. The disadvantage to this approach is that you have less control on the layout of the images.
As with the Table style, when your Website visitor clicks on a thumbnail image, a larger version of the image is displayed in a special sized-to-fit popup window. The larger image is framed in the background color selected in the Ultimate Online Photo Gallery software. Clicking the larger image will dismiss the popup window. This is much smoother than clicking a thumbnail, watching the larger image replacing the main page, clicking the back button, etc.
Since the image view windows are right-sized, there isn't any wasted browser space or extra scrolling. The user has a lot of control over screen management. As with the Table layout, this style is particularly effective for comparing several photos, side by side.
Netscape Navigator or Communicator versions 3.0 and up, and Internet Explorer versions 4.0 and up should handle the JavaScript popups fine. By most estimates, this accounts for over 80% of Web browser demographics. However, since it is important that ALL your Web page visitors get a positive experience, the software always creates the frames version as a fallback. When you select the Table style, the file containing the photo gallery has a link at the bottom of the page that says "If this page misbehaves, try this non-JavaScript frames version." This alternate version is essentially the Frames style, used as a fallback, for the small number of people running older browsers.