Gallery lite vs Pro vs other third party?

[Robomcd]

Title says it all. I am quite willing to fork out some money for a gallery software, but does that make sense (lite vs pro) or are there better paid or free options out somewhere.

I need a nice/good gallery for a very simple forum with a not very PC savvy audience. For our other non-profit NGO websites (dynamic, hard-coded, not cms) I need a gallery as well (blacksmith workshop, museum site, heritage preservation site).

Is smf pro only suitable as addon for smf or can you use it elsewhere as well?

[vbgamer45]

I am basis since I built it but it is best gallery solution for SMF and has been around for almost 10 years and still updated to support the latest versions of SMF.

I have demos on my site and can also arrange admin level demos as well.

There are free options such as Gallery Lite which has a smaller set of features you can install and try it out. Or coppermine but that is not as integrated with SMF.

[JBlaze]

There are a few paid and free galleries out there for SMF. SMF Gallery Pro and Levgal are two that I can think of off the top of my head. However, I cannot recommend one or the other as I have used neither.

For your other sites, there are standalone options such as Coppermine. A quick Google search will yield better results. Neither of the SMF addons above have standalone options, and must be installed alongside SMF.

[HDB]

I use SMFHacks Gallery Pro on my forum. It works fantastic. It is also well supported. I started with the Lite version but soon went with the Pro version. I recommend it for any SMF site. Follow the link to my forum and take a look. I have the copyright removal key so it won't have any of the branding in the footer area of the Gallery pages but it is SMFHacks Gallery Pro.

[Steve]

There are a few paid and free galleries out there for SMF. SMF Gallery Pro and Levgal are two that I can think of off the top of my head. However, I cannot recommend one or the other as I have used neither.

Levgal hasn't been supported for quite some time and one can't even get to the download link.

[Ken.]

I use SMFHacks Gallery Pro on my forum. It works fantastic. It is also well supported. I started with the Lite version but soon went with the Pro version. I recommend it for any SMF site. Follow the link to my forum and take a look. I have the copyright removal key so it won't have any of the branding in the footer area of the Gallery pages but it is SMFHacks Gallery Pro.

Same here.
I've tried several galleries and find that SMF Gallery Pro is best for my site... been using it for several years now and have always been well satisfied with the product and the support/help.

EDIT: BTW... I installed SMF Gallery Lite to the TP Docs site and it's just the right gallery for a simple purpose application.

[lurkalot]

I'm a Coppermine fan, but I'm also a bit biased.  

Runs as a stand alone gallery, or bridged to SMF 2.011 like I have it here http://cameracraniums.com  Loads of plugins available, and extremely powerful. 

And free. http://coppermine-gallery.net/

[Robomcd]

Thanks for all the comments. Late reply because I had three grandkids (8, 6, and 1 3/4) to take care of over the weekend; hard work.         

One question answered: Pro is not stand-alone.

Maybe the best is for now use pro and play around with that, and use something else stand-alone for my other sites. Anybody worked with piwigo as opposed to coppermine? I am also looking into Stu Nichols css-only galleries.

HDB, Lurkalot, thanks for the link, I got some ideas from it.

HDB, something completely else. I would not say no to a WW II Harley, but personally I would prefer an Indian or my old R67/3 back (had to sell that when still young, because of $$, still regret it). Now busy restoring a 1953 NSU Konsul I but my real baby is the 1973 Kaiser Jeep Corporation dump truck you can see on that page as well.     

[HDB]

Thanks for all the comments. Late reply because I had three grandkids (8, 6, and 1 3/4) to take care of over the weekend; hard work.         


HDB, something completely else. I would not say no to a WW II Harley, but personally I would prefer an Indian or my old R67/3 back (had to sell that when still young, because of $$, still regret it). Now busy restoring a 1953 NSU Konsul I but my real baby is the 1973 Kaiser Jeep Corporation dump truck you can see on that page as well.     

Grandkids come first. I finally just got my first one this year. What a blessing. Makes me feel young again. 

I would love an old WW II Harley or Indian! Right now with two Harleys in the garage my wife would say I have enough.  But what does she know? Ha ha!

