Welcome to our Photo Gallery! This is a place for us to share photos with family and friends. It's pretty easy to use, and gives us a lot more control and higher resolution than something like Ofoto. Maybe we can get some folks other than Uncle Walt sharing some pictures now! It's pretty easy to add photos, and they can be shared with anyone
The gallery should behave like much of what you may have seen on the web. The first thing you will see are the "Top-Level Albums." Anyone in the family who has uploaded photos should have a top-level album with their name. Clicking on the picture or name will open up the album. Inside each top-level album will be additional photo albums and sometimes miscellaneous photos, each represented by a thumbnail (small) image. Click on any album to view its contents. Click on any picture thumbnail to view a larger version of that picture. Just like folders on your computer, an album may contain sub-albums, pictures, or a mixture of the two.
When viewing an album, in addition to viewing individual pictures, you can start a slideshow by clicking on the "[slideshow]" link in the upper right corner. You can also navigate back to higher-level albums by clicking the up-arrows in the upper right corner.
When viewing a picture, you have a few additional options. Clicking on the picture itself will often bring up an even larger version of the picture with even more detail. Using the links in the upper right corner, you can view the photos properties or even get a digital print of the photo through the Shutterfly website. Just above and below the photo are arrows that can take you to other pictures in the album. " |< " will take you to the first picture in the album. " << " will take you to the previously picture in the album. " >> " will take you to the next picture in the album. " >| " will take you to the last picture in the album.
Finally, below the picture may be a caption, description, and other information about the picture. You can comment on anyone's picture with the "add comment" link. These comments are visible by anyone who views the picture in the future.
The text associated with pictures can also be searched using the box in the upper right corner. Mind you, the computer can only search what's out there, so if someone hasn't added captions or descriptions to the picture that you're looking for, you may be out of luck!
Anyone can browse the gallery without logging in. Logging in to the gallery, however, provides many additional options including the ability to add your own photos. To log in to the gallery, click the "[login]" link in the upper right corner of any page. You may have to log in even if you have logged in elsewhere in the site. Please let me know if you have lost the username and password. The gallery uses the same username and password as other portions of the site.
Once logged in, you still browse the gallery in the same way, however you now have many more options which may be represented by "[links]" or pull-down "<<menus>>" associated with albums and images. Although these options are available for most of the albums and images you see, you should only make changes to your own albums and pictures. The only thing you should ever do to someone else's album or picture is add a comment with the "[add comment]" link below the picture.
This is the fun part! There are three good ways to add albums and photos to the gallery.
| Method | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Web-Based | Very very simple Works on any computer No download required |
Cumbersome for a large number of pictures |
| iPhotoToGallery | Very easy way to
add a large number of photos Seamlessly integrated into iPhoto |
Requires a Mac and iPhoto Must download and install iPhotoToGallery A little buggy at times |
| Gallery Remote | Very easy way to add a
large number of photos Drag-and-Drop interface |
Requires a PC Must download and install Gallery Remote which is fairly complicated |
You should experiment with the web-based method first to get used to the gallery and its interface. Once you've got the hang of things, consider downloading the appropriate helper application for your computer.
Adding a Top-Level Album: Skip ahead if you already have an album on the main gallery page. Click new album from the upper right corner. This will add the album and navigate inside of it. Select "properties" from the "<< admin options >>" menu. Change the "Title" something like "Bill's Albums". Add a simple Album Summary (description) if you'd like. You can change the colors of your gallery if you'd like, but most of the other properties should remain unchanged. Scroll down, click "apply" and then close the window. Now select "rename album" from the "<< admin options >>" menu.
Technical Note: every album has a "Title", a "Description (or Summary)", and a "Name". The Title and Description are both displayed next to the album thumbnail and inside the album. The description is optional. The "Name" is a little more confusing... It is only displayed in the URL (http://www.thecaputos.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Tom). It should be simple, descriptive, and must be unique (different from all other album names). Finally, it may only contain letters and numbers, no spaces or punctuation. For example, my Top-Level Album is named "Brian" and the album of pictures of Ollie from June of 2004 is named "Ollie0406".
