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#1 2013-04-28 09:15:30

phillip
Member
Registered: 2012-11-19
Posts: 27

Much Needed Functionality

I need to be able to explain individual photos in length with captions.  I understand that for mobile the photoswipe code doesn't allow for the captions to be formatted for html presently, but viewing from a computer captions with line breaks are possible with html and look good from my tests.

I've asked before, but never received an answer; Is there any other possible way to describe individual photos with TTG plugins besides captions?  The ability to describe photos with html is IMHO one of the most important features needed to make TTG completely functional.  This really needs to be worked on as it seems crazy to have all the functionality of TTG, but not have the basic ability to describe photos other than one big hard to read block.

Something else related to captions is that when viewing exported images with captions that are vertical/portrait in composition the photo and captions come up on a computer very small.  Landscape/Horizontal images are a little smaller than normal too, but not really small like verticals.  Pressing the enlarge photo icon will solve that problem, but some people visiting websites won't know to do that and it seems annoying to have to do such anyway.  It also isn't consistent with the other photos without captions which default opening full and thus looks unprofessional.  Is there a way to make photos with captions default to opening full?

Also, recently I've started using Publisher and have noticed that captions don't look right (aren't formatted with html) even on the computer for some reason.  I know that Publisher uses the metadata tokens, but does such use not allow for html?  If so that would be disappointing.

Thanks

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#2 2013-04-28 12:18:54

Matthew
Administrator
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: 2012-09-24
Posts: 5,795
Website

Re: Much Needed Functionality

1) The only way that Lightroom accepts per-image data is via metadata. Metadata is translated into web galleries as captions and titles.

2) I have previously advised against using HTML in captions. It is not officially supported in any way whatsoever.

3) The intended use of image metadata -- in Lightroom, or in any other photo editing/workflow application -- is not to store blocks of formatted text, using HTML or otherwise.

4) If captions are really so important to you, then you would perhaps be better served by managing your imagery via a web-based content-management-system such as WordPress, PixelPost, etc. which are designed for HTML (because the captions would not be stored as image metadata, but has blocks of page content in a site database). This would preclude your being able to manage your imagery via Lightroom, however.

Your requests are noted, but are beyond the scope of our plugins and are beyond the scope of Lightroom as an application.


Matt

The Turning Gate, http://theturninggate.net

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#3 2013-04-28 14:14:49

rod barbee
Moderator
From: Port Ludlow, WA USA
Registered: 2012-09-24
Posts: 17,830
Website

Re: Much Needed Functionality

I suppose one way around this is to use AutoIndex and Stage to create a "gallery" of pictures that have their own individual pages. You could then use the text block in each page to add all the html you like. Nothing automatic or convenient about it as each image would need its own Stage page, but it is a possible solution, especially if you only have a relatively few images that need the extra explanations.


Rod 
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site

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#4 2013-04-29 05:44:20

phillip
Member
Registered: 2012-11-19
Posts: 27

Re: Much Needed Functionality

Thanks for the possible work around Rod and feedback Matt.

If Matt or someone else who might know could answer the other 2 main questions (in bold) I had I would be very grateful.

Is there a way to make photos with captions default to opening full?
Couldn't one include a line of code for that?

Does Publisher's metadata tokens usage differ from a normal export of galleries and thus not allow html?  Regardless of whether HTML should work or not it DOES WORK in normal exports of galleries.  It is very important to me to be able to explain the stories behind images and I'd guess at least a few other users.  I am willing to overlook the mobile not using html if at least people on computers can read about images in nicely formatted text.  If Publisher's use of metadata tokens makes the html code in titles & captions not work viewed from computers I think it should be explained upfront to people that their metadata functionality is a little different.

This lack of basic text formatting support seems to be TTG's weakest link (besides not having one unified way to update a webpage and all plugins at once, Those 2 additions would make TTG almost flawless IMHO).  To say basic html in captions & titles it is beyond the scope of LR & the TTG plugins doesn't make sense as it DOES WORK on basic export, except for mobile and apparently Publisher.  I would like to try solving this html functionality issue with mobile if at all possible.  I wouldn't mind having some people look at the file and paying for coding it to work if that is at all possible.  Could someone point me to which file/s would be needed to look at for this?  Perhaps the mobile.php & or mobile_template.php for a gallery?

I think it should be explained upfront to people that using TTG they can't describe photos with even basic line breaks because I feel some users may save a lot of time not working to figure out how to use and creating a site with TTG and then learning that text is so limited.  Besides this I love TTG and would really like to see TTG flourish & improve.  And like I said, I'm happy that at least it works on computers and if I can figure out how get photos with captions to open up full than that will be great. 

