By baec on

drupalers please advise

im new to drupal and am looking into using it as a cms for a project gallery. all projects will be categorized into one of 8 categories [static]. each project will have -

- title
- description
- primary pic
- more pics [preferably unspecified number but can go for a limit of 20 pics as well]

each pic [primary and the rest] will have a title / thumb / medium size and full size

basic gallery page structure :

category list page > category page which has a thumb list of the contained projects [thumb is taken off the projects primary pic] > project page with a paginated thumb list of pics [selected thumb is shown in its medium size] > clicking its medium sized pic will show it at full size

last remark - a project can belong to more than one category

i need some pointers on how would you go about implementing such a structure with drupal. can it be done ? its quite a small and standard site and i guess it should be simple to do it. but i still cant figure out how to do it in drupal. please any ideas directions would be great. thx

Comments

baec’s picture

baec commented

just to clearify, i did spend some time looking into drupal and its modules but it all seems lacking to me. for example :

  • image module defines a new image content type which would let one upload images and auto generate thumbs and other sizes, but how would i add some meta data on top of that image like a description [or relate it to project item]
  • flexinode module model is the best i have found letting one define abstract content types, but seems to use its own image type which has very limited functionality [no thumbs, no auto resizing, must predefine number of pics per project]
  • can maybe use flexinode with file attachments but then my client will have to ahve to take all responsibility on image sizes and management
  • looked quickly into acidFree module but it doesnt seem to be much different than image + image_gallery in respects of what i need. they both supply a very basic image / media galley module but how do i extend it and relate it to more project data ?

any advice ? thx

patchak’s picture

patchak commented

1) You can add meta data to any node by installing the node keywords module... As for linking a node to a project, you do that by using the taxonomy module or the category module which is more flexyble...

2) ...has very limited functionality [no thumbs, no auto resizing, must predefine number of pics per project].... flexinode actually uses the image module for it's images. It has auto resizing as well, in 4.6 and 4.7 as far as I know. You dont have to predifine the number of pics, as you can add any number of image field that you like in your new custom content type.

3) Like I said the taxonomy and category modules are good to use for meta data and nodes. Also, you can theme and change the layout of your galeries quite easily...

I think you can do all you want in drupal, but it needs if course time to learn and to setup like you want it.

baec’s picture

baec commented

hey patchak and thanks so much for your reply

to further clear up my objective, i am building a website for a client and im looking into using drupal as a cms he will use eventually. which means there are workflow issues here. i would like to have him use something like create content > project but not have to get into defining new content types.

i can see how relating a flexinode "project" content item to categories by defining such a taxonomy but i still i still cant see how i can add a variable amount of image fields into a flexinode. it would be acceptable to pre-add 20 image fields and let tell him he can upload a maximum of 20 images per project. but when i attach an image field to a flexinode it lets me set a maximum picture dimensions and maximum picture size and not the variable size options a normal image module node lets you determine [so it seems no auto resizing]. which means i will have to add image fields also for thumbs and fullsized images and that would have me put 60 image fields for a maximum of 20 images [3 fields X 20 max image pre project .... 20 fields in one form was rediculous enough :)].

the other way i can see of doing it is adding an image gallery field to a flexinode. but that seem to have these problems-

1) that would mean that for adding each of his projects my client would have to go into administer > image galleries > add gallery. then goto create content > image and upload all the projects images. then goto create content > project and add project info + relate the new project to that new gallery he added. which is a hell of a workflow for doing something so simple as adding a project and attaching images to it.

2) that would make me let my client enter the administer > image galleries section, which doesnt seem like a good idea. i would like to keep him under the create content section, isnt that why its there ?

3) when attaching an image gallery to a flexinode. the user is presented with a multiselect list, letting him attach the flexinode to more than one image gallery instead of only one.

concerning the keywords module - thx good to know, but i made bad and confused you i think with the html tag meta data whilst i meant meta data as in attaching more data fields to image node.

what im trying to do is actully build a very simple db structure, im sure drupal can do it somehow. just dont get it :(

paychak ? anyone ? any further hints ?