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Author Topic: Simple OnePageGallery - Latest Version Now Availab  (Read 10606 times)

robertwatcher

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Simple OnePageGallery - Latest Version Now Availab
« on: June 30, 2006, 01:27:14 pm »

OnePageGallery.com


The latest 2006 version is completed. Here are a few of the improvements:
    Improved compliance to modern W3C Web Standards
    Arrow Key control for moving between pages on the Index Page and between images on the Display Page
    Link to First and Last image display
    Choice between using a Sequential Number to desribe each image and using the File Name to describe each image[/li]


Existing Features:
    Simple to impliment with one "index.php" page for inclusion in the folder that contains the image files
    Math algorithms are built in to automatically handle and display any number of image files - whether it be 10 or 1000
    Easy customization of page colors and the number of thumbnail images displayed - at the top of the script page
    Deadline Notice for clients
    Order Form Link
    Option for Right Click Disable[/li]





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FREE ONE PAGE IMAGE GALLERY FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Several hundred photographers (that I know of) are already using my Super Simple Script: FREE - NO OBLIGATION (other than letting me know how you used it, to satisfy my curiosity). Nothing more to do than upload this one page (index.php) to your server with the images and you effectively have a website that would require writing and managing hundreds of html pages.

I wrote this one page Image Gallery script for use in my Previews sections - to allow clients to view online, all the images available to them for print and album ordering selection.

Like all of my other scripts I write them so that everything is automated and requires no more work than uploading the "index.php" to a folder of images and thumbnails.

This one improves drastically on any previous scripts in containing the complicated math to go back and forth between an index page and the full size image - plus use the Previous/Next links to act as a slide show.

Configuration of names, urls and colors and cell sizes is at the top of the page so you can customize it to look the way you want.




Screen Shot of Index Page View





Screen Shot of Display Page View






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PLEASE NOTE : your server must have PHP installed and you should name the thumbnails and large images with identical names so they show up in the right order - the script reads them from first to last in the folders.

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PORTA FOR SIZING IMAGES FOR OPG

I know there are many who are already aware of this great little program that is freely available for generating web albums from your image files. If not, it is called Porta and it is has replaced my custom PP scripts for resizing my Preview Images to fit in my OnePageGallery for presenting to clients on the web. I can reassure you that in this respect, Porta beats the Photoshop web option for resizing - hands down.

Porta does make some nice Framed web layouts and integrates with SimpleViewer - but I am not interested in these more complex and slow loading programs for the constant building of Preview Websites for my clients. My simple OPG script takes no effort on my part and only requires that I provide 2 sizes of images for uploading to the directory where the website will be stored and acessable to my clients. When you run Porta on a directory of images, it does create a bunch of pages and folders, but I just discard everything except the 2 folders called "medium" and "small" which contain the thumbnail and larger size images I require.

Here is my process - I open Porta and select the folder I want resized - Click the Options Button to change settings - check "Add watermarks to main (and large) images" then click the Edit button right beside for adding any copyright information (my text says "Do Not Copy", centered in Arial Black size 36 with transparency set to "8") - I use the default sizes of 80 pixels for thumbnails and 552 pixels for the large images - make sure the check boxes for "Sharpened" are selected - click OK to generate the album. The "medium" folder contains all of the large images which becomes my main folder with my OPG and so I rename it to the clients name to be included in the URL for them to access their site - I upload this folder to my web server (via FTP or File Manager) and place the OPG gallery "index.php" script in this folder with the large images - I then rename the "small" folder that contains all of the thumbnails to "tn" so the folder can be recognized with my OPG script - I upload the "tn" folder into the same directory as all the large images and "index.php"  are - - - everything then runs perfect - nothing more to do. This sounds like a lot of steps, but once you get the system going, it is so quick and easy.


http://www.stegmann.dk/mikkel/porta/

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Q ) Why not just use Porta or Simple Viewer instead of using your OnePageGallery?


A ) SPEED and SIMPLICITY

I personally am not a fan of the Simple Viewer (flash) layout and find it slightly annoying when I see in on so many websites I visit. Being it is flash, it loads slow - - - and many find it far harder to setup than they figured it would be.

The problem with Porta and the Photoshop Gallery templates has to do with speed also - - - in that all of the thumbnails have to be loaded into the page for the site to work properly - - - this takes time and can be real problematic with hundreds or thousands of images in a Gallery. The other side is that both of these programs (as with all html galleries) require a page to be written to display each image. That means that if you have a few hundred images to display, there will be a few hundred html pages required to display them all. These must all be uploaded to your server and take up space on your server. OnePageGallery is ONE PAGE even if there are 10,000 images in the folder. Another thing is if you decide you want to add a few image files to the gallery, with Porta and PS you will need to remake the whole gallery to include the new images and the pages required to display them. With Simple Viewer you will have to register the new images in the configuration file - - - - with OnePageGallery, you simply upload the new images to the folder and they display properly. At least those are the things I find advantageous and why I wrote it the way I did. There are all kinds of more complex and complicated ways of making a gallery - but I have never found one yet that is simpler and quicker for viewers (especially those few left on dial up) to look at.


