Piwigo.org

martad · 2012-09-20 12:05:25

I have installed a test Piwigo album on a Dreamhost virtual server. I have installed the Community Plugin, and while am still sort of finding my way around, I can tell Piwigo looks much better than Gallery already.

Now my problem is, I am trying to set things up so that family members can upload their pictures in batches of as many as 100 at a time, the easiest possible way. None of them is computer literate, so my preference would be for something conceptually as simple as the "iPhotoToPiwigo" plugin.

However, I haven't been able to get this plugin to work - I don't know whether it's a problem with my Mac, or with my virtual Web server (on Dreamhost).

Is there another way to give my family members an intuitive and reliable tool for batch uploads, which doesn't require them to use a separate FTP application?

mistic100 · 2012-09-20 13:03:09

Hello,

isn't that the purpose of Community ? it offers the Flash uploader (which allows simultaneous uploads) for common users

or I didn't understand your problem

martad · 2012-09-20 14:34:17

Problem is my users would not know how to prepare the photos for upload, before they can use the Flash uploader. This is a family album for people who are not (necessarily) photographers, nor computer-literate, and I am not sure I'd be able to instruct them. I'm having trouble with the Flash uploader myself, as it requires Flash installed and I do not have Flash active by default on all the browsers I use (Safari, Firefox, iCab).

mistic100 · 2012-09-20 14:43:20

martad wrote:
Problem is my users would not know how to prepare the photos for upload, before they can use the Flash uploader.

basically there is nothing to prepare, althought you ask them to do something special, in that case it will be the same with any other importation tool

flop25 · 2012-09-20 15:21:09

martad wrote:
as it requires Flash installed and I do not have Flash active by default on all the browsers I use (Safari, Firefox, iCab).

this dependency will be removed by html5, but you can use the old fashioned form (see the link below the flash uploader)

If your 'preparation' means resize pictures, go to settings->pictures size->upload resize or something close

martad · 2012-09-20 19:12:01

Thank you mistic100 and flop25 for your suggestions. You are correct, what needs to be done sounds intuitive to anybody who is (a little bit) familiar with computers. This is not what my family members are though :-)
I suspect they would have problems locating the right files, so uploading from Piwigo's own uploader might turn out to be too much for them.
The beauty of iPhotoToPiwigo (if it worked) is that they wouldn't even need to know about filenames, directory structure, Flash installation, picture sizes (both in pixels and in bytes)... and the usual other small bits of technical knowledge & background, which we might take for granted... but they do not have.
I appreciate your time and would understand if the answer to my question was that there's no way to do what I'm looking for... :-)
Thanks again!

flop25 · 2012-09-20 22:36:02

If you have advice or critics please do. We just want to improve the software.

martad · 2012-09-21 11:05:46

flop25 wrote:
If you have advice or critics please do. We just want to improve the software.

Thank you flop25! One of the best things about Piwigo is that its developers are friendly, human and extremely co-operative. Very special, and highly appreciated :-)

Thinking of my family members, who have very limited computer skills - would you consider improving the iPhotoToPiwigo plugin? Conceptually, this is what any "normal user" would be able to use to upload whole albums to a Piwigo Web installation: the site admin (which is myself, in this case) would give them the credentials that need to be entered in the plugin, and all that is left to them, is to select the photos in iPhoto and click the "Piwigo" tab in the Export... window.

Alternatively, I don't know if it would be possible to add a tool, accessible from Piwigo's Web interface, that opens iPhoto and uses iPhoto's interface to select and upload pictures in batches. Please make allowances for my ignorance, as I am not a programmer and have no idea of how this could be done...

Thank you for your great help,

marina

mistic100 · 2012-09-21 13:21:45

I don't really understand the whole point

isn't more difficult to learn how to use a new software (iPhotoToPiwigo) than just click on the "Upload" button (added by Community) and choose the file ?

I know people which have absolutely no experience with computers and they know what to do when a webform ask to upload a file, but I'm pretty sure they don't want (know how) to install a plugin for a new (or not) software to do the same thing

martad · 2012-09-21 17:00:49

mistic100 wrote:
isn't more difficult to learn how to use a new software (iPhotoToPiwigo) than just click on the "Upload" button (added by Community) and choose the file ?

