How to upload JAlbum Gallery

[proactivator]

A bit of panic developing here! In this site http://www.timchadsey .co.uk I have (had) an image gallery created in photoshop and that is (was) in an i-frame in the "gallery" page. That has been fine for a few years (I updated it regularly with no trouble) but now I have created a new image gallery using JAlbum. I used ftp to load the new gallery under public.html in my site and put the new link http://www.timchadsey.co.uk/TC-Furniture/index.html into the i-frame. Now I have no gallery at all. I do not know what I have done wrong. Help is really needed here as I have been going around in circles all day. Thanks.

[Vasili]

Calm down and simply re-try things using the smarter method: create and auto-install JAlbum properly to your domain using the Fantastico! feature in your cPanel ... it will even automatically create a properly configured Directory.

Once you have JAlbum set up the right way, you can then "configure" it with your images in the formatted Theme the way you desire. Keep in mind to search online for one of the thousands of free themes to use, many of which are available to download (then upload) from the JAlbum site itself.

Once everything is loaded correctly, with a Theme you like, and stable in the Directory on your Domain, then you can display it just as you did earlier -- with an iFrame, which will use the direct link to your new JAlbum Directory.

BTW: You do not add "index" to the hyperlink in the iFrame to link to and display your JAlbum. It is written simply and commonly seen as " http://www.YourSite.com/whatever-you-named-your-jalbum-directory-during-installation/ "

If you need to refresh yourself on the methods required (i.e. iFrames, Hyperlinking, Using Fantastico, etc.), simply peruse the particular Video Tutorial to bring you up to speed.

Simple.

[proactivator]

Vasili, thank you for your thorough and well explained info. One thing, I have looked at Fantastico in my Cpanel but cannot find any mention of JAlbum in the list of image galleries on the left side of Fantastico. What to do? As a work around ( and I feel absolutely sure you are going to tell me I am totally wrong: don't worry, I'm expecting it) I have put the link address in my iframe to the JAlbum that I have published in JAlbum's site. It works, but is it right?. Once again, thank you for the time and trouble you have spent on my query.

[Vasili]

Hmmmm ... last time I looked in my cPanel it was there (it is a regularly featured script in cPanel, and VodaHost does not "edit" available scripts). Now I am worried, as I have been planning on using Fantastico to install JAlbum as well. I will have to take a look soon when I have the chance ....

[proactivator]

Would be grateful if you would let me know when you have had a look.

[Vasili]

Well, it's not there anymore ... now it's just Coppermine, Gallery, and some other new "4-something" ....

Coppermine is very similar to JAlbum (and has similar skins), but I went ahead and paid for JAlbum yesterday to get the more advanced features (no advertising, the foremost) to use with the skin I had chosen to make my FlipBook Magazines.

How did you upload JAlbum to your hosting account? I have yet to format an album, and can only see the method where JAlbum prompts you to uplod to their server ...

[proactivator]

I came across JAlbum some years ago and liked it a lot from the start. I agree about paying for the no advertising feature I also pay a small amount for having up to 10GB storage on their servers. Just load the album/gallery you have created to your space on JAlbum's server and you can then, as I have done, (see http://www.timchadsey.co.uk ) create the link in an i-frame. As I said previously, it works but feel that there must be a better way. In the JAlbum tutorials http://www.jalbum.net/en/help/tutori...tegrate-jalbum it tells one how to embed an album in one's own site. How do their instructions have to be modified for a BV site? Is there any possibility of a JAlbum script being included in Fantastico? Just as an aside, you used to have the links to some of the sites you created,when I looked a few years ago, and I much admired the clean look and functionality of them.

[proactivator]

In my last post I created an invalid link. Should be http://www.timchadsey.co.uk/gallery.html

[Vasili]

I think you are missing the point .... if you download it (free version or paid), you must then "upload" it somewhere -- to their limited hosting, or, as they stipulate across their site: "on your own website, in your own hosting" account. This is what I want to do --- to install it on a Directory upon a single Domain, not only so there is no loss of continuity of URL's displayed (or the need to "mask" the URL that will display if using JAlbum hosting), and so I can not be limited to how many albums I create as a matter of space limitations (there is no limitations on VodaHost hosting accounts), as I will be creating 5 magazines for 30 cities each year (or approximately 150 magazines of 88-315 pages each -- a tremendous space allotment), notwithstanding the organizational benefits for keeping everything under one Domain, as there is also no restriction on Bandwidth as a VodaHost customer to complicate things when worrying about band allowances to accommodate visitors viewing each hefty magazine or multiple visitors requesting display of various issues.

