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I was grumbling about Lightroom's slowness in creating web folders yesterday and Rod suggested I buy Publisher as it was far faster.
I bought the full Web Publishing package having learnt about the benefits of Auto Index and Pages.
I've just looked at that installation video and it talks about creating a whole new 'gallery'. No doubt it will give me benefits of indexing and continuity of style - but neither are to me a problem.
The video also assumes that the Lightroom being used to create the web folders is on a computer connected to the internet. Mine is not. I create my folders on a machine in my studio that has no phone line. I port them on a USB stick to this machine and upload them to my FTP server. I use this machine to create the hyperlink to the appropriate menu and upload the new menu.
My main web site menu is http://www.tonygamble.org/hurllist/
Every folder on my FTP server is within a folder called public_html
I am somewhat scared about installing anything I have bought on to my FTP - particularly creating a new 'gallery' when my existing one contains 1,119 folders - all linked into one of about six menus.
I may thus have bought far more than I need. So be it - my fault for not looking at the installation video first.
But can I get the benefit of faster web folder creation without needing to tinker with my FTP site and start a new gallery on top of the ones I already have?
Tony
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Publisher needs to be connected to your site. So the computer containing your Lightroom catalog needs to be connected to the internet.
Publisher will also need a folder to publish to (a galleries folder). Looking at your site, I see that most, if not all, of your galleries are in the root of the site rather than organized into categorizing sub-folders.
This is fine for your existing galleries but if you choose to use Publisher to create new albums, you'll need to alter your folder structure somewhat by adding a top-level folder to the root of the site for Publisher to use. All future albums will be in that folder.
http://ce4.theturninggate.net/docs/doku … r_settings
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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Publisher needs to be connected to your site.
So, to confirm, I cannot use the web creation facility within it if I my computer has no internet connection?
Tony
Last edited by tonygamble (2015-04-11 22:28:37)
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Correct. A work-around would be to manage your galleries on your local machine, running a web server such as WAMP or MAMP, and to use FTP software to synchronise key directories. I can advise in more detail if that approach sounds reasonable to you.
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Thanks Ben.
Anything would do or I am 85 USD down the pan.
All I wanted was to create web folders faster and Rod said that Publisher did it far, far faster.
I don't want all the other gubbins of Auto Index and Pages. I only bought them as it was not a lot more money than the basic Publisher. I had no idea that Publisher needed an internet connection simply to make web folders and I am very nervous about putting this extra software on my FTP server when I don't understand it.
Rod has just said "if you choose to use Publisher to create new albums, you'll need to alter your folder structure somewhat by adding a top-level folder to the root of the site for Publisher to use. All future albums will be in that folder." I don't want to do that and it sounds a recipe for problems with some of the site in one top level folder and others in another top level folder.
So, yes, what is the simplest way to trick Publisher to thinking it is seeing the internet, please? I don't want it 'to manage galleries'. I do that with Frontpage - it may not be overtly pretty but at least I understand it.
Tony
PS. I also hate Lightroom catalogues. I don't need them and delete mine weekly!!
Tony
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Hi Tony, are there any road-blocks in changing your workflow? It's a reasonable assumption that to create web galleries that your PC actually be on the web.
Catalogues are also central to the use of Lightroom. Without them you're rendering LR to be little more than an image viewer (if even that). The Publisher settings, album structure and contents of the galleries, are all stored in the catalogue. This isn't just our approach, but integral to the way that Lightroom functions.
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Hi Tony, are there any road-blocks in changing your workflow? It's a reasonable assumption that to create web galleries that your PC actually be on the web.
Would you run an FTP site with a thousand plus folders on a root folder and new entries on another root folder?
Take a look at my main menu on http://www.tonygamble.org/hurllist/
It is not pretty but it works. I'd much prefer to put Monday's web folder at the top of the list rather than start another menu. And I want to start adding 'archive' entries at the bottom as I scan old negs and previously unpublished digital folders. I really don't want an old menu and a new one.
Catalogues are also central to the use of Lightroom. Without them you're rendering LR to be little more than an image viewer (if even that). The Publisher settings, album structure and contents of the galleries, are all stored in the catalogue. This isn't just our approach, but integral to the way that Lightroom functions.
I only use it as an image viewer that has a web folder creating facilty that supports Matthew's plug in. Matthew is the only person I found who created web folders that swiped and autosized on pads and phones. I looked a jAlbum and WordPress but they all wanted me to use their web sites. Matthew lets me use my own.
I convert my RAWs with Qimage as it does it better than LR. I edit any shots in Picture Window Pro as it does it better than Photoshop. I had consigned Lightroom to the archived software until I came across TTG!
Tony
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The reason that Publisher creates albums faster than Lightroom can export galleries is that the template file for creating the albums is already online.