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Q ) Will OPG work on a Mac? Does Porta?


A ) I believe Porta is Windows only. In that case you could use PS Gallery for resizing and then just use the image files and thumbnail files with the OPG. The only thing I don't like about the way PS does it, is that sharpening is not applied - so before Porta, I had custom actions that I made that resized and sharpened to my taste.


My OnePageGallery script is used on a web server so Mac isn't an issue. The only thing that is required is the PHP programming language - which almost all servers have installed. To cutomize the page, a simple text editor is all that is required so this can be done on Windows or Mac.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2007, 01:41:05 pm by robertwatcher »
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robertwatcher

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Simple OnePageGallery - Latest Version Now Availab
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2006, 04:16:53 pm »

AS OF DECEMBER 2006 - FREE OnePageGallery script



I have recently moved all of my websites to a new very fast (and expensive) server. I am in the process of setting up web accounts for many of my projects and organizing them for continued distribution. Unfortunately many of the links that I have on forums and websites have become dead and I am doing my best to rectify the matter.


For all those on this forum who are using my FREE OPG - OnePageGallery script (soon also can access PhpSimpleSite & PhpCrazySite websites) - here is where you can access up to date info, fixes and support forum:


www.OnePageGallery.com
www.PhpSimpleSite.com
www.PhpCrazySite.com
Support


On different photography forums I have noticed several who have commented that they use the OPG script and like its features. If anyone would like to provide me with the thoughts they have expressed and allow me to put these on the pages of OnePageGallery.com , I would really appreciate you emailing that to me and giving me permission to publish your words of endorsement -.


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I continue to notice different photographers holding back from having a website to promote their business - or they may have a website hosted on a free site with a subdomain like "photographer.host.whatever".  In my view it is worth the small cost and effort for photographers to have their own domain name on a paid server. I mean nowadays you can have oodles of webspace for a few dollars a month. Until recently I never realized how important fast and effective Hosting Support was - I now view it as important if not more important than the price and size of space you need.  One other feature you will benefit from with your own paid space, is the ability to use PHP scripts for blogging, picture galleries and a hundred other easily installed features. I don't use many other than my own free scripts - but I know that many photograhers do.

I recently moved my www.robertwatcher.com website to a fast and relatively expensive dedicated server - but also have all of my Image Preview Websites on a Shared server. I'll tell you, I definitely recommend Hostgator.com where I now have my Preview Image Galleries at www.RWPreviews.com situated. Their Online Chat Support has responded to me within minutes and guided me through a few difficult fixes. Large space and bandwidth for not much money. Most here are aware of the dreadful service and page display speed I previously had with Netfirms where I had hosted all of my websites and this PPF forum for almost 2 years - - - my new shared host Hostgator.com  is like night and day - as of course is my main server where I keep my primary websites. Of course there are also many other hosting companies with similar inexpensive services - just a simple web search away.

If you want a cheap place to get a domain name, check out www.NameCheap.com. I have quite a few domains purchased with them. My recommendation is to register a domain name with a separate company than who you host your site with. I have had to move my www.robertwatcher.com website to several different hosting companies over the years - and because I have always maintained that domain name with an independant company, have been able to effortlessly make those server changes without any down time.

Just a few suggestions from my perspective that may help - - -I'd get a domain name registered - - - I mean, half of my bridal couples have registered a .com or some other real domain name so that they can provide some sort of website or blog for their friends to keep up with what is going on. Might look pretty amateurish if a pro doesn't even have one?

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« Last Edit: January 03, 2007, 01:38:51 pm by robertwatcher »
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LoisWakeman

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Simple OnePageGallery - Latest Version Now Availab
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2006, 08:00:08 am »

Robert: I wonder why you post in the "styles" section: surely this would be more appropriate in the Cafe?
« Last Edit: December 19, 2006, 08:00:36 am by LoisWakeman »
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robertwatcher

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Simple OnePageGallery - Latest Version Now Availab
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2007, 01:47:02 pm »

Quote
Robert: I wonder why you post in the "styles" section: surely this would be more appropriate in the Cafe?

I'm not exactly sure why I initially posted my free scripts and web help in this section. There was no other website or business or computer section - and I think that this one was near empty and would not conflict with the content. My original website posts started quite a while ago. I think that most who are using OPG from this forum probably know that anything new will be posted in this section where they first saw it. But your suggestion is a good one. Thank you.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2007, 01:47:44 pm by robertwatcher »
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