Dude, where are the explanations?

I need the exact same thing and have had no luck :P It would be cool if someone could write a tutorial or something.

Hey, guys!

At times, I have agreed about what it is you're talking about. It is a common issue with all Open Source software. Some communities are more active than others (Drupal is one of the most active!) but there are times when I still do a double take and wonder what Kool-aid the developers were drinking - but, hey, they are developing on their own time, so, I can't complain. That, of course, is when I tend to send them a message and offer to write up some documentation should they need it. I've even contributed a few modules myself.

Anyway, to address you're current issue, I did a quick search on Drupal.org for keywords like "cycle", "slideshow", "jquery", etc. Here is what I have dug up and, hopefully, this will point you in a few directions that you can choose which best suits your requirements:

• Views Carousel - http://drupal.org/project/viewscarousel
• jCarousel - http://drupal.org/project/jcarousel
• Views Rotator - http://drupal.org/project/views_rotator
• Rotor Banner - http://drupal.org/project/rotor
• Dynamic Display Block - http://drupal.org/project/ddblock
• Views Slideshow - http://drupal.org/project/views_slideshow

I hope this helps.

--
Shane Birley
Partner, Left Right Minds
http://www.leftrightminds.com

Dude, check out this excellent video tutorial: http://www.drupaltherapy.com/node/70

"...exactly how to implement thumbnails WITH fullsize image slideshows within the same view"

Do you really need this within the same view? I'm thinking if I were trying to do something like this (and I agree what you've mocked up is a nice layout) I would make the view using fullsize and slideshow and then clone it to use thumbnails and table. Would having two views like that be a problem?

BTW, I've only just seen this module on the drupaltherapy screencast. Looks a great module, big round of applause for the author.

In my opinion, Views Slideshow is still the best way to do what you're trying to accomplish. You should watch seaneffel's video. The biggest help in it for me was uncovering what needed to be themed.

The reason this works best for me over other modules, is that images are each in their own nodes, and can be moved between different categories (taxonomies) and such, and it gives the user an easy to navigate page for uploading. If I only needed a small slideshow with a few images, and didn't plan to manage a larger collection of images, I would have a closer look at the Galleria module. There are other modules in various stages of development, but this is probably still your best bet for now.

I'm concerned you may be setting yourself up for failure by starting with D7 for production work. You probably have a compelling reason for doing so, but if not, you shouldn't feel like you're at any disadvantage for using D6 or even D5, depending on the ripeness of the specific modules you need. It's not a big deal to upgrade later once your modules have the kinks worked out of them.

In any case, I'm not sure how it works in D7, but probably not much different than in D6. Here's what I know about Views Slideshow in D6 in a nutshell, with a little more detail than Aaron's quickguide. (Concepts are the same in D5, but Views is different) This is quick and rough, and I'm not claiming to be thorough... you'll probably still have to look some stuff up.

For this approach, you'll at least need CCK, Views, Imagefield, and Imagecache and you'll probably want Hoverintent.

1. Create two imagecache presets, one for your thumbs and one for your large display image.
2. Create your CCK content type with an imagefield in it, and set your image field's display settings to use the your large display image. (You don't need to set both node and teaser the same, but it's easier to explain that way.)
3. Create your view filtering for that content type (Node: Type = YourType). You can filter for other stuff too.
4. In your view also set your field to use to be your image field. (Content: Image or whatever you've named it). It's important here to also select the imagecache preset for your thumbnail here in the Format pull down.
5. Pick "Slideshow" to be your style under basic settings in your view. Be sure to go into the slideshow settings and pick Slideshow mode: Thumbnail hover.
6. You can pick either Teaser or Full for your Hover Breakout if your content type is set to use your imagecache display preset for both. If not pick the one that is.
7. Check "Display teasers last" if you want to match your sketch.
8. If you installed Hoverintent, be sure to enable it here too.
9. All that was assuming you just had the default display in your view. Now you need to add either a page or a block. If you add a page, you'll need to give it a path under "Page settings" where you'll be able to see your slideshow. If you create a block, you'll need to enable that block somewhere under "Site Building" Block.
10. Now you should be able to see your slideshow, but it will likely need some CSS help. I've messed aroudnd with the "Row style" settings under Basic settings in my view, but never managed to get the icons to line up horizontally. Your best bet is to go grab the css on one of aaron's slideshows and see what you can do with that. I use Firebug to identify the elements I need to change. At very least I need something like the following if I want a horizontal row of thumbs:
    /*styles the individual teasers and line them up horizontally*/

.view-show-view .views_slideshow_div_breakout_teaser {
  overflow: hidden;
  float: left;
}
    Where show_view is the name of my view. I assume you can leave off .view-show-view if you only have one view, or if all your views get the same treatment.
11. Now give your user a login and link to "Create Content" or more specifically to create a new instance of your content type and everything they put in will show up in their slideshow. (Of course they'll need permissions set for a few things.)

Again, that's all pretty rough, so go watch seaneffel's video too, because I may have missed some steps, and I assume some familiarity with the various modules.

There's tons of other things you can incorporate, like Taxonomy, Lightbox, Ubercart...

I haven't thoroughly explored ways to upload multiple images into their own nodes in batches. Imagefield import works okay for this, but the person uploading needs ftp access. I believe there may be a solution for the web uploader but haven't had to go there yet.

Just one other tip... before you decide to use a module, have a look at its module page and view all issues. See if the module is maintained. If there are tons of new and old tickets with no responses, expect delays. Read a few tickets and get a feel for whether its a good bet, and scan for red flag issues specific to your purposes. If it all looks a little iffy, and you have other options go check them out. However, if you're desperate for the module, try it on a test installation. It might be fine.

For example, if you look a the Views Slideshow queue, you'll see Aaron must be a busy guy, but he is involved and moving things forward when he can. There are also a lot of committed users, so you have a chance of getting help that way.

In any case, I sympathize. I love Drupal when I'm not banging my head against some modular wall or another. My skull is not as sore as it was, so I must be learning something. All I know for certain is I can create much better sites now than I could before, so its worth it for me.

^ Holy crap! you rock :)

Following up on my last post, I ended up using Galleria (but not the module).... so it kind of sucks because it is not THAT automated, but it worked for what i was doing (http://www.hotelgrandpacific.com/accommodations/one-bedroom-suite) I think my problem is that I was using D5 and it seems like these kind of modules are getting a little scarce for that version.

All my future projects will be in 6 (well.. until 7 is the norm :P) so I think that will alleviate some headaches.

@sstedman and juroon thank you for your input, that helps a lot!

Marking as fixed. If you guys want to add a tutorial to the documentation section that would be great.

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.