When you generate galleries in the Web Module, Lightroom will create a single.html (or single.php) file for each image in the gallery (this is for SEO and social media stuff). With Publisher, the single files are created on-line and don't need to be output by Lightroom, that's why it's so much faster.
As to the master "galleries" folder. Publisher needs a folder in which to place your albums (as outlined here). And it has to be a folder on the same server level as ttg-be (another folder with more files and a database that you'll need to install on the server), therefore you would definitely need another folder.
There's no reason to be nervous about putting more files on your server. Matt and Ben have designed a wonderful system that many, many people are using without any security problems.
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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I looked a jAlbum and WordPress but they all wanted me to use their web sites. Matthew lets me use my own.
You can install WordPress on your own site. In fact, that's the best way to do it as then you'll be able to use third-party themes and plug-ins for galleries, etc.
Matt even created his Theme for WordPress Lightroom plug-in so that users could match the design of their WordPress blog to the rest of their TTG site.
https://wordpress.org/
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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Hi Tony, I think you need to think outside the box a little. I say this as somebody who once used my own Linux bash scripts to rename, resize and send imported images to various places (including the small LCD screen on my iRiver MP3 Player). It was brilliant at the time, and had some advantages that packaged software can't bring to the table, but I'm glad that I moved on.
Was this a rhetorical question? "Would you run an FTP site with a thousand plus folders on a root folder and new entries on another root folder?" If not, then yes I would - other than a direct Internet connection, using FTP or otherwise, would you get your 1000+ folders up there?
There are two reasons that Publisher doesn't create albums at the root level. Firstly, that would require making your entire site writable by the web server, which raises serious security concerns. Secondly, should Publisher malfunction in an as-yet unknown way, then it can not cause damage outside of your designated galleries directories. Perhaps selfishly, we don't want that liability.
Is it security concerns that have you process your images and upload them on different machines? Publisher is now three years old, and has been used by many, many customers without a single security scare.
At some point, you'll need to meet us and Lightroom half way (or abandon Publisher, which would be unfortunate). That would most likely involve:
1) Maintaining a Lightroom catalogue
2) Publishing galleries to a sub-directory, such as 'galleries'
3) Connecting the machine that handles your photos to the Internet
For step 1), to do otherwise you are really fighting against the tool that is designed to help you.
For step 2), you could still maintain the content on your homepage by pointing your gallery links to the new URLs. For example, had your top-most gallery been exported with Publisher, the link might be http://www.tonygamble.org/galleries/Flowers_April_2015/
For step 3), that depends on the logistics and rationale for separating the PC that processes images from the Internet.
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Thanks folk.
Pardon my slow replies. In the UK we have just had the Grand National and in hour we have the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race.
The latter is outside my window!
Back later.
Tony
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No worries Tony, enjoy! For some context, I'm about to hit the hay after spending 11 hours travelling from south Luzon to north Luzon island in the Philippines.
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Thanks again guys.
Brief spell between the two races. Oxford ladies beat Cambridge ladies. Chaps at 17.50..
Time to think.
I see what you are saying now about access to the FTP and working in a secure area.
What I could do is totally abandon LR on my studio PC and bring the folders of file to 'publish' via memory stick to my office PC with the internet link. In fact there would be an advantage as those files have no 'signature' overlaid. I need those clean files when my clients ask for copies and it will save time to have them on this machine - rather than going to the studio to collect them.
As long as I can cross hyperlink from one base folder to the other - and I am sure I can - I see no problem about having another base folder to my existing public_html one. I'd probably call the new one publisher_galleries to remind myself why it is there.
Now to re-look at that installation video - and of course it is much easier to use now it is viewable on the machine on which I am doing the installation.
Bye for the moment.
Tony
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Can you confirm that I put the TTH-BE files in my public_html folder please? Or in the root?
I then do I create my galleries folder within that public_html folder or back from the root of the FTP server.
I am going to give this a go tomorrow morning (GMT) and maybe none of you good folk will be around to guide me.
Sleep well.
Tony
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public_html and the root of your site are the same thing.
your folder structure should look like this:
public_html/ (root of site)
ttg-be/
galleries/
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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Thanks Rod.
Tony
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Good morning gents.
I have loaded the first bits into Lightroom and now am trying to get the ttg-be login.
I am getting 503 Service unavailable with my browser. The data config is all ticks when I have the config showing 777.
I have no problem accessing the site with my normal FTP software which is Filezilla.
If it is a setting at the FTP supplier then I don't expect to get much help on a Sunday - and anyway I don't know what to ask him.
What can I try next, please?
EDIT
AH. Now I at least get that text. Odd.....But worth more fiddling around I guess.
SECOND EDIT.
