PAGES LIVE

Photoblog

Photoblog page is very similar to the normal Blog page, except that it organizes photos instead of text content.

Basics

Photoblog page is a blog with photo posts, organized in categories and listed in reverse chronological order. The photoblog page consists of two pages: main and gallery page. Main page represents your photoblog frontpage, where visitors can browse your photos one by one in its full size; and gallery represents archive page, where visitors can browse your photo archive by period or by category. In gallery page images are displayed as thumbnails.

When you add photoblog, you will only see two empty pages with some objects. What you have to do is to open its Photoblog Settings panel, fill your email address in Send Notification to box and Publish. Then you open your web site in browser, go to photoblog admin panel and add your photos.

Visitors can browse photos and make comments on them, but only the photoblog owner can add/edit and delete photo posts. For better security Photoblog page supports CAPTCHA in the Post comment form.

You can preview your Photoblog page only when uploaded on a PHP enabled server. To test this functionality offline you can Install your own test server on your PC.

Image and Thumbnail

When you post image in photoblog, it is scaled to fit the image size set in the page. Also a thumbnail is generated, according to the thumbnail size set in the page. Default settings are 600 px for image and 120 px for thumbnail. You can change these two settings when customizing your photoblog.

The scaled image is used on the frontpage, while thumbnail is used in the gallery page.

For image scaling you will need GD library enabled on your server. If you server doesn't have this library enabled, image will be stored in its original size.

EXIF information

EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format, and is a standard for storing interchange information in image files, especially those using JPEG compression. Most digital cameras now use the EXIF format.

If your images support EXIF and you want to extract this info when you post photo, you will need the exif extension enabled in the PHP on your server.

Photoblog objects

When you add photoblog page you can't see actual content in EZGenerator, but only objects (%BLOG_OBJECT%, %BLOG_MENU%, etc). Each of these objects represents an element in your blog. For example, %BLOG_OBJECT% represents the photo posts; %BLOG_NAVIGATION% object will build PREV & NEXT navigation bar; %PERIOD_SELECTOR% will build drop-down menu with periods (March 2009, June 2009, etc), %CATEGORY_SELECTOR% will build drop-down menu with categories (Landscapes, Nature, People), %BLOG_SEARCH% will build search box, %TAGS_CLOUD% will build tags cloud.

You can remove, add objects and also change there position on page. The only required object is %BLOG_OBJECT%.

Main photoblog page contains some or all of the following objects: blog object, blog menu, blog navigation, blog search, period horizontal/vertical list, category horizontal/vertical list and link to administrator. Gallery page contains some or all of the following objects: blog menu, blog archive, blog search, period selector, category selector, period horizontal/vertical list, category horizontal/vertical list and link to administrator.

When vitors open your photoblog, the first thing they will see is the last posted photo. Each photo is stored with date header, title, content, exif information (if available) and footer. By default, the exif information contains Camera Model, Focal Length, Max Aperture Value and ISO. Footer consists of posted by info, date and time, permalink, full image (if image is scaled), comments link (if enabled) and category link. These are called object parameters.

Permalink is the permanent url of a specific photo post. As photoblog content changes regularly, visitors may need to know the permanent url of a photo they like. Comments link shows the number of comments posted and opens post comment form. Comments link is visible only if comments are enabled (see below). Categories link will list all posts for the specified category.

With these parameters you define what information to show for each photo. You add and remove parameters in %BLOG_OBJECT(...)%, within the brackets.

When you first visit your photoblog page and none photos are posted yet, post with Blog definition from Wikipedia will be displayed as default. Once you post some photos, the default post will disappear.

Database

This page can use either MySQL or flat files database (depending on the MySQL switch in MySQL Settings). All blog posts and comments will be stored in a MySQL database or on the web server in flat files in ezg_data/ folder. You can add multiple blog pages in your project, and each one will have its own database.

