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Friday, August 29, 2008

LRB Portfolio

lrbp.jpg

A comment in the HS Web post got me started thinking about creating a far more customisable and cleaner version of a 'Website in a Gallery' Web plugin. I've literally spent almost all my spare time rewriting this from the ground up since then. In fact all the code has been completely replaced the with new Lightroom 2.0 SDK code and so is brand new. Even the Contact Form has been updated to give much prettier returns.
lrb_sm.jpg


lrb_sm2.jpg


LRB Porfolio features.
  • A true Website in a Gallery.

  • Lightroom 2 compatible-Not for Lightroom 1
  • Wesbite featuring a Home, About and Contact pages, along with up to 6 galleries or external links.

  • A PHP contact form to make you contactable, but keeping your email address hidden.

  • For those without PHP, a series of contact details that you can pick and choose between, including Contact Name, Email, email link, phone number, address etc.

  • Choose the images for the Home, About and Contact page yourself.

  • Colour controls for each section of the page.

  • Simple clean look, with scrolling galleries, a popular look currently.

  • All HTML and CSS, so compatible for a wide range of users.

  • Full User Guide (that took a bit of time!)

  • Controls for menu and Identity Plate placement (left, centre, right)

  • Full Lightroom 2 SDK code, including new Output Sharpening code.

  • Requires only minor HTML for line breaks, otherwise code free for the User

  • Requires no HTML editor

  • Optional Right Click and Drag Disable


    • There's a wealth of stuff changed from the original proof of concept code I had with HS Web. Again, as with LRB Graduated Filters, I've put a lot of work into this and approached it as a commercial venture. I am aware though that the appeal of such a gallery is relatively limited. Most people already have a website, so something that creates an entire site is less of an appeal that a simple gallery to show off. However for those looking for something quick and easy, this gallery allows you create a whole website with a little advance preparation and some text entry. To add your email address, you edit one file in an text editor once, and then export and upload.

    The cost of the plugin? €10 (about $15). VAT chargable in the EU. Updates will be free to current users.

    Sample Website | User Guide | Support

    Add to CartView Cart


    Update: I've added a support thread to Lightroom Forums.
    Update: Now at version 1.01.

    Labels:

    posted by SeanMcC at 1:03 AM

    41 Comments:

    • The User Guide pdf seems to be broken. Could you double check it?

      Andy

      By Blogger me, At 4:33 AM  

    • That's not good, thanks for the heads up Andy.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 6:22 AM  

    • Fixed. Thanks again. It seems that it only uploaded a small bit, rather than the whole file..

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 6:34 AM  

    • Nice idea.

      Consider http://www.dynamicdrive.com/emailriddler/ as a way to have a JS-based email link.

      By Anonymous John B, At 6:50 AM  

    • Hi Sean,
      that's a fine plugin for Lightroom!
      Would it be possible to use Lightview from Nick Stackenburg? Clicking on a small picture in the gallery it should pop up as a bigger version and fullscreen inside the Lightview window.
      http://www.nickstakenburg.com/projects/lightview/

      By Blogger panoviews, At 9:38 AM  

    • No reason why not. It's just another take on slimbox/shadowbox/lightbox/litebox. I do actually have an unpublished lightbox gallery.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 9:56 AM  

    • Hi Sean ,
      Excellent work!
      I was just looking at the preview on both Firefox and IE6 and i was wondering if its possible to remove the white edges at the top and bottom of the pages.
      The reason i ask is when a user first opens the page by default they wont see the menu untill they scroll down a few lines and see it at the bottom, to fix this simply removeing the white borders from the top they would instanly see it..
      Any thoughts on that ?
      Peter

      By Blogger Peter, At 12:25 PM  

    • Cool Sean. I was in the process of updating my website using a bunch of HScrolls when you announced you were working on this portfolio project so I hit the pause button and I've been waiting...

      Nice work...I'll let you know when I've "re-updated" and send a link.

      Thanks!

      Andy

      PS. Is your "cracked" copyright watermark generated on export from LR?

      By Blogger me, At 1:02 PM  

    • You must be previewing on a very small screen Peter. I'd guess that the image has popped below the text section and that's what you're seeing. Using a small image will solve this.

