I got started on this module a couple of weeks ago and havent had a chance to post anything about it.  So here it goes...

The Module
Everything needed to create albums and display images will be handled through a single module.  I had thought about creating this as a set of modules and allow the portal administrator to set the pages that each module is on in order to link back and forth, but that got to be a little much for version 1.

Albums are associated to users within a portal (but there will be a "Public" gallery that is associated to the portal). Images are then contained within the albums.

1. Public Gallery - Albums & Images are not assigned to a user and are portal wide)
2. Current User - Albums & Images are displayed for the user that is currently logged into the portal
3. Specific user - Select the specific user to display albums and images for

An album must first be created before any images can be uploaded to the gallery.  Once an album has been created the user can enter into the image list view and begin adding photos.  Images will be stored in a set folder structure, this structure is "/portals/[portalid]/JMGallery/[AlbumId] - [AlbumTitle]/".  For the first version the module will be self contained as far as images displayed in the album (you will not be able to reference images outside of the folder structure defined above).

The Plugins - Image viewer javascripts.
Ok, there are tons of Image viewer javascript libraries out there (i.e. Lightbox, FancyBox, HighslideJS) and we all have our favorites.  So many of the current DNN Gallery modules either lock you into one of these or make use of their own, leaving us with less customization for our portals.

What I am working into this gallery is the ability for you to make use of your favorite library.  This will be accomplished with a simple xml file that defines the javascript library and the html markup for displaying images with the proper attributes and event handlers.  I will write more about creating a plugin definition in a later blog.

How far am I on this gallery?
As it stands right now, I have the data access layer completed, Album listing completed, and am currently working on the JS Plugins.  At my current pace i should be able to have something up by months end so keep checking back here for updates!