But, the most important aspect of this issue is the compelling desire to have my JAlbum-created 'digital magazines' within my single Domain hosting for all the benefits of SEO values being organically created for that Domain rather than deal with the diminished values of using iFrames in addition to the source hosting being separate from the Domain itself. My entire enterprise efforts depend on the tight optimization to return nothing but superlative results in order to validate the exposure (impressions) of the digital editions for advertisers in the magazines (as the printed versions are easily validated via standard audit). Having my magazines (albums) hosted within any hosting account other than the Primary Domain would negate this critical element of proper website performance and detract from the Business Model entirely.

Do you have a clearer understanding of not only what I want but how the aspect of having albums hosted separately creates additional considerations?

Additionally, JAlbum announces clearly the ability to add an album display via HTML (I forgot whether the code they example is for an iFrame display, or if it is truly a scripted population), and this "code" is simply added to a BlueVoda site by using the HTML Box method. This is a completely different method (if not an iFrame, for which BV has a different 'Box' to configure), and begs me to explore more. Unfortunately, I am still tinkering with setting up a FlipBook theme so I can display editions of magazine upon my pages ... once I can successfully "load" each individual album to a directory on my domain as I prefer (mimicing a Fantastrico-assisted installation). Understand??

And, the link for the iFrame I replied with works just as good if not better (as it is more trim and cogent, and will likely be easier for Visitors to remember and aid them as they cogitate their navigation). IMO.

[proactivator]

I understand your need to have all your resources under the one domain and at the moment JAlbum's instructions for embedding an album uses an iframe to link an album that is hosted by them. Not what you want and not what I want, though my need is not as critical as yours. For the moment I have a gallery that works but if I can ever properly embed it in my site then that is what I shall do. Thank you for all your help.

[proactivator]

Vasili, Have just extracted this from the JAlbum forum about how to publish to your own site.



1. Start Jalbum.
2. Open an album that you want to upload.
3. Click the arrow on the "Publish" button and select "Publish/Manage...." A window will open now that lists your FTP-account profiles. You need to create a new profile for yoursite.com
4. Click the "Add", select "Use an existing account on another server" and click "OK".
5. Fill in the FTP server name and user name and password for yoursite.com.
6. Click "Connect", select the appropriate place to publish the album and then press the "Upload".
7. When the album is uploaded, you change your home page (your index.html file) for http://www.yoursite.com/ to add a link to your new album.

Does this help?

[Vasili]

So ... you can't simply upload the Albums (Files) individually via BlueFTP or File Manager in cPanel??
In other words, you are compelled to use their "upload protocol" similar to how you must Publish from within BlueVoda any BlueVoda-created webpage??

That seems unnecessarily complicated, and leaves open the backdoor on the FTP access (inviting hacks) ....

And ... your instruction to change the index page name makes no logical sense either: when transferring (uploading) individual albums to a single Directory, there is no possibility to have multiple Index pages especially if I am not using iFrames, but a direct link to that album to populate a page of its own. It needs be each album can be linked (accessed) according to individual Title of album, just as you would logically assume a directory with multiple download files is accessed.
EXAMPLE: www.MySite.com/downloads/download1.pdf ... www.MySite.com/downloads/download2.pdf ... and so on. You can see the particular file extension is the most important part to identify the download.

I need: www.MySite.com/digital/Tampa-Preview ... www.MySite.com/digital/Tampa-Q1 .... www.MySite.com/digital/Tampa-Q2 and ... so on
And , within the same Directory: www.MySite.com/digital/SanFrancisco-Q1 ... www.MySite.com/digital/LosAngeles-Q1 ... and so on for 30 Cities, each with 4 Quarterly editions. A Single Directory, not 150 directrories (30 Cities x 5 issues eacxh) ... see??

See the logic of this "Index" page naming and linking you keep injecting being against all previous protocols?? This is, of course, based on knowing the album file extension .... and since it is not truly a "site" but a file system, it should not need to be preceeded with "index" as in "index.html".... but simply the JAlbum extension: "www.MySite.com/digital/Tampa-Preview.whatever-JAlbum-file-extension-goes-here " ---- is it as simple as just " www.MySite.com/digital/Tampa-Preview.html .... and within the same directory " www.MySite.com/digital/Tampa-Q1.html " and so on.

I do not believe that each individual album requires an individual Directory, as this "Index" naming process you describe suggests. If it DOES require individual Directories, I will refuse this anti-logic and move over to Coppermine.

[proactivator]

Sorry about that. Remember, Vasili, I'm only the messenger! When I have a moment I shall trawl through the JAlbum forums to get a get a a fuller view of what people are doing with their uploads. Good luck: I would be interested to hear what you do in the end.