Let me clarify: most end-users have issues uploading using http uploads because they are not familiar with resizing pics on their client before uploading them. They tend to upload the pics as they are being generated by their cameras. This results in long upload times and frequent time-outs on the server side, as most servers are restricted in terms of memory consumption. So the idea is to have a desktop app that reads the maximum resolution and filesize allowed by a particular coppermine-driven web page. Then the user selects the pics he's going to upload. The app is suppossed to resize them on the client to the dimensions specified by the admin of the gallery, allow the user to assign keywords, title, description and all that stuff on the client app and finally hits the upload button. The app is then suppossed to send the images to the gallery, monitor the progress of the upload in the background, make sure the upload doesn't overload the web server's capacity. During this stage, there should be some progress bar displayed within the app that shows the end users how long it will take to finally upload all the pics. Once the upload is done, the app should check wether the pics were uploaded OK and then offer a link to the gallery that contains the uploaded pics. Possible additional features of the desktop app that come to mind: display previews of the thumbnails, option to add watermarks, option to rotate or crop the pics before uploading them etc.
So the app we're looking for should have three components basically: the ability to determine the settings on the web gallery, the ability to resize pics and the ability to upload those pics and monitor the progress. Microsoft has integrated a similar feature into Windows XP named "XP publisher", but it has never been accepted by users due to the strange interface. Similar things have been accomplished using Java, with the drawback (among others) that Java has limited capabilities to interact with the user's desktop. What we're looking for is a newbie-proof application that comes as a monolithic executable that end users can download and execute on their clients. The main focus should be on ease of use for computer-illiterate end users who just have basic MS Word skills. Target audience would be newbie webmasters who are not familiar with FTP uploads and end users for community-based coppermine installs.
Joachim