      Most computers have a default higher than 1280 these days, which negates the issues.

      I think there's a margin-top in the CSS for the ID Plate which is set to 100. I debated adding in a slider for this. I'll add it as a feature request.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 2:23 PM  

    • I use Jeffreys Configuration Manager to generate a TranslatedStrings.txt file that has Cracked set as my watermark font..

      Here's the text of the file:
      http://regex.info/Lightroom/Config/JustPeek=nza/TranslatedStrings.txt

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 2:26 PM  

    • User manual says:
      Copy the LRB Portfolio.lrwebengine folder into the Web Galleries folder. Place the
      Template folder (LRB Portfolio Templates) in the folder Web Templates.

      I don't see any Templates folder in the Zip.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, At 4:02 PM  

    • They're definitely in the zip, I've just checked it. Maybe put the zip in a folder and unzip it there?

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 4:17 PM  

    • Ok, I tried unzipping in a different way and it created the two folders, but the templates folder is empty (which is probably why it was never created in the other process). Are there suppose to be templates files in there? or is that where they will get stored after use?

      By Anonymous Anonymous, At 6:20 PM  

    • This looks perfect for what I need. Is there anyway to add a music file?
      Thank you.

      By Anonymous tm, At 8:12 PM  

    • For playback? I'd need to add some kind of player..
      I'm not sure it's feasible with this kind of gallery. Even SlideShowPro has to be manually set up for audio..

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 9:25 PM  

    • I'm out at the moment. I'll check when I get in later. I didn't actually look in the folder, just look to see that it was there. There should be 2 templates there. If not, I'll upload the zip again.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 9:31 PM  

    • Anonymous....
      Try downloading again. You were correct, the templates were missing. I think when I tested the double click install for Mac, it moved them and I hadn't noticed.

      If you've used the 5 dowloads up, please reply to me using the download email you were sent.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 2:44 AM  

    • I've been using it a bit but not yet online and I'm very happy. Showed a number of wedding photographers and this would be perfect for a lot of peeps if it had a mp3 player for a song.....
      Thanks for a great gallery.

      By Anonymous tom, At 12:45 AM  

    • Tom,
      Making a flash music player would take a little work, and implementing XML to pull audio from should be doable, but..
      The gallery is multipage and the player would load on each page, starting afresh each time...
      The only way I can think of would be using frames, which would mean a redesign of the layout. And of course they recommend you don't use frames..

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 4:27 AM  

    • Hi. Thanks for the template. Just setting it up now. 2 problem - first could register on the forum - tried about 20 times but always told be that I input the wrong verification - strange. Secondly the gallery works fine from within Lightroom and also in Firefox when uploaded to the web however when viewing in Safari it's only loading 2 (sometimes 3) of the gallery images - any ideas? Also - is it possible to have more text space in the about fields? I'd also like to move the order of the buttons plus have an option to disable the home button also.

      By Anonymous Ian, At 7:18 PM  

    • Hi Anon,
      While I am a Mod on the forum, I'm not familiar with the internal workings.
      I'm guessing you were failing the captcha to prevent spam accounts being created. I'll mention this to Ian the admin.

      I've never come across that issue before. Usually safari is the most reliable (although I love the speed of Firefox 3). If you wait does it load?

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 3:33 AM  

    • Moving the order of the links is easy, just edit the name and link..
      Just because the title is about, doesn't mean you can enter Contact and contact.html.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 3:50 AM  

    • Hi Sean.

      Thanks for getting back.

      No it seldom loads all the images into Safari - even if I wait. It seems to load a random number - usually three, sometimes occasionally it does load them all but not very often. Here's the temp site link - http://homepage.mac.com/irholmes/ianholmesnew/index.html

      By Anonymous Ian, At 9:52 AM  

    • Ian,
      I'm seeing this on your site, but not anywhere else.
      Do you have other space to upload to? I fear it may be mac.com.

      What's even odder is that Activity shows all the images have been downloaded.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 10:03 AM  

    • Sean - I think you may be right regarding the mac.com thing. I'm just in the process of moving my domain and buying some extra space with someone else as I also want to be able to use the mail form feature of your template. As soon as I've got the new web space I'll let you know if it sorts out the problem.

