Should I custom build an photo gallery or tweak an existing one?

I have the task of creating a full screen image/p开发者_JAVA技巧hoto gallery with 'collections'. Basically the site will start out on a collection and move to the next (or can be switched by drop-down navigational element) with each collection separated by a simple loading/title screen that fades out after it loads.

It will have a very simple UI: logo simple menu with collections selection and a few links. collapsible photo caption. botom bar: [ viewing: collection_name < 2/12 > hide UI]

I have searched for a jquery plug-in that might make my life a bit easier but I haven't really seen anything that may work/be tweaked to suit these requirements.

Do you know of any plug-ins that will make this easier?, How should I handle the 'collections' and the loading of them?

Gallery3 will already handle all of the photo organization and manipulation. You can modify the Smarty templates to add the specific UI elements you require that may not already be present.

Have a look at JAlbum.

http://leandrovieira.com/projects/jquery/lightbox/

Use jquery lightbox if you want to do it quickly.