Souvenance – Open Source ASP.net Photo Album Software

As mentioned earlier, my search for an ASP.net Photo Album software was not very successful. My needs were rather basic: I want to be able to just upload my pictures to a folder without having to go through 20 Steps of uploading and adding them to some sort of Album. I want to be able to share Photos with my family and friends, without having to spend hours installing, configuring and managing the Album. I don't need a fancy Plugin-System that allows people to click on a Photo and order T-Shirts with that Photo printed on it. And I certainly don't need a database-backed system just to share a few Photos.

On the other Hand, static Pages are also not optimal. Sure, Adobe Photoshop Elements has a nice Export for a Flash Presentation, but adding/removing Photos is still a lot of work on static pages.

I found something for PHP a while back, phpGraphy. This was exactly what I wanted: I just upload my Pictures, and they are displayed. I can also create Users and restrict my Albums. No SQL Database, no complicated Setup, just straight-forward Photosharing.

Starting from the impression that phpGraphy gave me and looking at the available ASP.net Gallery Software, I immediately knew that I would write something on my own. The result is Souvenance, an ASP.net Photo Album Software that can be set up in 10 Minutes and does not require any database or any complicated configuration. I released the first Beta a few days ago, and someone already mentioned it in a list of 49 open Source projects. I have to say that i'm honored to be in a list with software like Audacity or xine. (The posting was also mirrored by a chinese Linux site and another Blog).

Anyway, if you are searching for a "zero-configuration" ASP.net Photo Album, give Souvenance a try. There is even a User's Manual available now! I'll also write more about the Development History later, first I have to finish Version 1.0 🙂