Video Gallery Creation

with1goodi · 2012-12-22 03:20:53

I have CE2 Pages and have used the "Galleries" menu for my stills. I want to create a similar gallery, but for Video. Any thoughts? I can use my Services page, but can only get one video on the page?? Can I use the CE2 Auto Index for Video?
Cheers

rod barbee · 2012-12-22 03:23:47

use TTG CE2 AutoIndex and TTG CE2 Stage.
Stage will hold individual videos, and AutoIndex will act as a "gallery" for them.

with1goodi · 2012-12-23 07:46:56

I got AutoIndex and put video content in Stages. I uploaded them and that works great, but how do I get them into my main site that I created in Pages? I tried changing the name of the PHP file (used Services menu) created in the AutoIndex and replacing the one in the Pages. Got online and the tutorials do not address the new PHP version.
Sorry for my confusion I was lead to believe this was a good product for non-coders.
Cheers and hope someone can clear this up.

with1goodi · 2012-12-23 07:58:30

Rod Barbee got on your site and I must say some very nice photography. You have added more menus than that was included in Pages. Can you explain to me how to add a menu created in AutoIndex?
I noticed you have done some teaching. I currently teach Photoshop at the University of Guelph/Humber in Toronto, Canada. I am testing this product as an easy way to get my students work online, but I think it takes more coding knowledge than my photo students want to learn.
Sorry for the ranting.

rod barbee · 2012-12-23 09:42:14

In the Site Info control pane in Pages, in the navigation setting, just add another link. There's room for 10 items as is and you can add more by using the Custom Nav. field.

Let's say you're creating a Videos gallery page. Add Videos as the label and your intended destination as the target. Let's assume you want to put your video gallery in the root of the site so the target would be /videos.

Create an Autoindex page to hold all the videos, export it and name it "videos".

Upload the entire exported autoindex "videos" folder to the root.

Now, when you click on the Videos link you created in Pages, you'll be taken to your classy new videos page.

You've already got your video gallery autoindex page up and running so you could simply create a menu item for that in Pages and target it at wherever it is now on your site.

You'll also probably want to add that Videos menu item to all your galleries, indexes, and video pages you've created. The easiest way to do that is to implement phplugins. It's actually a lot easier than it sounds and Matt's already included the needed navigation code in the phplugins.php file that gets created when you enable phplugins. All you need to do is modify it to match your own navigation.

(I highly suggest you enable phplugins and fill in the "Server Path to PHPlugins..." field in all your galleries, Stage pages, and autoindexes no matter what. It won't do anything until you add or enable any code inside the file, but it will save you a bunch of time later on--you won't have to reexport all those pages just to enable the phplugins)

_____

For all those other menu items I have on my site, I first created pages for them. The Workshops, and Lessons pages are both autoindex pages. As are the Articles and Books page and the Newsletters page. I'm just not using the grid in either. I added those pages before Stage CE2 was available, but if I was to add other similar pages, I'd use Stage instead.

Like I mentioned, my Workshops page is another Autoindex. You'll notice that the menu items there differ from the main page. Those pages are all either more Autoindex pages or Stage pages. I don't remember which is which at the moment. Many of them were created before Stage CE2 was released.

And I manage all my menus with phplugins. One set for the main part of the site and another for the Workshops section.

On teaching, I've begun putting together materials to start teaching TTG plugins to my workshop clients. For those just starting out, they really don't need to know any coding at all. Right out of the box, anybody can have a really nice basic website. Once they get comfortable using the plugins then they can start adding the bells and whistles. In fact, I started with just the Highslide gallery so I could finally (and easily) post some image galleries.
I sort of got carried away after that.....

rod

with1goodi · 2012-12-23 09:56:54

Thanks Rod, I will try that, but once you have navigated to the "Video" menu created in AutoIndex, how do you set the buttons to go back to the original pages? Do you set that in Navigation Hyperlinks and what is the syntax?
Thanks for all this.
I think teaching the Pages may be simple... it is all the extra stuff we like to tinker with that may be too confusing to them.
Cheers
Gord

with1goodi · 2012-12-23 10:33:49

Given enough hours, I can figure this out... it was simple, just use the drop-down menu in the Navigation > target.
Still a slow road having to upload PHP and check it live each time you want to see if things are working.
Thanks to Rod I am on my way to a fine website!

rod barbee · 2012-12-23 10:34:47

When you're on your Videos page, just click on the Home link in the nav menu to go back to your home page. Just set up the navigation in the Videos Autoindex page to match that of your Pages set up. You'll need to do this for all your Stage video pages too (unless you implement PHPlugins based navigation)

We might be on two different wavelengths here. When you say Video "menu", you're talking about the autoindex page that contains your videos, right?

