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[imsleepy Friend imsleepyJoin date: January 2009Posts: 451Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 94 Thanked: 45 times in 1 posts]

#137717

Hello Forum!

I am looking for a photo gallery that can handle the many albums that are on my site. Currenly the site is all HTML and a pain to update which is why I am switching to Joomla.

I am using the Teline II template that I have modified heavily to include some elements from the Sanidine II template as well as some of my own design elements. (Couldn’t decide which I liked best :confused: they are both great) The new Joomla site is in down for maintenance mode but if you have to see it to make suggestions for photo albums, I will change the status, but not much to see just yet.

I have several albums and need something flexible that is easy to update and add photos anywhere in the album, not just beginning or end. I like the Lightbox technology, but have yet to find anything that can handle what I need easily.

Is there anything that can handle this or am I doomed to doing what I do now and shuffling photos from cell to cell everytime I need to add a photo someplace in the middle?

Hope someone has a suggestions.

I have been hand coding everything in Notepad for over 12 yearsand I am finding a CMS is quite limiting to what I can do. I am used to just “making it work”. Almost ready to throw in the towel, but hoping Joomla can make it work. I spend hours and hours updating HTML in notepad every week and really want a CMS. Joomla handles the menu problem quite nicely (really tired of updating the left HTML menu page by page, it looks nice but is a pain) as well as basic articles… it’s all the other stuff on the site I am having problems with.

Thanks for any help and suggestions you can give for our photos.

[cgc0202 Friend cgc0202Join date: August 2007Posts: 2244Downloads:0Uploads:3 Thanks: 206 Thanked: 262 times in 1 posts]

#289186

If you want a standalone gallery, the Coppermine PhotoGallery is very versatile. You can have slide shows, multiple sizes, comments, commentaries, rating of images, etc. It can be “integrated” with Joomla but I prefer to have it as standalone.

I can link the images from a Coppermine PhotoGallery to my Joomla page also, at least with Teline I-Joomla 1.0.x. I have not tried it yet with the latest Joomla 1.5.x version, thus my post:

Direct linking of images found outside of the Joomla 1.5.x site
http://www.joomlart.com/forums/topic/direct-linking-of-images-found-outside-of-the-joomla-1-5-x-site/

If I am not mistaken, the latest version of t Joomla 1.5.x but not too sure.

Cornelio

[imsleepy Friend imsleepyJoin date: January 2009Posts: 451Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 94 Thanked: 45 times in 1 posts]

#289188

If it is stand alone, will it be hard to make look like the rest of the site? I have heard of Coppermine, but am new to all of this CMS stuff.

[sunrise Friend sunriseJoin date: February 2007Posts: 920Downloads:0Uploads:5 Thanks: 103 Thanked: 166 times in 114 posts]

#289197

Have you ever seen Expose. It is very popular judging from the Joomla site. It is flash based.

Here is a link: http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/expose/frs/

[cgc0202 Friend cgc0202Join date: August 2007Posts: 2244Downloads:0Uploads:3 Thanks: 206 Thanked: 262 times in 1 posts]

#289224

<em>@imsleepy 109450 wrote:</em><blockquote>If it is stand alone, will it be hard to make look like the rest of the site? I have heard of Coppermine PhotoGallery (CPG), but am new to all of this CMS stuff.</blockquote>

If you search the Joomla Extensions site, there is module that will “integrate” Coppermine to Joomla. Yeah, you have to know how to modify the css to make it compatible with the Joomla page.

However, even if you can do that. I prefer a standalone CPG, for a number of reasons.

First. It is not always the case that a Joomla module that is integrated to Joomla, such as the corresponding Joomla module for CPG is updated regularly. This is a common problem with extension modules. For example, Community Builder took a year to develop the “stable” version CB1.2 of its latest module Community Builder that is compatible with Joomla 1.5..x. Until December 2008, it had one compatible, but it is still CB1.2C2.

The CB1.2 “stable” was just released Jan 12, 2009. The first version of Joomla 1.5.x was released mid Jan 2008. While other Joomla modules are updated, some take months or not updated at all, until now. So, I minimized the number of Joomla modules I add.