Customization

Photoblog page is customizable in the following aspects:

• You can re-organize the blog objects, as explained above.
• You can translate blog language labels in Blog Settings panel >> Labels.
• You can modify blog style. You have two options here: to use template default style, or design your own blog style in Blog Settings panel >> Layout (see below).
• You can change image and thumbnail scale size. To change image scale size, go to Photoblog page and double-click on the Image Scale placeholder. To change thumbnail scale size, go to Photoblog Gallery page and double-click on the Thumbnail Scale placeholder.

Photoblog Settings

The following properties are available in the Photoblog Settings panel, accessed from the Toolbar. Make sure to configure these settings.

This tab is devided into few sections. Some of them have a small button () at the bottom right corner. Press it to access more settings.

Notification

• Send Notification to (editbox) - Type here the blog administrator email address. All notification emails when comment is posted will be sent to this email address.
• From (editbox) - Specify email address to be used as "From". Use different email address than in "Send to" to avoid email being marked as spam.
• Admin Notification (button) - Type subject and message for the notification email.

Frontpage

• Posts Order (drop-down menu) - Posts can be ordered either by creation date or by last modified date. This setting will be also applied to the RSS.
• Limit Posts (drop-down menu) - Sets the maximum number of photo posts to be displayed on photoblog frontpage.
• Recent Posts (drop-down menu box) - Sets the maximum number of posts to be displayed in the Recent Posts sidebar.
• Comments (drop-down menu) - Sets the maximum number of comments to be displayed in the Recent Comments sidebar.
• Layout (button) - In this dialog you can change style for the different elements in photoblog layout - date, content, footer, image, calendar navigation bar. In general you can directly use any of the Presets (predefined layouts). If you want to modify a layout you can do this by pressing Edit layout link. You can then save the modified layout as new preset and use it later.

When you press Edit layout small white labels will appear, marking each editable element in photoblog layout. Use the Wrench icon to edit the style for certain layout elelment. Use the Restore icon to restore the default settings; and Refresh button to refresh the preview area.

• Labels (button and editable listbox) - Sets the blog labels. You can translate the default labels in your preferred language. Use Default settings button to restore the default settings.

Gallery

• Thumbnails (drop-down menu) - Sets the maximum number of thumbnails to be displayed in photoblog gallery page. Use 'No limit' if you don't want to set limit.
• Offline Images (button) - With this option you can upload large images on server, especially those, that can't be uploaded online (through Add new photo panel). Use the Add button to add the files you need to transfer to server. Later when you post photos in your photoblog, you can use these already uploaded images.

Comments

• Enable Comments (check box) - Check this box to allow visitors of posting comments on your photo posts.
• Forbid url's (check box) - Check this box if you want to forbid users to include url's in the comments.
• Require Approval (check box) - Check this box if you want to approve comments before they show on blog.
• Enable e-mail (checkbox) - Check this box to enable email field in Post comment form.
• E-mail Required (checkbox) - Check this box to set email field as required in Post comment form.
• Facebook Comments (check box) - Check this box to enable Facebook Comments option in your blog. With this option users can comment on your blog posts and their comments will show on their Facebook profile also.

RSS

• Feed Settings (button and editable listbox) - Sets some special RSS settings.
• Limit Posts (check box and number selection box) - Sets the maximum number of posts that will be included in the RSS feed.
• Limit Lines (check box and number selection box) - Sets the maximum number of lines to be displayed for each post in the description tag in the RSS feed.
• Use HTML formatting (check box) - Check it if you want to leave the HTML formatting in the RSS feed (Description tag).
• Post Content inside Rss (check box) - Check this box if you want photo description to be included into RSS.

Accessible Macros Fields

You are free to design your Photoblog page the way it best fits your needs. It is not required to keep all the objects that are created by default. If you do not need a search object, for example, you can delete it. You can also add new objects and order them on the page the way you like it.

Each page has Macros Fields panel, accessed via Editing Tools.

