Attached Link: http://www.irfanview.com/english.htm

Right, once you have the collection of images as your database, you can do lots of things. You can even copy them and make a set of directories sorted by author's name. The HTML thumbnail pages is also a good idea, but don't waste your money on ThumbsPlus because I-View will do the job just as well, and it's FREE (see attached link) -- I-View will also make contact sheet images of the thumbnails, batch rename and batch enhance them as well.