Second. Addition of a new module slows down Joomla, especially Joomla 1.5.x

So, right now, what I do is keep other features, such as Forum separate. That way, they are updated at their own pace. without either affecting its availability when Joomla is updated.

If you want them to look the same, you have to learn how to modify the CSS. Not the easiest, but it can be done.

Cornelio

Error:

Why I avoid adding to many third party modules to Joomla

Why I avoid adding too many third party modules to Joomla

1 user says Thank You to cgc0202 for this useful post

1. imsleepy

[imsleepy Friend imsleepyJoin date: January 2009Posts: 451Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 94 Thanked: 45 times in 1 posts]

#289276

Well, you have sold me. I am pretty good with css once I figure out what everything does. I wrote my own css for the HTML site, but it is very basic. I run into problems until I fully understand what each item in the CSS does.

In reality, it doesn’t have to look EXACTLY like the main site, it’s just nice if it looks close.

Thanks for all your advise. After reading your post, I am inclined to agree with you. Coming from an HTML site, I am already used to things not matching exactly. Currently I have a very basic forum on the site. I am using something called Simple Forum if I remember correctly. I have tried many of the major ones like phpbb, and iconboard (which I paid for) in the past, but they all got hacked regularly. I have not had that problem with the new one. It was spammed pretty bad once, but for the most part, it has been left alone. I think that because it’s not one of the more popular programs out there that may be why it is left alone.

Thanks again. I am off to install Coppermine.

[imsleepy Friend imsleepyJoin date: January 2009Posts: 451Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 94 Thanked: 45 times in 1 posts]

#289277

<em>@sunrise 109459 wrote:</em><blockquote>Have you ever seen Expose. It is very popular judging from the Joomla site. It is flash based.

Here is a link: http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/expose/frs/</blockquote>

Hi,

I did look at this one. Just didn’t feel it would suit my needs. I am not real big on flash based anything, but was willing to take a look. It just didn’t seem to be what I needed after looking at several sites that were using it.

Thanks anyway.

[cgc0202 Friend cgc0202Join date: August 2007Posts: 2244Downloads:0Uploads:3 Thanks: 206 Thanked: 262 times in 1 posts]

#289499

<em>@imsleepy 109558 wrote:</em><blockquote>Currently I have a very basic forum on the site. I am using something called Simple Forum if I remember correctly. I have tried many of the major ones like phpbb, and iconboard (which I paid for) in the past, but they all got hacked regularly. I have not had that problem with the new one. It was spammed pretty bad once, but for the most part, it has been left alone. I think that because it’s not one of the more popular programs out there that may be why it is left alone..</blockquote>

Hi imsleepy,

Did you mean Simple Machine Forum (SMF)? or Simplest Forum (SF)?

Indeed, I tried phpBB, as well as other forum softwares, like Fireboard. Among those I tried, I decided to use SMF. It has the easiest mode of installation — even much easier than Joomla itself.

Most important, is the very versatile permissions systems of SMF which is critical for security. Its permissios system is more granular than even that of Joomla or any other open source forum software I have investigated so far. You can have as many categories (groups) of forum posters you want — to restrict either their capability to view, post and edit any of the various forum categories you create. The only more more advanced permissions system I have encountered so far is that of TikiWiki.

vBulletin, which is the forum software used by Joomlart and quite a few forum intensive commercial sites, has some features that SMF does not have, as yet. However, the license for vBulletin is so restrictive and it is very costly (including upgrades). Since SMF is open source and free, I believe that for most sites, it approximates what vBulletin can do, and might progress to the level of vBulletin as it develops further.

If you are indeed using SMF, I would be interested to see what you have done with its CSS in relation to the layout of Teline II. I have not done enough work on it yet.

Again, like the PhotoGallery, I decided to have the Forum as an independent site. The approach to resolve the multiple sites, I have discussed briefly in response to Chris post:

Telline II forum integration?

Cornelio

[imsleepy Friend imsleepyJoin date: January 2009Posts: 451Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 94 Thanked: 45 times in 1 posts]

#289513

SMF is what I am using. I really like it. Haven’t tried to customize it yet.

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