I understand your objection and yet I cannot agree :-)
We are talking here of someone who has no familiarity with Web forms nor with Piwigo, and wants to upload maybe 20 or 50 photos at a time.
Installing the iPhotoToPiwigo plugin (which I could do on this person's computer) doesn't require them to learn anything new, as this plugin simply adds a tab to the Export... window in iPhoto. This means that uploading pictures in batches would be done via iPhoto, and this person wouldn't need to learn how to use Piwigo's interface.
I don't see how the Flash uploader could offer an alternative/simple way to do this: but maybe I need guidance on this?
Thank you anyway :-)

mistic100 · 2012-09-21 17:40:21

well yes if they know how to use iPhoto and export functions you're right :)

flop25 · 2012-09-21 18:03:47

Well in the Piwigo interface, there is Add->pictures Point! So I don't see that as more difficult as using a iSoftware...
It's more about habit, in that case

martad · 2012-09-22 12:24:05

flop25 wrote:
Well in the Piwigo interface, there is Add->pictures Point! So I don't see that as more difficult as using a iSoftware...

You are correct, there is an Add -> pictures menu item, which offers the choice between a single mode file upload (which is too slow for uploading a few dozens of pictures at a time) and a Flash uploader, which requires having the photos ready for upload as single files.
If I understand correctly, Piwigo does not offer a way to access iPhoto's database, so uploading files from within the Piwigo's interface requires the user to know how to export pictures from iPhoto into a folder, and then go to Piwigo, choose the Add -> picture menu item, select the Flash uploader (which is not immediately available, nor easily found for an inexpert user), and then navigate to that folder to select the file(s) for upload.
This is clear to me, even though maybe a bit convoluted, and I would know how to do it.
Explaining it to someone who is (even) less computer-literate than I am might prove a bit difficult.
Do forgive me if I asked my question in the wrong place. I just realised I should repost it as an iPhotoToPiwigo plugin topic.
Thank you for your time and your help!

flop25 · 2012-09-22 16:33:02

Of course if you choose a 'closed system' to develop or a work-flow software as Lightroom, you're dependent to it... so you need a plugin like I did for Lightroom.
Even for me, to export already existing pictures to a folder and then upload it by ftp or Piwigo interface, is too long too fastidious

Thx for messages ^^

martad · 2012-09-22 19:50:36

flop25 wrote:
Of course if you choose a 'closed system' to develop or a work-flow software as Lightroom, you're dependent to it... [...]
Even for me, to export already existing pictures to a folder and then upload it by ftp or Piwigo interface, is too long too fastidious[...]

Thank you :-)
Just to further clarify - I think the issue here is rather that the range of people who might want to use Piwigo includes some, who either don't know or don't want to know about any new "special software".

The beauty of iPhoto (apart from being pre-loaded on any new Mac) is an extremely intuitive/easy to use interface to a very sophisticated image database. Which of course doesn't help when "common" (non-expert) users want to participate in a shared Web album, such as what could be setup with Piwigo.
Anyhow... I hope there's hope for the future :-)

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Announcement

#1 2012-09-20 12:05:25

Uploading photos in batches for family members

#2 2012-09-20 13:03:09

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

#3 2012-09-20 14:34:17

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

#4 2012-09-20 14:43:20

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

martad wrote:

#5 2012-09-20 15:21:09

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

martad wrote:

#6 2012-09-20 19:12:01

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

#7 2012-09-20 22:36:02

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

#8 2012-09-21 11:05:46

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

flop25 wrote:

#9 2012-09-21 13:21:45

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

#10 2012-09-21 17:00:49

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

mistic100 wrote:

#11 2012-09-21 17:40:21

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

#12 2012-09-21 18:03:47

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

#13 2012-09-22 12:24:05

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

flop25 wrote:

#14 2012-09-22 16:33:02

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

#15 2012-09-22 19:50:36

Re: Uploading photos in batches for family members

flop25 wrote:

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