Does this help?
mkdir(): No such file or directory|#0 [internal function]: ErrorHandler::handleError(2, 'mkdir(): No suc...', 'D:\Sites\tonyga...', 144, Array) #1 D:\Sites\tonygamble.org\public_html\ttg-be\framework\helpers\GenericApplicationHelper.php(144): mkdir('CORE_DATA_DIR/s...') #2 D:\Sites\tonygamble.org\public_html\ttg-be\framework\helpers\AuthHelper.php(58): GenericApplicationHelper::makeDataDirectoryIfNeeded('CORE_DATA_DIR/s...') #3 D:\Sites\tonygamble.org\public_html\ttg-be\framework\init.php(95): AuthHelper::handleSession() #4 D:\Sites\tonygamble.org\public_html\ttg-be\admin\index.php(17): require_once('D:\Sites\tonyga...') #5 {main}|URL: /ttg-be/admin/index.php
Tony
Last edited by tonygamble (2015-04-12 21:03:31)
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Hi Tony, there is a very high chance that this is failing due to running on Windows with IIS. TTG products are not supported on Windows servers, and especially not on Windows servers running IIS, since we do not have the capability of testing in that environment with the multiple versions of IIS out there. PHP on IIS also exhibits non-standard behaviour that we have not catered to.
Having said that, it may be worth checking that the file ttg-be/config.php exists. For whatever reason, that file hasn't been found or read, resulting in that error message.
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This is the host, Ben.
Presumably you can work out whether they are running the software you say causes problems?
I'll look for the .php file.
EDIT. It is there.
EDIT. Does it need special permissions?
Tony
Last edited by tonygamble (2015-04-12 22:26:04)
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That is in fact the system your site is on. The giveaway was the style of the error page when I went to an invalid page..
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There may be some hope. If you're not running Windows-specific pages, then it may be worth asking them to switch your site to a Linux server.
Other than TTG products, do you have other dynamic pages on your site such as those connecting to databases? If not then a migration should be straightforward, depending on their policies of course.
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Ben,
No there is nothing dynamic. There are .doc and spreadsheets but I don't think one calls them Windows-specific does one?
The whole thing is a socking great batch of images, html files and hyperlinks. Presumably Linux treats them the same as Windows.
A quarter of a million files and about 23 gigs,
I can't see them doing it for nothing and probably they will up my monthly charge. All this to get web folders being created a bit faster. I can't see myself doing much more with what comes with Publisher. I can build my menus and sub menus with Frontpage and that is pretty well all I need.
And then there is inevitably a minor chance that on the new server I still cannot get Publisher to run.
Maybe I'll feel more confident when tomorrow comes and I can talk to them.
Bye for now.
Tony
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Hi Tony, those files aren't specific to Windows servers.
We've often found that hosts will switch users between Windows and Linux at no cost and with no effort from the customer. It's worth asking.
You could claim that you are not satisfied with their PHP support, which wouldn't be a lie: PHP runs in a non-standard way on IIS. As an example, when our code tells the browser to redirect to a different URL, IIS servers intercept the request and attempt to redirect within files on the server without telling the browser to update the location. Functionality like that flies on the face of the HTTP spec.
There may be a minor chance you'll face issues on a Linux server, but that's the platform we support and we go to great lengths to help customers work through any issues.
Publisher brings a lot more to the table than faster publishing: two of them being the ability to change the design of any number of galleries with a change of template, the ability to add, remove and reorder images without re-uploading galleries.
I can set you up with Publisher access to my dev server if you'd like to try it out.
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Thank you Ben.
You have spent more than a fair share of your time on a potentially unsophisticated customer. The ability to change design of galleries and add, remove and re-order images is something I am most unlikely to do.
You will have seen my main site. It is nothing more than a big photographic scrap book. It does the deed for the limited number of people it interests. I wanted swipe and autosize and you provided it. (Interestingly I sat next to a two year old girl at lunch last week and her mother told me with great pride that she knew how to swipe !!)
My interest in Publisher comes from that comment from Rod that web building is far, far, faster. As I was building my web folders on my studio machine there was a limit to the things I could do whilst it churned and churned. If I do the folder building on this PC in my home I can at least brew a cup of coffee.
If you care to set me up with Publisher access on your dev server I'll at least be able to see what Rod means by far, far faster. If there is a real difference I'll (a) see what my FTP guys say about moving me to Linux. If not then it really is not worth the effort as the 'system ain't broke' as it is.
Maybe sometime I may be tempted to redesign my galleries but I doubt it. I have ten years of negatives to digitize and add to my scrapbook - and doing that is, for me anyway, more important than making the existing ones a bit smarter.
Thanks again for your help. It is much appreciated and valued.
Tony
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... The ability to change design of galleries ... is something I am most unlikely to do.
You may not be keen to change designs frequently, but this also allows you to update your existing templates for all previously published galleries, for example when we release gallery updates, fixes, etc. that you might wish to take advantage of.
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