At present, the method for setting the new cover photo is a bit complex... to put it politely. The method used to set the profile photo is equally strange.
I propose something different, that is more straightforward, easy to understand, and really shouldn't be that difficult to implement. I propose adding a drop down menu to every single photo album thumbnail, in every single album... the exact same menu, that is. Once the menu functionality is coded, you place it on each thumbnail via a template key or similar.
I set up a demo to illustrate the concept. The demo does nothing more than help visualize the menu. Just hover on the little blue menu icon in the upper right corner of the thumb. In a real implementation, clicking on an item in the drop down list would perform that particular action.... maybe with a confirmation popup... maybe not.
Demo: http://houstonlively.com/demo/photoThumbMenu/index.html
I've added a few possible actions to include on this menu.. perhaps someone can add to them.
Comments? Opinions?