The following special objects are accessible in the Photoblog main page:

• Blog object generates photoblog frontpage where photos are shown.
• Recent Photos generates short list of most recent photos
• Recent Comments generates list of most recent comments
• Calendar object generates calendar box that can be used to browse photos for certain period.
• Gallery Link generates photoblog menu to switch between normal and gallery view.
• Photos Navigation generates prev&next navigation bar to switch between photos.
• Search generates search box.
• Exif parameters is only to be used if you need to set exif parameters other than the default ones.
• Tags cloud generates tags cloud.
• RSS feed button generates link to photoblog RSS feed (see below).
• Administrator - generates link to photoblog administrator panel.
• Logged info - This object generates logged info macro in your site - %LOGGED_INFO%. This macro is applicable for protected pages or pages with admin screen (as Online Editable Page, Calendar, etc) and will show username of the logged user along with link to user profile's page and logout link. Check Page Protection for more info on page protection.
• Logged - will display 1 when user is logged, 0 when not logged (supported in MySQL project only).
• Logged user - will display name of currently logged user (supported in MySQL project only).
• Guest count - will display number of guests currently browsing site (supported in MySQL project only, requires Counter enabled and Monitor users enabled).
• User count - display number of users currently logged (supported in MySQL project only, requires Counter enabled and Monitor users enabled).
• Users - will display names of users currently logged (supported in MySQL project only, requires Counter enabled and Monitor users enabled).

The following special objects are accessible in the Photoblog gallery page:

• Gallery Body generates photoblog gallery body where thumbnails are displayed.
• Home Link generates to photoblog main page.
• Search generates search box.
• Period selector generates period archive selector, where you can select period (month&year) and browse all photo posts for it.
• Category selector generates category archive selector, where you can select category and browse all photo posts for it.
• Hor Period List generates period archive horizontal list.
• Ver Period List generates period archive vertical list.
• Hor Category List generates category archive horizontal list.
• Ver Category List generates category archive vertical list.
• RSS feed button generates link to photoblog RSS feed (see below).
• Administrator generates link to photoblog administrator panel.
• Logged info - This object generates logged info macro in your site - %LOGGED_INFO%. This macro is applicable for protected pages or pages with admin screen (as Online Editable Page, Calendar, etc) and will show username of the logged user along with link to user profile's page and logout link. Check Page Protection for more info on page protection.

In case you want to make custom design for your Menu field, insert your custom hyperlink and use %BLOG_URL% as url.

Field parameters

Some fields can be inserted with additional parameters.

• Blog object

Normally, blog object displays a photo post with date header, image, title, content, exif information (if available), and footer. Using few parameters you can customize this layout. The parameters you can use are:

• %title% - will insert the photo title
• %date% - will insert the photo date
• %image% - will insert the photo itself
• %content% - will insert the photo content
• %exif% - will insert the photo exif information (if available)
• %category% - will insert category link
• %permalink% - will insert photo permalink. Use %permalinkurl% as url if you insert custom permalink hyperlink.
• %commentslink% - will insert photo comments link. Use %commentsurl% as url if you insert your custom comments hyperlink.
• %comments% - will list all comments posted per post
• %fullimagelink% - will insert link to the full image (if available)
• %postedby% - will insert the photoblog owner name
• %tags% - will insert category link
• %ranking% - will show the ranking bar for the post

If you want to change the default date format that is used with %date% parameter, you can follow the following example: %date[mmm d, yyyy (ddd)]%, where the syntax follows the standard %DATE% Macro syntax. If you want to set month or week name in upper case, use MMM and DDD.

For example:

%BLOG_OBJECT( %title%
%image%
%date%)% - will display photo post with title, image and date

%BLOG_OBJECT( %date%
%title%
%image%
%exif%
%datetime% )% - will display photo post with date, title, image, exif information and date&time.

• Archive

Normally, on archive page all photo posts are listed with thumbnail, title, and date. Using few parameters you can customize this layout. The parameters you can use are: %image%, %title%, %date% and %comments%.