You set all your navigation in the Navigation section of the Site Info control pane in all TTG engines. There's no syntax other than entering the URL to the page you want the link to go to.
If that page is in the root of your site, you can simply write it as /page/ (if it's an autoindex or stage page) or /info.php, /contact.php, etc. if it's one of the standard pages created by the Pages export.

with1goodi · 2012-12-23 10:48:51

I think I have the navigation working. Yes I added Video to my main menu in Pages and created a gallery page using AutoIndex where I have links to other pages that contain video (I used the Gallery in Pages for my Stills). The Video in the main set is linked to the AutoIndex galley page and then from the AutoIndex page back to the main set (created in Pages).
I will need to figure out PHP plugins later.
Thanks again for all your help. I have to now go and do some Christmas stuff.
Happy Holidays
Gord

rod barbee · 2012-12-23 11:38:56

glad it's working. Hope you have a happy holiday too.

rod

Matthew · 2012-12-23 12:26:41

This conversation got huge while I was sleeping. Excellent work, Rod. I wanted to address this remark, though:

... I am testing this product as an easy way to get my students work online, but I think it takes more coding knowledge than my photo students want to learn ...

Actually, TTG plugins require no coding at all. The only this we require of our users is that they put folders inside of or alongside other folders to make sure the pieces are all in the right place. For example, you export galleries and put them inside the /galleries/ folder.

For those who want to code, we provide ample opportunity to do so. But it's absolutely not a necessity. Having read through your conversation with Rod, it sounds like you've really overcomplicated the process of creating your site by assuming things must be more complicated than they actually are.

Of course, that's why we have a forum to help people along.

But if you take a step back and approach the plugins a second time, keeping utter simplicity in mind, I think you'll find them much simpler than in your first approach.

with1goodi · 2012-12-24 22:11:33

Mattew - When I first looked into Turning Gate plugins what caught my eye was TTG Pages, where I could create a website with the basic menus with galleries created in LR.
I was looking for a simple way to get my students’ still images and video online. You could display both together in the ‘Galleries’ menu, but I realized you needed TTG Stage to hold the video (clicking from the thumbnail in Galleries menu).
After purchasing TTG Stage, I thought it might be better to have a separate menu for the Videos but I need to buy TTG AutoIndex.
The modular way TTG plugin is sold is good and bad. It means I can purchase each plugin as I need it, but to build a full robust site it can get expensive. Maybe a discount on multiple purchases (sorry I am starting to think like my students) or a couple of popular combinations at a reduced price would work, although I did not know what modules I needed in the beginning.
The downside of the modular method is that you have to make the plugins work together. This is where it broke for me. I have read a lot of the documentation online and did not find a tutorial that took you step by step through the process. A lot is assumed in the documentation. The TTG audience doesn't really understand file hierarchy (your article needs to be dummied-down). Maybe a plugin that is a full version of all the plugins where you do not have to worry about moving folders around would work if that is even possible to create.
Cheers

Matthew · 2012-12-24 22:21:36

1. A dedicated web-designer gets expensive; my plugins are more than reasonably priced without additional discounts, priced as they are as a component system. And anyway, if The Turning Gate doesn't bring in enough to sustain me, then I go and I get a real job. Then I don't have the time to be here, TTG stalls and support goes to hell.

2. We have tutorials on the blog -- a Basics tutorial, and a series of Advanced tutorials that walks you through the setup of a sprawling website.

3. A "full-version" plugin would bring Lightroom to its knees, and in many ways just wouldn't be possible without severely limiting the scope of what can be done. We're already pushing the boundaries of the Web module as it is.

4. If you want something simpler than the component system, you could head over to the Photographer's Toolbox to see some of their all-in-one options. But then you don't have any options for video galleries at all, among other limitations. This is why components win the day.

with1goodi · 2012-12-25 01:35:17

Sorry not intended to be negative. Maybe I should not say anything and deal with what is out there because there are no perfect solutions for everyone.
End.

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2012-12-22 03:20:53

Video Gallery Creation

#2 2012-12-22 03:23:47

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#3 2012-12-23 07:46:56

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#4 2012-12-23 07:58:30

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#5 2012-12-23 09:42:14

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#6 2012-12-23 09:56:54

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#7 2012-12-23 10:33:49

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#8 2012-12-23 10:34:47

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#9 2012-12-23 10:48:51

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#10 2012-12-23 11:38:56

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#11 2012-12-23 12:26:41

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#12 2012-12-24 22:11:33

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#13 2012-12-24 22:21:36

Re: Video Gallery Creation

#14 2012-12-25 01:35:17

Re: Video Gallery Creation

Board footer