      By Anonymous Ian, At 10:53 AM  

    • Hi,
      I am about to purchase this LR template. Fits my needs exactly....
      Except: The sample sites do not resolve in Opera.
      Of course all the templates that come w/ LR work fine.

      You say you like FireFox, and that is understandable. But opera has some amazing features, is just as fast, if not faster. The only downside is sometimes it wont resolve sites.

      I could send you a screen snap if that would be useful. Or/and you can get opera easily from opera.com. It behaves well, so you wouldnt have to worry about problems installing it.

      Quick question: I am sure this is answered somewhere , but I couldnt find it. This template works on the mac osx as well?

      Thanks
      Michael

      I

      I always wonder why that is.

      By Blogger mhb, At 10:53 PM  

    • What version of Opera and on what OS?

      I check on Safari, Firefox, Camino and Opera, but Opera is very much a minority browser.. That said it looks perfect with Opera 9.51 for me.

      On my phone it's my primary browser FWIW

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 11:01 PM  

    • I should mention I check on IE under Parallels too..
      I've been fighting it all day to get live_update triggering properly..

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 11:01 PM  

    • And on OSX obviously if I'm running Parallels...

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 11:03 PM  

    • Sean - uploaded to another host. Site can be found here - http://92.48.94.26/~ianholme

      I'm still getting the same problem although slightly differently. If I click on he gallerys once it loads only a few images, the second time it usually loads them all.

      By Anonymous Ian, At 8:26 PM  

    • Ian I used a site downloader to download and tested the site.. it loads everytime no problem from a test hosting on my own server.
      Obviously I won't be leaving it there but if you want to self test mail me the for the link.
      I did email your uk2.net address, but got no reply.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 9:24 PM  

    • Except when I do it this time, it doesn't work!!!

      Try it without the right click disable....

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 9:33 PM  

    • Thanks Sean. I've just purchased this new web space so was really hoping that would fix the issue that was apparent with the .mac hosting. I've tested in on various platforms and the only thing that seems to have an issue with it is Safari. May I ask who is your host? I think I may have to revert back to the old site until this is hopefully resolved.

      By Anonymous Ian, At 9:34 PM  

    • Hi Sean,

      Do you plan to make a trial version available? I don't mind if it's got branding plastered all over it, I'm just interested in giving it a go before deciding if I want to spend AU$30.

      Cheers,
      James

      By Anonymous James, At 8:14 AM  

    • Branding is too easy to remove in HTML James. It's fine to do in Flash, but not HTML.

      The sample gallery shows how it looks and the User Guide shows the interface.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 10:32 AM  

    • Hi, since I'm having a big problem understanding the "number" of images in this gallery, i.e., does it have to be the exact same number of each gallery, I read there is a discussion on the "Lightroom-Forums" on this but cannot find which forums meant. Please be kind enough to advise.
      Thank you.
      Tom

      By Anonymous Tom, At 4:51 AM  

    • Because Lightroom only deals with one collection or set of images, there is no way to distinguish different amounts or genres of images.
      In order to create a number of galleries, fixing a set number of images makes it possible. So Yes it must be the same number of images in each gallery.

      I have a note in the user guide on how to take away images if you've read it.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 2:59 PM  

    • And Tom?
      you need to put the http:// part in if you want people to be able to check out your site. This is true for comments on any blog.

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 3:00 PM  

    • Hi Sean,

      Thanks for this, it's a really good piece of coding. My website looks vastly improved...:-)

      Claire.

      By Blogger Alcluith, At 7:26 PM  

    • Just uploaded another site featuring your template

      Artist portfolio

      (his stuff will be in the Louvre in Dec.)

      http://www.robertwheelerart.com/

      Still not able to scroll through in my iphone
      :(

      By OpenID Doug_mcclintock@mac.com, At 11:03 PM  

    • Hi Doug,
      if the iPhone doesn't deal with overflow css, there's no way around it.

      Looks good. I would say that you should use the br or p tags to make breaks, more than 3 lines makes it hard to read in the about section.
      Sean

      By Blogger SeanMcC, At 11:10 PM  

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