Thread

I currently manage a very large image gallery in excess of 5,000 images - http://graffcentral.com/new01.php

I am looking for a way to handle this type of gallery in expression engine.

What I would like to do is to have a batch import similar to EE1 image gallery.

I would like to be able to enter the images at the top levels o to speak then sort by the following:

Separate images into main gallery pages by a top level category: New |  2010 |  2009 etc.

Then from there have the images sorted by categories/additional info:
- Year
- Month
- Location
- Event (crew)
- Custom Number (to fine tune sorting using alpha)
- Artist (only used for filtering)

So if I was to add a few images with the following parameters they would sort themselves going down the list of sort criteria.

2010, Jan, Adelaide, Jam, 1, Name9
2010, Jan, Adelaide, Jam, 2, Name8
2010, Jan, Adelaide, Jam, 3, Name7
2010, Jan, Adelaide, Jam, 4, Name6
2010, Jan, Sydney, Skate, 1, Amanda
2009,Dec, Adelaide, Dance, 1, Graham

I am looking for some advice or even someone to quote the project for me.

At the ned of the day I would like to be able to control the way and order images are displayed at an entry tag level.
Paging I would like to behave like EE used to behave with real page numbers.
Number or entries to be paged at a template level too.

With paging I would like to be able to split the navigation with “x” pages at the top then the rest underneath the thumbs as per example (http://graffcentral.com/new01.php) then in some cases I would mirror it so that the top and bottom are the same when page numbers are low (http://graffcentral.com/sk8FX01.php). Again perhaps done at a template level so that I have control.

Other functionality is ways to sort the images when on a page.
Sort by year, location, artist etc. I think this would be best done dynamically some how.
Again I am open to suggestions and comments.
I want to get the foundation right so that I can maintain flexibility, considering the amount of images etc.

Interested parties please contact me, it would be great to discuss the project and work out ow to really do it well.
Cheers.
=)

Seems like EE would handle this just fine, based on your example and the criteria you’ve laid out - either with a simple channel for the images, with each image being an entry and you could assign the image to categories (seems like most of the filters you are looking for would easily be set up as categories).  Assets may be another way to handle it, but I haven’t used it yet to be able to tell you for sure.  Pixel and Tonic’s documentation is pretty well thought out so it would probably be quickly evident whether it would do it for you.

In terms of sorting order, something EE doesn’t necessarily handle all that well, I would recommend Low’s add-on “Low Reorder” - excellent drag and drop utility.  Given the number of images you have though it will still prove to be a challenge, though I understand Low is working on a modification of his add-on to allow for some other re-ordering options (like within a category, for example).  Out of the box it just gives you the ability to re-order within a channel.  If all your images are stored in one, it could be a bit of a bear.  But it’s still a friendlier way to control order than is available natively.

Data entry will be the other challenge - that’s a lot of images - so doing a mass-import from a spreadsheet might be a simpler way to go using something like DataGrab.