Web – Video – Graphic Design
Web Design
Adding A Zenphoto Gallery To Your Wordpress
Jan 16th
I tend to be a very trigger happy photographer. Whether it is with my own Canon point-and-shoot or with my sister’s borrowed Nikon D100, I love taking a lot of pictures. I also like to share those on the web. I started getting into Flickr sharing but quickly discovered that I wanted to share more images than I was able to on their free service. As a designer and operator of some of my own web sites, I found it more cost effective to host the images myself but desired the simplicity and functionality of a service like Flickr. That’s when I came across Zenphoto.
Zenphoto is a database driven application written in PHP that is built with a clean and customizable backend for managing photo galleries on a web site. Zenphoto allows you to upload images directly from the web interface as well as by FTP. It also is easily customized with themes available to change the public facing side of the gallery. I have built a few different nice looking themes for Zenphoto but until recently, when a visitor to my blog chose to look at my gallery, they would invariably feel as though they transitioned to another web site as the Zenphoto gallery was never a perfect match for the blog.
Finally, I have integrated Zenphoto into my Wordpress blog. I have already been enjoying the integration and have plans for many other improvements with how they work together, but I thought I’d share what I’ve done thus far for anyone interested.
Here is where I got the files and a place to start from. He does a very good job simplifying things. http://tech.einaregilsson.com/2007/08/06/integrating-zenphoto-into-wordpress/
To follow some of this, a little understanding of PHP may be required.
Copy the wordpress-integration-zp-theme folder into your zenphoto/themes folder and then in Zenphoto choose Options and activate the theme called ‘Wordpress Integration Theme’.
Copy the files (zp-index.php, zp-image.php, zp-album.php, zp-style.css) from the wordpress-theme-files folder into your current Wordpress theme folder, /wp-content/themes/yourthemename. You’ll see the files now when you go to edit your theme from within Wordpress.
Your installation of Zenphoto should be within the Wordpress folder on your server. ( yoursite.com/zenphoto/ ) When you get the zen-integration.php file from the link I listed above, put it in the plugins folder and activated it in Wordpress, it will install a link to your Zenphoto into the management panel. From this point, some PHP and template alterations will be required from your Wordpress theme editor to make it look the way you want it to. Basically, at this point, Zenphoto should be displaying in the content area on your photo page.
To this point I haven’t completely integrated the Zenphoto management into the Wordpress template so when you use the link to the Zenphoto management console, you essentially leave Wordpress. So to improve flow, I added a link back to the Wordpress management page.
To do this, you just have to create the link in zp-core/admin-functions.php. In the function printLogoAndLinks(), I inserted “| <a href=\”/wp-admin/\”>”.gettext(“Wordpress”).”</a> ”.
Please let me know if you’ve got any questions or suggestions.
I’m Available To Design/Host Wordpress Websites
Jan 13th
I’ve done web design in various capacities for about 13 years now. Until now, I’ve tended toward custom designs. The reason I’ve done things from scratch is that I can typically design a good user experience and give the customer exactly what they want to see. Recently however, more and more people don’t want just a static set of text and pictures. As the web develops into a more social experience, the customers are interested in being able to change the content themselves so they can keep up with the times. A web site that isn’t easily changed, often ends up being the one that has breaking news about hurricane Katrina or something else that clearly shows it hasn’t been touched recently, and immediately tells the reader that there’s not much to see here.
As a result of this paradigm shift, I’ve come to find that Wordpress is an amazing software. With support for integration with the latest social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, it allows a basic site to become a hub of information rather that a pamphlet. The website owner can now use the management interface to write posts, revise entire pages, manage photo galleries, and do things that the average use never thought possible very few years ago. Wordpress is also built in PHP. I love PHP. Love. So nearly anything in the software can be changed to suit the site owner.
All of this is to say that I’m here. You want to share your life or business with people. I can have your website looking spectacular and working beautifully in just a few days. If you’re interested, email me. paul@rektproductions.com
Olive Tree Photo Company Website
Nov 27th
Screenshot of Olive Tree Website
Nearing completion on another website project. I was anxious to see this one completed, mostly so I could see some of the beautiful pictures from these talented photographers. Victoria and Joyce are friends of mine and asked if I would design and build them something simple that they could use to share their photos.
Check it out and let me know what you think olivetreephotocompany.com
I used a zenPhoto backend for cataloging the photos and allowing the photographers to manage some of the details of the site. I’ve really come to like the way that zenPhoto handles images and the many advanced features that are buried in the PHP. I like it so much that I’ve decided to use it to host my own photos. The drawback is that it doesn’t play nicely with my wordpress based website. Not being one to give up too easily though, I’ve made a way to make zenPhoto and wordpress work together. So if you visit the photos here on my site, you’re seeing the photos within my wordpress site but managed by the zenPhoto backend.