For example:

%ARCHIVE_BODY( %image%
%date%)% - will list photo posts with thumbnail and date

%ARCHIVE_BODY( %image%)% - will list photo posts with thumbnail only

There is an option also to control the thumbnail div height and width, setting it before any other parameters:

%ARCHIVE_BODY( 150, 150, %image%)%

• EXIF parameters

Normally, if image supports EXIF, the information displayed is camera model, focal length, max aperture value and iso. Using few parameters you can customize this layout. The parameters you can use are: %make%, %model%, %orientation%, %datetime%, %exposuretime%, %fnumber%, %shutterspeedvalue%, %aperturevalue%, %exposurebiasvalue%, %maxaperturevalue%, %meteringmode%, %flash%, %focallength%, %colorspace%, %exifimagewidth%, %exifimageheight%, %whitebalance% and %iso%.

For example:

%BLOG_EXIF_INFO( iso: %iso%)% - will set only ISO parameter to be displayed

Using RSS

The technology of RSS allows Internet users to subscribe to websites that have provided RSS feeds. These are typically sites that change or add content regularly, as is the situation with photoblog. RSS or Really Simple Syndication is a useful tool for sharing your site updates with users that may be interested. RSS makes use of an XML code that scans the content of your blog for updates and then broadcasts those updates to all subscribers through a feed. EZGenerator blog page uses RSS 2.0 format for the feed.

To set RSS feed for your photoblog, you should follow these steps:

• Insert RSS button from Fields panel.
• Set the RSS settings in Photoblog Settings panel. Read RSS Specification for detailed explanations on each RSS setting.

Now, if a visitor is interested in your photoblog and wants to be informed when updates are available, he can use the RSS button to get the RSS feed, and pass it to some RSS aggregator that he uses.

Administrator panel

In the Administrator panel you can manage your Photoblog - review, add, edit and delete photo posts, edit and delete comments.

Administrator panel is accessible through the Administrator link (placed on the Photoblog page) or via Online Administration panel. This panel is username&password protected.

To insert administrator link in your Photoblog page:

• Go to Editable Tools >> Macros Fields panel.
• Drag-and-drop administrator field in your Photoblog page.

Post photo

To post photo :

• Go to Administrator panel.
• Select Add photo from the menu.
• Choose a category for the photo.
• Fill in photo title.
• Select image or if needed upload image. You can upload only JPG, JPEG, GIF and PNG images.

If you need to upload large images that exceed your upload limit, you can upload them with EZGenerator, using Photoblog Settings panel, Offline Images option. Then when posting photo you use Select Photo drop-down menu and select your image, that has already been uploaded.

Beneath Select Photo field you will always see a message in red, stating whether you do or not have GD enabled on your server. GD library is a php library used for scaling images. If your server do have GD library enabled, the image you post will be scaled to the height & width set in your Photoblog, and a thumbnail will be generated according to the height & width set for the thumbnail. If GD library is not enabled on your server, the image you upload will be stored in its original size, and for thumbnail generation the script will try to extract thumbnail from your image (if image supports it and if EXIF extension is enabled in the PHP). If thumbnail can't be extracted for some reason, no thumbnail will be generated, and html scaling will be used instead.

• Select preferred quality.
• Fill in photo content. You can use the HTML editor provided here to format text. Note, that the formatting you provide here for font, font size and color (in case you set any other that the default for the HTML editor), will overwrite the default set in Photoblog Settings for this specific post only.
• Fill in photo tags (keywords), separated with comma. These are used as keywords and as tags when building tags cloud.
• Use Creation Date field only in case you want to set creation date and time different from the current date and time.
• Press Save button.

Photos

Use manage photos screen to review/edit photos, and also to check comments on them.

Comments

Use manage comments screen to review/edit/delete comments, posted by visitors and to approve them.

Settings

Public RSS in protected blog - check this box if you have protected blog page but want RSS to stay public.

Quality - sets default quality that will be used when scaling images. In Add photo form you can always change the default quality.

Re-scale Images - use this button if you have changed image and thumbnail scale settings in EZGenerator and want now to rescale images in the existing posts according to these new settings.