making multiple pages for a photo album

[cbassett03]

I'm trying to create a customized PHP-driven photo album system (as a summer project for myself).  Anyway, I don't have any code yet as I'm trying to plan out how I'm going to handle things first before i start writing code.

 

 

So here's my problem: Some of my albums have 100+ pictures in them, and to show all of them (Even thumbnails) can appear intimidating to the viewer, and a list of files is even worse.  So, what I want to do is split the larger albums (with more than 20 pictures) into pages that house 20 pictures per page.  Now, my question is should I store a long list (as a global) that points to the pictures and thumbnail files, and then use PHP to display only certain groups of pictures (ie. Page 1 would hold pictures 1-20, Page 2 would hold pictures 21-40, and so on).  So should I just create a PHP script that can get these "Groups" of pictures on the fly or should I integrate this functionality in the database itself?  I'm thinking I can do it with PHP, by passing variables with the screen, such as this:

 

showAlbumPage.php?pageNum=1

 

and when page 1 is used, it would select the first 20 pictures and show them

 

and there would be a link to the next page, which would send the following URL to the browser:

 

showAlbumPage.php?pageNum=2

 

and then the script would show the second batch of 20 files (pictures 21-40).

 

and so on....

 

Am I thinking this through correctly, or is there an easier way to do this??

I guess in the end I"m looking to make one script that can dynamically create "pages" to display groups of pictures from one particular photo album that has 100+ pictures in it to make it easier to navigate and find pictures.

[thewooleymammoth]

seems efficient enough to me, look up pagination. its exactly what your talking about