diff --git a/generate.php b/generate.php
index 6f1b208..6d5b619 100644
--- a/generate.php
+++ b/generate.php
@@ -1,24 +1,63 @@
 <?php
 
-// todo: look for images in a directory
-// for each image, see if a thumbnail exists in a thumbnail subdirectory
+const SIZE = 256;
 
 $photos = [];
 
 foreach (scandir('./images') as $inode) {
-    var_dump($inode);
+    echo "Scanning file: $inode\n";
     
-    $file_name = basename($inode);
-    
-    if ( ! file_exists("./images/thumbnails/$file_name")) {
-        // todo: make thumbnail - needs imagick/gd or something
+    if ( ! preg_match('/\.(gif|jpe?g|png|webp)$/i', $inode)) {
+        continue;
     }
     
-    // maybe each photo can have a text file associated with it, for a description / alt text / etc?
-    //     can this be stored in jpeg metadata?
+    $file_name = basename($inode);
+    $thumbnail_path = "./images/thumbnails/$file_name";
+    
+    if ( ! file_exists($thumbnail_path)) {
+        $image_bytes = file_get_contents("./images/$file_name");
+        
+        if ( ! $image_bytes) {
+            echo "Warning: couldn't get contents of file $file_name\n";
+            continue;
+        }
+        
+        $image = imagecreatefromstring($image_bytes);
+        
+        if ( ! $image) {
+            echo "Warning: couldn't parse image $file_name\n";
+            continue;
+        }
+        
+        echo "Creating thumbnail: $thumbnail_path\n";
+        
+        $source_width  = imagesx($image);
+        $source_height = imagesy($image);
+        $dest_width = ($source_width / $source_height) * SIZE;
+        
+        $thumbnail = imagecreate($dest_width, SIZE);
+        
+        imagecopyresampled(
+            $thumbnail,
+            $image,
+            0, 0,
+            0,0,
+            $dest_width, SIZE,
+            $source_width, $source_height
+        );
+        
+        imagejpeg($thumbnail, $thumbnail_path);
+    }
     
     // could generate a "view photo on its own" kinda HTML page with a mid-size version of the photo
     
+    // if file is "blah.jpg", look for "blah.jpg.txt" and use this as alt text
+    $alt_text = file_get_contents("./images/$file_name.txt");
+    
+    if ( ! $alt_text) {
+        echo "Warning: no alt text for file $file_name\n";
+    }
+    
     $photos[] = sprintf(
         '
             <div class="photo">
@@ -28,7 +67,8 @@ foreach (scandir('./images') as $inode) {
             </div>
         ',
         'todo: full-size image or photo page',
-        'todo: thumbnail filename',
+        $thumbnail_path,
+        $alt_text ?: ''
     );
 }
 
@@ -36,6 +76,6 @@ file_put_contents(
     'index.html',
     sprintf(
         file_get_contents('template.html'),
-        'Whee'
+        implode('', $photos)
     )
 );
diff --git a/template.html b/template.html
index 7232d5a..8b8c0e5 100644
--- a/template.html
+++ b/template.html
@@ -3,6 +3,13 @@
     <head>
         <meta charset="utf-8">
         <title>Photos</title>
+
+        <style>
+            main {
+                display: flex;
+                flex-wrap: wrap;
+            }
+        </style>
     </head>
 
     <body>
