What's the best Gallery mod?

[Itchigotim]

I'm running 2.08 and I'm taking over a photogallery from another site. All I want to do is have a gallery of member photos with their name above the photo. We have the free version of SMF Gallery Lite which will only show the photo- no name.

We were going to try the Avea Media (even though it's old), but I understand I'd have to uninstall the Aeva Auto-Embed Video & Audio first. If I do that I get errors, so I don't proceed.

I REALLY don't want to have to buy the full version for just 1 item of functionality. I just did that same thing for downloads pro. Is there something else I can do?

[kat]

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=473 

'course, what some might regard as "The best" might not be what others think...

[Biology Forums]

Nao's media gallery is by-far superior, but very difficult to make edits in case you want to customize it. SMFhacks' version is excellent for customizing as all the code is found in one of two files - the source file or template file. Therefore, I think you'll enjoy it more. A downside, however, is that you can't embed flash movies, Youtube videos, etc., unless you buy an extension, which is a bit of a money grab if you're already buying the full version. My site uses a highly customized version of SMFhack's software. If you're wondering, I've experimented with both...

[Arantor]

Putting everything in a few files is really not a smart idea.

I won't disagree that Aeva is harder to customise, mostly because the author has a serious hard-on for keeping everything tight, which will come back to bite him with Wedge.

I've thought about doing a gallery mod but honestly I'm not sure I want the hassle even as a paid mod.

[Steve]

What about Coppermine? http://coppermine-gallery.net/

It's easy to install but there is a learning curve for settings, etc. Documentation is good imo and it comes with the ability to bridge ...

[Itchigotim]

Question: Do I have to uninstall Avea to use something else? I get errors if I try, and I'm not skilled enough to overcome that.

Something I failed to mention is not all of the pictures are members.

K@, I didn't see a "title" above/below the picture, only By:  As I didn't say before, not all pictures are members.

Coppermine- I looked at that before. It's free I take it? And is it good with 2.08? The ones I see titles on are sounds or video. But I'm guessing I can trick it into looking for a .jpeg, and not a .mov?

All I really want is a preview pic with a name above/below it so you know WHO'S picture you're clicking on.

[DasVON]

Zenphoto 1.4.6 is good (its in most cpanel section Softaculous or Installatron sections)

[Biology Forums]

Question: Do I have to uninstall Avea to use something else? I get errors if I try, and I'm not skilled enough to overcome that.

I had them both installed at the same time. They both worked fine.

[Steve]

Coppermine- I looked at that before. It's free I take it? And is it good with 2.08?

Yes and yes.

[Kindred]

Zen photo does not bridge to smf...

[vbgamer45]

SMF Gallery Pro has been around over eight years and does have the most features compared to any gallery built for SMF I try to make a major update every year to year and a half. And do updates throughout the year including improvements/bug fixes. SMF Gallery Pro is still under active development and I will continue to update it for future SMF versions. As a paid mod this gives me a reason to keep updating the Gallery compared to Avea where it depends on how the author feels at any given moment.

Compared to Avea with SMF Gallery Pro we do things differently and I think for the better. Avea out of the box has deeper integration with SMF in terms of editing core templates to SMF, autoembedding, including gallery features throughout the forum But the downside is  more resource intensive since requires more queries/processing to use all those features.  Now with SMF Gallery Pro I went a different route. I tried to minimize template edits which reduces support work on my end and allows my time to be focused on the gallery itself.  Also if you need those extra template edits I have over 10 addons that you can choose to install or not to install to give those same features.

Autoembeding never had built into the mod I do have a separate mod called S.A.V.E http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=2681  which does embedding and I also include the code with the Video addon
The video addon was added on a separate product due to the fact for support issues handling video playback/screenshots, didn't really want to combine the two either.

Now on to the cool features that SMF Gallery Pro offers.

User Galleries. If the user has a personal gallery each user can create their own fully functionally mini gallery. With categories, subcategories, password protected categories, private galleries etc.

Over 100+ settings to customize your gallery builtin.

Many permissions including: add picture, edit picture, picture approval, add comment, delete picture, manage gallery Rating Pictures, Edit own Comment, Auto Approve Comments, Personal Gallery, Bulk Uploads

Lots of features including: Three sizes of images: thumbnail, medium display, and fullsize,  Categories/subcategories ,category level permissions ,bulk uploader with multiselect, quota on a membergroup level, Approval system for pictures/comments, Comments, Social networking integration, Twitter integration, keyword tagging photos/tag cloud, EXIF data read and displayed, tagging sections on a picture itself, built in lightbox or highslide features, watermarketing, RSS feeds, bulk management of gallery items, notification system, tracking if pictures have viewed or not and who viewed pictures., rating system one to five stars along with the option to see who voted for what, integration with SMF Shop and Badge Awards mods, and a lot more features. Have online demos if needed front/backend.

Conversion options if ever need to change forum software or go standalone we have gallery versions that can do that as well so you have a good chance and keeping the same gallery system.

Side benefit for SMF itself part of the money goes back into SMF directly and indirectly though ad purchases on smf.org and myself buying mods/themes/SMF Sites.
Also we do offer a convertor for Aeva so if you want to move to SMF Gallery Pro you can easily.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[Arantor]

compared to Avea where it depends on how the author feels at any given moment.