I will bookmark your NSU Konsul I page. I would like to follow that restoration. With it being a 1953 it is my age! I have respect for the old iron.

[nend]

I use Aeva, however don't use this if you expect support, I think it is somewhat discontinued for SMF. I been keeping this version of mine up to the times code and theme wise.
http://www.sicomm.us/media/

[Robomcd]

Got and uploaded Gallery Pro for our forum, will decide later on a stand-alone gallery for the other sites.

HDB
1) On-topic: how did you manage to get the gallery featured images showing above the normal forum? Is this a standard feature of pro or some fancy coding?

2) Off-topic. Grandkids. They are very nice till they are three, than the hard works begins again. You know what they say, the first two years you try like crazy to get them to walk and talk, the next 18 years are spend on getting them to sit down and shut up. At least grand kids you can give back when you have enough.

NSU. The bike has been completely stripped, including the engine. New bearings and other stuff where necessary, completely revised engine, and all sand-blasted and professionally spray-painted in the original color. So now I have a nice  jigsaw with hundreds of pieces with at least a few pieces missing, but this spring I will start the rebuild.

ps. You're two years older then I am. The R67/3 was a 1955 as well, but it's Steib sidecar (which I still have) is a 1953 as well.     

[HDB]

HDB
1) On-topic: how did you manage to get the gallery featured images showing above the normal forum? Is this a standard feature of pro or some fancy coding?

The random featured images are done with the use of a portal mod also from SMFHacks which is called EzPortal. The SMF Gallery Pro and EzPortal work well as a team. I also have the copyright removal key (paid option) for EzPortal so it isn't clear what I am using.

The portal mod allows you to select a "ezblock" to place wherever you wish and then select a number of pictures in a row with multiple rows if you wish. On forum index page the portal mod was set to place a single row of 7 pictures at the top.

On my Home page (portal page) you will note that I have 4 rows with 4 pictures which is done using another "ezblock" for the home page. The images in each location will randomly change with every page refresh.

If you really don't want a "portal" or "home" page the EzPortal mod can also be used on the main forum page to manage and control the forum with blocks in the top, bottom, center and left/right sides of the forum's index page. The mod has a "portal" page on/off control. In the off selection you can still use blocks for inserting content on the main forum index page.

2) Off-topic. Grandkids. They are very nice till they are three, than the hard works begins again. You know what they say, the first two years you try like crazy to get them to walk and talk, the next 18 years are spend on getting them to sit down and shut up. At least grand kids you can give back when you have enough.

Someone once told me that grandkids were like a can of soda that you could shake up and then give it back to the parents for them to open up and explode. It sure is fun!

Have fun with the NSU! I have bookmarked the page and will check in on occasion to see how things are coming along.

[Biology Forums]

I, too, use SMFHacks gallery pro, and I have customized it to death. It is easy to learn and understand, I think, though there are critics. I say start off with the lite version first, as that did the job for me for the first two years.

[LoriMomof9]

so do you still like Gallery Pro? 

I just added lite - can you have subcategories in Lite?  I think you can have them in Pro.  We currently have PhotoPost - but there has been no update for over 2 years.  Is there a way to transfer our images from PP to Gallery Pro?   

I am trying it out for our store owner - so hopefully we can do subcategories in Lite?

[vbgamer45]

Subcategories are not supported in the light version. I do not have a convertor for photopost. I think photopost has been discontinued.

[LoriMomof9]

thank you for your reply - so if I do some playing around a bit with the lite version - adding some photos etc... would I be able to upgrade to Pro - or would that be a totally different install?

Do you have any other demos of Pro?  This is our current gallery - it is pretty large (but a lot is old photos / inactive users)....  Here is our lite version... http://faithsisters.com/forum/index.php?action=gallery [nofollow]

In Pro can you arrange the photos on the top and the categories on the bottom?

[vbgamer45]

Yes you can upgrade from lite to pro.Uninstall lite then install pro it keeps all data and pictures.

Demo of pro user side is on http://smfhacks.com/demos/index.php?action=gallery   if you need an admin demo signup for a free forum on http://www.createaforum.com