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PlainPics Gallery is a php/javascript based photo display program, very easy to install and configure. There is no database and no complex administration section. All that is neccessary to create a new gallery is to make a new directory and upload your photos to it. Install 1. Extract the files from the tarball or zip file into a directory you specifically set up for Plain Pics. Anywhere is okay as long as you know where that directory is. 2. Edit plainpics_config.xml. Here it is, item by item (YOU MUST EDIT THIS FILE!): <HeaderComment> DISABLED CURRENTLY 1.0 Any text you want to show up at the head of the main page can go here. It can be HTML but < and > must be typed as '&'lt; and '&'gt; *<PhotoDir> This must be a relative path to a directory where your directories of photos are. So, if your directory structure is like this: public_html/ /plainpics /photos /wedding /vacation_2005 then you this setting should look like: <PhotoDir>../photos</PhotoDir> *<DefaultAlbum> This is the directory of photos you want to come up first. Again with the directory setup above, it should look like this: <DefaultAlbum>vacation_2005</DefaultAlbum> <Logo> It is not strictly neccessary to replace this beautiful artwork but if you do, it should go here. The png or jpg or gif file should be placed in the plain pics directory. <LogoLink> This is where you want to take the user when they click on the logo. It is, again, a relative path. So if you want to go to your home page, it might look like this: <LogoLink>../index.html</LogoLink> <GraphicHeader> This is a true or false value although currently, PlainPics will act as though it's false, no matter what you put here. This will change in an immediate update: <GraphicHeader>false</GraphicHeader> <AdminPassword> The password for adding captions and other settings. <AdminPassword>admin</AdminPassword> <PPStyle> Currently this value can be 'default' or 'white'. Default is a black background with white text and 'white' is the opposite. <PPStyle>default<PPStyle> That's it! Seven settings, two (*) of which are essential if you want Plain Pics to work. 3. Ftp your photos into directories you create within your <PhotoDir> directory. Name them descriptively as the name is what will show up in the drop down menu. The photos can be any size but will get clipped beyond 640 by 480 pixels. (it will also be heck a slow). Thumbnails are all a predetermined size (this will be changed in later releases). 4. Make sure that <PhotoDir> and it's subdirectories are readable (and writable if you want to add captions) by PlainPics (they must have group level read/write permissions). How to Enter Captions To add captions to your photos simply click "Login Admin". A login page will appear in the photo space. Input "admin" for login name and then your admin password as specified in the configuration file. (It is "admin" as a default). Click Submit and if successful, the photo that was there before will now appear with a caption input box below it. Type in your caption and click save. You can go on the next photo and the next, ad finitum and do the same. When you finished adding captions, click Logout Admin and you'll be taken back to user mode. You will see your new captions under the photos. If it doesn't work, it means you have not set "write" permissions for groups for that folder. You can do this through most ftp clients, ssh, or the File Administrator program in your web control panel (CPanel, VDECK, etc.). Running PlainPics The simple way to run PlainPics, once you have your configuration set is to type in your browser: http://www.yoursite.com/plainpics/photomaster.php You may not have named your plainpics directory, "plainpics" but you get the idea. This will run PlainPics with the settings in plainpics_config.xml By default, <PhotoDir>MasterDir</PhotoDir> is the master gallery containing the other subgallery folders. PlainPics is only one level deep at this stage. If you want multiple master galleries you can override the configured <PhotoDir> by passing in a new master gallery folder: http://www.yoursite.com/plainpics/photomaster.php?photoDir=../photos/subMasterGallery This would display all the sub-galleries in ../photos/subMasterGallery if it weren't for the fact that PlainPics needs to know the album within the new master gallery that you want displayed first. So you must have something like this: http://www.yoursite.com/plainpics/photomaster.php?photoDir=../photos/subMasterGallery&album=May2005 You can also use the album parameter to override the default album in the default <PhotoDir>: http://www.yoursite.com/plainpics/photomaster.php?album=May2005 And finally, if you want to ONLY display one album out of many: http://www.yoursite.com/plainpics/photomaster.php?album=May2005?thisalbumonly=1 The one thing to watch here is that if you pass an album and a photoDir parameter in and the album is not actually located within the photoDir, you will see nothing. Blackness (or whiteness). |