Best Practice For Thumbnail Galleries!

Hi i have just made a site (for a uni project, so limited time) and I have created what I think is a pretty groovy thumbnail gallery - all the usual features, click on a thumbnail or thumbnail title to see a larger image and longer explanation, have also included an additional link back to the thumbnail gallery on each large image page (in addition to the menu bar link) and then also "prev" and "next" links to go directly to the next full-size image, without having to return to the thumbnail page (theres only 12 images). What I REALLY want to know is if there any articles about the best practice for making thumbnail galleries? I have searched high and low on the internet, but with no such luck. I have therefore just gone ahead and designed my image gallery on the basis of what I see on other sites, and what I think works well. Please could someone point me in the direction of an article? or at least give their own opinion on thumbnail galleries! cheers, all the best, Amy

Personally, I prefer to use popups. I know popups have a bad rap, but I think if they are used properly they work wonders. Here is an example of a thumbnail gallery I made using popups.

If you go the rout of popup galleries you might want to read this article at alistapart.com.

Another cool way to do an image gallery can be found on alistapart.com here. I haven't found a good place to use this method, but I think it's cool.

THANK YOU FOR THIS INTERESTING AND USEFUL REPLY!
I HAD ALREADY CREATED THE IMAGE GALLERY BY THEN, BUT WILL CERTAINLY CONSIDER THESE OPTIONS IN THE FUTURE

Cool, glad it helped!

i also agree with dustyreagan on the use of popups for picture galleries, but just saw this gallery. i have never seen one implemented like it before, and have to say i think it is pretty good.

http://www.losmarinos.net/gallery/pages/gallery1.html