(written for the Matrix theme)
When you first go into the Gallery, you will enter as a Guest and will have the privileges of viewing all the pictures currently put in by others. However if you want to truly experience all the features of the software as well as post and share your pictures, you should register. You do this by clicking on "Register" in the top right hand corner of the window. Just follow the instructions and you will automatically be set up. I believe your system will also remember your login and sign you in automatically in near future (there is a timeout after several weeks of non-use). If you need to signin click "Login" to get back in. You can always change your password in the future.
What is Gallery? Gallery is a robust multi-user web-based album, picture and video package. With Gallery you can easily create and maintain your own albums within our larger community of family and friends and immediately make pictures available for others to share or download. It has tons of features including slideshows, random picture displays, lots of ways to personalize albums, the ability to display videos in flash, picture comments, ratings, ecards and much more. While the program can initially seem quite overwhelming, it is well worth getting to know your way around as it is incredibly robust. And not only will your photos be shared with friends and family, they will be backed up as well. To learn more about how to use the Gallery, read on...
The basics of getting around (written for the Matrix Theme)
The center of the page which is where albums are already set up. The key things to note when you go into the Gallery for the first time is the word "Gallery" in the top left hand corner above the Search bar. While nothing will happen when you click it right now (because you are already "home"), watch the spot as you move into the albums and you will see that the top left hand corner is like a map to where you are in the Gallery. Clicking on "Gallery" or any of the words to the right of it will let you move around the Gallery. To move into an album just double click on the thumbnail - it's that simple. Try clicking on one of the albums now and watch what happens. Click again on just the word "Gallery" above the search bar and you should go back to the home page.
There are many ways to add pictures and the method you choose really depends on how many photos you have and if you want to use information such as captions and keywords put into other software such as Adobe Photoshop Elements. We'll start now with the methods we know from easiest to most complex. Naturally the more complex ones give you a whole lot more functionality. To start, we recommend the simplest "From Web Browser" for small numbers of pictures. Then the "Upload Applet" allows you to upload a lot more pictures at one time (say an entire directory or more). "Gallery Remote" is extra software that you install and it gives you the ability to see thumbnails of all the pictures and to add captions before upload which is much easier then later. This is my pick. The other really nice feature of Gallery Remote is that it will take captions, keywords and file data with the files as you drag and drop them into the software, thus avoiding any re-entry already done. Useful for those using photo software such as Adobe Elements or for people who rename their files to describe the picture. Finally, if you trying to upload files larger then 8 megs (such as video) you will need to FTP the file into a central directory and pick it up directly using From Local Server. There are more methods to upload but we haven't figured them out yet or have run into problems (ie WebDav with Apache)
When uploading only a few photos, you can do it directly from the menu. Go into the album in Gallery that you want to load pictures to. If not created, open a new album by following directions above. Click on the left menu bar "Add Item" or in the center of an empty album on the "Add a photo!". You will then go into a screen that should look something like this picture below.
The tabs in white across the top represent a number of ways to upload pictures. As noted the easiest is the first tab "From Web Browser". You won't want to use it if you have lots of photos or captions already keyed, but it's a good first start for small files. Click on the tab "From Web Browser" now.
This option is the easiest for 1-5 photos at a time and non-technical users. Make sure you know your picture file names and where they are stored. Click to the "File" box and click Browse to locate the first photo on your computer. Click the file when you find it. You can also (but don't have to) add a caption describing the photo. If you have more photos, move on to the second File area and then continue to click on the blue "More Upload Boxes..." until you've selected everything you want to upload. When finished, be sure to click the "Add Items" box on the bottom blue bar. That's it. Your photos should be up!
Useful for uploading a large number of pictures at one time, this requires a little one-time only software installation but is less complex then Gallery Remote. It probably is a good next step to learning about additional methods for uploads and if you haven't captioned or named any of your pictures, it might work for you just fine as a general purpose tool. To start click on "Upload Applet" after following instructions to get into the Add Items/ Add Photo screen discussed above under By Web Browser.
If you get the following screen [note image still to be added] after an orange coffee cup (Java) then you have everything the software needs to run. If not, follow the instructions on the screen. You should note that only WIndows 98 through to Vista is supported. WIndows 95 won't work here. On the first screen of documentation, you may get something about OS, etc. if so, click through the the following web address http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery_Remote:Bundled. Scroll 1/2 way down the page until you see the title Applets. Then click on the links first to install "ImageMagick" and then "jpegtran". Each installation is pretty standard with the exception of a request at end of ImageMagick to key in a test to the Command line... just ignore this. ImageMagick is a little confusing in what download to click. Just click the top "download" under HTTP. When finished, exit out of Gallery and re-enter.
Once you get the light blue screen shown in the picture above just click the "Add Pictures" on the bottom left and when you've added all the pictures, click "Upload". You're done!