Aeva hasn't been updated for years because its author was so disgusted by this environment that he left entirely to work on Wedge.

[Steve]

SMF Gallery Pro has been around over eight years and does have the most features compared to any gallery built for SMF ...

That's all well and good but the OP did say:

I REALLY don't want to have to buy the full version for just 1 item of functionality. I just did that same thing for downloads pro. Is there something else I can do?

[Itchigotim]

I think I may take VBGamer's Pro version. It's a lot like the downloads package in the fact it has a lot of stuff I'll never use. Maybe good for other users though I'm not poo pooing all over it either. I'm sure it's a good package, and I do like to support you guys, it's just I had a sponsor give me some money to run the site for a while, and I'm trying not to blow through it. While I did want to upgrade downloads (as I did), the gallery isn't something I planned on. A friend who's had it for a long time doesn't want to do it anymore, and gave it to me.

Here's what I'm looking for for the gallery:

Pictures would be uploaded by name, and the name needs to be displayed above/below the picture, so you know who you are clicking on. Right now it says "By". If I upload someone else's picture it'll have my name on it. That's why my picture is the only one in the gallery.

Not all of the pictures are members of my forum! Some are ancient history, but should be included. This gallery goes back 10 years, but my site is only 2. So pictures are NOT tied to members names.

Current members should be able to upload their own w/o approval. But maybe a notice to me that something was submited.

Alphabetical sort by letter would be nice, but not a dealbreaker.

This is what I'm taking over and want to re-create.
http://www.vpforums.org/PPG/

VPforums is not my site, it's a rival site that hosts this.

This is my site and where it would go.:  http://roguepinball.com/index.php?action=gallery

[mashby]

I've been using SMF Gallery Pro for years. Bought and modified the heck out of the 1.1.x version six years ago and bought the 2.0.x version about two years ago (also modified the heck out of it). Pictures are uploaded by a member and that member's name is tied to the image, but the Title is also there.

The thing you linked to is interesting, but not really. It's organized based on image file name. That's the most boring thing in the world. Having a member upload IMG4382984.jpg and give it a more interesting and meaningful title, oh, and tag other members in the photo. That's fun. I think the PRO version does that. It's like Facebook tagging, but maybe not as robust as that. But certainly better than the link you provided.

[vbgamer45]

Pictures would be uploaded by name, and the name needs to be displayed above/below the picture, so you know who you are clicking on. Right now it says "By". If I upload someone else's picture it'll have my name on it. That's why my picture is the only one in the gallery.

SMF Gallery Pro can do that. If you do not include the title when uploading a picture the system will use the filename as the title.
I have an option under Admin -> Gallery Settings -> Layout Settings Then check "Show title" which will show the title of image
For members name when you upload a picture it is uploaded under your name. But you can change the ownership of picture by editing picture and selecting a member.

Current members should be able to upload their own w/o approval. But maybe a notice to me that something was submitted.

I have a membergroup level permission called auto approve images if enabled images under that membergorup are auto approved.

Alphabetical sort by letter would be nice, but not a dealbreaker.

SMF Gallery Pro has that on a category level you can choose how you want the category sorted such as title, date added etc

This is my site and where it would go.:  http://roguepinball.com/index.php?action=gallery

Easy upgrade from lite to pro. I suggest uninstall lite edition then install pro all data is kept intact and you just gain all the new features.

[Itchigotim]

I don't have the knowledge to customize it though. Then again with the pro I imagine I could have separate galleries. One for members, and one for "other". Maybe I do have a use for the "Gingerbread". Hmm.

These are my mods if it makes a difference.
1.    Live Emoticon Library    2.7.0    
2.    SMF 2.0.3 Update    1.0    
3.    Tapatalk SMF 2.0 RC5/Final Plugin    3.9.0    
4.    Downloads System    2.1a    
5.    SMF 1.1.19 / 2.0.6 Update    
6.    SMF 2.0.8 Update    1.0    
7.    SimplePortal    2.3.5    
8.    SMF 2.0.7 Update    1.0    
9.    SMF 2.0.5 Update    1.0
10.    Enhancements to reattribute posts    1.5.6    
11.    Like Posts    1.3.1    
12.    Welcome Topic Mod    2.2    
13.    Downloads System Pro    3.0.3    
14.    PM Attachments    1.6    
15.    Admin Notepad    2.0.2    
16.    Country Flags    2.0
17.    SMF 2.0.4 Update    1.0
18.    Aeva Media    1.4w    
19.    Project Snow 1.2    1.2    
20.    SMF Gallery Lite    3.7    
21.    Aeva ~ Auto-Embed Video & Audio    7.2    
22.    Font resizer    1.0.3

[vbgamer45]

Yeah that is how it is my default. You can have main level categories. Then there is a category called member galleries which contains a list of all users with their own user galleries.

[mashby]

I'm running 2.08 and I'm taking over a photogallery from another site. All I want to do is have a gallery of member photos with their name above the photo. We have the free version of SMF Gallery Lite which will only show the photo- no name.

Doesn't the free version have Title as an option, which could include the member name and a lot of other things if needed?

[Itchigotim]

On the free version it show the title, but only AFTER you click on it. No preview.

Thanks VBGamer, PM sent.