Adding a Sub-Album: Select "new nested album" from the "<< admin options >>" menu. Change the properties (album title and summary) and name as described above.
Adding a Picture: Once you are inside the proper album, select "add photo" from the "<< admin options >>" menu. Click "Browse" and find the picture you want to upload on your computer. Add a short caption and a longer description if you'd like. Then click "Upload Now". Click "Dismiss" after the upload report is displayed. You should be taken back to the album and your picture should be included there. Repeat this process to add more pictures to your album.
If you use iPhoto, this is a great "plugin" to export photos directly to our gallery. Here's what you need to do to use iPhotoToGallery.
Download the program here and run the installer. Then launch (or restart) iPhoto. Select the photos you want to upload in iPhoto (I find it's easiest to make a temporary album of just the photos you want to upload, then select that whole album). Go to the File menu and select "Export". Click on the "Gallery" tab. The first time you use this, you will need to set up our gallery. Under the Gallery Menu, select "Add Gallery". The Gallery URL is "http://www.thecaputos.org/gallery". Type in the standard username and password and click "OK". The status will say when you have successfully logged in. These settings will be saved, so next time you can skip this step.
Now, use the album portion to explain where to put the photos. You can add to an existing album by using the menu or you can "Create New Album" within your album. If you create a new album, you'll need to provide a title, a name, a description, and an album to place the new album in.
Make sure that the "Scale images" box is not checked and that the "Export titles" box is checked (if you have any titles and captions to export). Click "Export" and wait for the magic to happen. Return to http://www.thecaputos.org/ to keep an eye on the progress. Images will appear in your album as they are uploaded. Sometimes, after all the images are uploaded, the export tool will get stuck. You can click "Cancel" to go back to using iPhoto and there should not be any problems with the online album.
Some FAQs about iPhotoToGallery, answered by the program's author.
If you use a Windows PC, this stand-alone program can be used as a simple interface to the online gallery.
You can find the program here. Your best bet is to select the 20MB exe for windows including the Java VM. This will take you to yet another download screen. Begin the download by selecting the little file icon under the download heading next to one of the North American servers. Run the installer to install Gallery Remote and a Java Virtual Machine (if necessary).
Run Gallery Remote. Start by clicking "Add Gallery URL..." in the upper right corner of the window. Click "New". The Alias should be blank, the Username and Password are the standard ones, the Type is "Standalone", and the Gallery URL is "http://www.thecaputos.org/gallery". Click OK and the OK again to get back to the main screen. Now click "Log in".
On the left, you see the existing album structure (click "+" to expand an album and view the sub-albums). Navigate to the album you'd like to upload to, or click "New Album" to add an album. If you create a new album, you'll need to provide a title, a name, a description, and a parent album to place the new album in.
Drag photos to the middle pane to prepare them for upload. You can reorder or tweak them at this point if you'd like. There is no need to "Resize" before uploading. Click "Upload Pictures" and wait for the magic to happen. Return to http://www.thecaputos.org/ to keep an eye on the progress. Images will appear in your album as they are uploaded.
Once you have created albums and uploaded your pictures, you may need to customize or tweak a few things to get it to look the way you want. First is the "<< admin options >>" menu, since we have already used a few of those commands. As a reminder, this menu is located in the upper right hand corner when you are inside an album. Here are the menu choices and what each of them does (options in gray are not recommended):
Next is the "<< Edit Album >>" menu, since many of the options are similar to the "<< admin options >>" available from within the album. The main difference is that the "<< Edit Album >>" menu is located outside the album, underneath the album's thumbnail and title. Here are the menu choices and what each of them does (options in gray are not recommended):
Finally is the "<< Edit Picture >> menu, located beneath a picture's thumbnail and caption. Here are the menu choices and what each of them does (options in gray are not recommended):
That's it. If you have other questions, contact brian@thecaputos.org.