Much Appreciated

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#5 2013-04-29 06:10:21

rod barbee
Moderator
From: Port Ludlow, WA USA
Registered: 2012-09-24
Posts: 17,830
Website

Re: Much Needed Functionality

...besides not having one unified way to update a webpage and all plugins at once....

that would be phplugins as well as using shared resources from Pages and album/album set templates.

Is there a way to make photos with captions default to opening full?

Not with the plugins as they are.
Matt will have to address having images with caption automatically open full (seems that would create a big mess on the screen when you have several images opening at once....), but I imagine it will involve some extra java or php coding to interrogate all the images to see which have captions.

I haven't experimented with including html in the captions of Publisher managed galleries. Have you tried it yet?

I think it should be explained upfront to people that using TTG they can't describe photos with even basic line breaks because I feel some users may save a lot of time not working to figure out how to use and creating a site with TTG and then learning that text is so limited.

Frankly, being around this forum for quite awhile now, I've not seen this request pop up more than once or twice. And then it was just someone wanting to place a link, not formatting entire paragraphs of text.


Rod 
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site

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#6 2013-04-29 06:46:06

phillip
Member
Registered: 2012-11-19
Posts: 27

Re: Much Needed Functionality

Thanks Rod,

So by using phplugins and shared resources one doesn't need to copy the  style settings from Pages and paste it into HSG, CRG, Cart, AI, etc if one wants to make a basic change like add a new link to the nav bar or change the masthead, etc?  How does one enable shared resources?

Yes I tried uploading photos using Pub  with simple html things like <p> & <br/> and it is like mobile in that it makes the code visible and doesn't break lines.

Yes I know for most people short descriptions are sufficient, but for anyone wanting to explain stories and meanings behind things it isn't very functional without html.

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#7 2013-04-29 07:38:59

rod barbee
Moderator
From: Port Ludlow, WA USA
Registered: 2012-09-24
Posts: 17,830
Website

Re: Much Needed Functionality

Enable Shared Resources by checking the Get Shared Resources from TTG CE3 Pages box in the Output Settings control pane. It's the very last item. This will share global styling such as fonts, page color, navigation styling, footer styling, etc. Just about everything except the block and grid individual stylings
http://ce3wiki.theturninggate.net/doku. … _resources (ignore the shared JQuery box, it's been removed)
Using this will cut down on the number of files needed on line. You'll still probably want to copy your template settings to other engines just for design purposes, if nothing else.

With phplugins you can manage navigation site wide. This makes it really easy to add items to the nav menu without needing to update every publisher template or stage page or autoindex page or gallery. It's all controlled by one file.

Yes I know for most people short descriptions are sufficient, but for anyone wanting to explain stories and meanings behind things it isn't very functional without html.

And this is where using Stage would help. Remember, Matt is limited in what he can do by what Lightroom is capable of. If you want more than that, then you might need to investigate the CMS options Matt mentioned.


Rod 
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site

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#8 2013-04-29 08:11:03

phillip
Member
Registered: 2012-11-19
Posts: 27

Re: Much Needed Functionality

I figured I am fine with CE2 until Cart is available, so didn't bother to upgrade yet.  I didn't know that shared resources is now available in CE3.  That is a huge improvement.

Aren't the text options even more limited in CE3 though?  That would be my only concern.  I recall people talking about not be able to do various things with text in CE3.

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#9 2013-04-29 09:04:40

rod barbee
Moderator
From: Port Ludlow, WA USA
Registered: 2012-09-24
Posts: 17,830
Website

Re: Much Needed Functionality

From my point of view, you can do more with the text blocks in CE3. The responsive grid framework for block text is very cool. You can create nice looking tables too.
The options in the typography section of Site Info are not a lot different from CE2 to CE3. There are more heading options in CE2, for instance. And in the block areas of CE2 are individualized color controls for paragraphs, headings, etc.
In CE3, all typography controls are in Site Info.
Using either Markdown or html you can insert links or use bold and italic styling. You can easily create lists and blockquotes. And if you want to do more, you can do anything you want with text using custom css.


Rod 
Just a user with way too much time on his hands.
www.rodbarbee.com
ttg-tips.com, Backlight 2/3 test site

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#10 2013-04-29 10:24:33

phillip
Member
Registered: 2012-11-19
Posts: 27

Re: Much Needed Functionality

Sounds good.  Thanks for the rundown of new features Rod.

One thing I was referring to was how Boje mentioned in a post that he missed being able to align title and caption separately now in CE3.  If this is the case that is too bad.  Centering titles and having captions align to the left looks good, but centering both or having titles to the left not so much.  I think its good to take away unneeded options, but that is something that would be good to keep.

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