A new Gallery module is included in the standard code from version 2.0.2. It is an improved version of the add-on simpl_gallery3 which has now been removed from downloads.

The purpose of a gallery display is to proved a location to display small groups of media objects that have a site (or family tree) wide relevance. This is quite different from the album tab which displays only media specific to a single individual.

This module uses the popular Galleria JavaScript library for the display. It can display images, PDF files, or albums of images stored on Flickr.

To operate the module requires that the (local) media items you want to display are stored in a single folder within kiwitrees’ media storage structure. It can be any folder or sub-folder, at any level, but only a single complete folder can be displayed. There is no option to select specific items only.

Full kiwitrees privacy rules are applied at all times, so items linked to private records will not be publicly displayed.

Although there is no technical limit to the number of items displayed in a single gallery, you are advised to keep the number low (say 20 or less). If you have more, or very large images, your users are likely to complain at the slowness of the display, or your server may even time-out. It is simply not designed to display huge quantities of media items.

Key Features

Multiple galleries
Local or remote images (Using Flickr)
Display images, and PDFs
Full Screen display option
Slideshow enabled

Implementation

When you upgrade to Kiwitrees 2.0.2 or later the gallery module will automatically be included. To use it go to Administration > Modules > Manage modules and check it is enabled. Once it is you will see the Gallery menu option under Administration > Tools > Gallery.

If you already use simpl_gallery3 this new module will NOT replace it automatically. But you should as simpl_gallery3 will no longer be maintained. transfer all administration settings for your current galleries to the new module, then once you are satisfied it is displaying correctly disable simpl_gallery3, then completely remove it’s folders and files from the /modules_v3/ folder.

Set up

There are two main areas requiring set up before this module can be used; uploading images, and creating display pages for them.

It is important to upload at least some images, and create the media folder for them BEFORE you move on to create their album display page.

  1. Upload images
    1. Using kiwitrees “Upload media files” option start uploading your images (Administration > Media > Upload media files). In the box “Folder name on server” enter a name for a media sub folder where you want to store these images. The module will display all images from one media folder on a single page.
    2. During the upload, or later by editing the image details, you can add a title (will be displayed to the right of the full size image on display); a note (will be displayed below the title ); or link the image to one or more individuals (these will be listed to the right of the display, above any note).
    3. If you are not linking these images to any individual, fact or event in your family tree, then it is also necessary to edit (even if you change nothing) and save each one after the upload, in order to register them in the database.

 

  1. Create one display page or “gallery” for each media sub-folder created.
    These are stored in the kiwitrees database, as “block settings”. They are created by going to the Gallery menu option in Administration (Administration > Tools > Gallery) then click on “Add gallery” to display the next screen.

    1. Give each gallery a title. Remember this will be used as both the menu item for this gallery and the its display tab. It is important therefore to keep these titles short.
    2. Add an (optional) description for the gallery page. This might describe the purpose of the gallery, or some explanation of the images. It can be any length, but long texts will force the image display further down the page, so might be best limited to three or four lines at the most.
    3. Select the media folder containing this group of images, as created in the preceding section.
      1. Alternatively you can select the Flickr  option here and enter their appropriate details to link directly to your external photo collections. For Flickr just enter your “Set number” (e.g. 72157633272831222 ) or for Picassa your combined user ID and album name (e.g. 112006578635517959768/MyHoliday)
    4. Set the access level, to determine which users can see this album. This is in addition to any existing privacy controls that might be in place for individual images if they are linked to people on your family tree.
    5. Choose which languages to display this page for. This is the same as other similar options throughout kiwitrees. Select NONE of the available languages if you want it to display in ALL languages. Only select single languages if you are also planning to offer a similar translated version for other languages.
    6. Set the Gallery position, relative to any other albums you might have already created. This determines where on both the menu list and tabs this album appears. It can be changed later by simply using the “drag’n drop” feature of the album list on the Gallery administration screen. The first item will also be the default when the main “Gallery” menu item is clicked.
    7. Use “Gallery visibility” to set if this gallery is to be seen when viewing all family trees on your site, or just the current one.
    8. Click “Save” to complete this process and create your gallery page.

Styling and themes

There are TWO types of theme in operation for this module.

The first is the standard kiwitrees theme (kiwitrees, clouds, colors, xenea etc). This controls the overall container for the gallery and the menu images in each of the kiwitrees themes. These are switched automatically when you change the main kiwitrees theme.

In addition, there is the Galleria theme that controls the actual image display area. This module includes three default themes for this, two supplied by Galleria (called “classic” and “azur”), and an alternative “simpl_galleria” designed to compliment the colours of the blue-based themes such as webtrees, clouds and xenea. There are also other themes available for purchase from the Galleria website. Switch between the “Azur”, “Classic” and “Simpl_galleria” by selecting them on the configuration page.

To add other Galleria themes, download them from their website (www.galleria.io/), and copy them to the /modules_v3/gallery/galleria/themes/ folder.

You should then add a 250px x 140px thumbnail image to suit in the /modules_v3/gallery/images folder, named to match the theme and of type png (like azur.png).