Gallery Reformatting Complete

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The remaining photo galleries have now been reformatted and uploaded with a number of additional photos added, mainly images that appeared in trip reports but failed to make it to the galleries for some reason. A photo index page in the new style has also been added. Your browser should redirect you automatically but if it doesn't, use the link below.

The new photos page has been moved into a new section called Collections, which will contain collections of photos that are linked by a common theme but don't fit neatly into the country based structure.

go to photo galleries

Something Must Be Done

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Behind the photo galleries sits a database that controls everything, creating the links between the pictures and the text and ensuring the right images appear in the right galleries. It was fine when there were only a few hundred pictures but had been struggling to cope with the 5000+ images currently on the site. In particular, site updates were taking longer and longer and the process was regularly failing before it completed, requiring time consuming manual interventions almost every time it ran. Something had to be done.

The solution is a brand new database, set up from scratch, taking into account the lessons learned from the last one. Indications are that the new set-up is much faster and more reliable. The opportunity was taken to redesign the photo gallery pages at the same time, adopting a flexible layout that adapts itself to the size of the browser window. Whether you're using a phone, a tablet or a large desktop screen, pictures should display at an appropriate size in a layout suited to the window dimensions and orientation. The Austria, Cuba, Denmark and UK galleries have already been converted to the new format and are available to view. The new pages have been tested on Safari, Chrome, Opera and Edge browsers so, hopefully, will work for everyone. Smaller pictures, 750 pixels across have also been replaced with 900 pixel versions. More enhancements will follow once the remaining galleries have been converted.

go to Austria photos
go to Cuba photos
go to Denmark photos
go to United Kingdom photos