janroe

For D6, checking to see what's currently the best, and most forward looking (= most D7 compatible) way to show:

- images in posts /nodes
- an image /photo album
- watermarks on images

It's time to get these going on my site.

Images in posts
Apparently the image module and its image assist module are "legacy", not the way to go. So, image is out for images. Well.

Forward way to go is with CCK: http://mustardseedmedia.com/podcast/episode29. Also http://drupal.org/node/877140 #35. Summarising those, the modules are available both in D6 and D7, so the result actually appears to be forward looking:

- http://drupal.org/project/insert formerly file field insert, cck 2.5+
- http://drupal.org/project/wysiwyg formely WYSIWYG API
- http://drupal.org/project/image_resize_filter allows resizing of image

- http://drupal.org/project/filefield CCK submodule (easy upgrade to D7 because in core)
- http://drupal.org/project/filefield_sources CCK submodule to insert existing images, cck 2.6+, filefield 3.5+
- http://drupal.org/project/imagecache (easy upgrade to D7 because in core)

- http://drupal.org/project/imagefield CCK submodule (allows image preview) (easy upgrade to D7 because in core). not compatible with image module

Need to understand/learn: imagecache.
Input format: use full html. Or filtered html: must add <img>

Direct implications:
- WYSIWYG needs a functional editor, several are available, after research chose CKeditor:
http://drupal.org/project/ckeditor, installation http://www.janroe.com/node/150

- WYSIWYG deletes line and paragraph breaks when switching from content made in "Filtered HTML" to "Full HTML" even if unchecking "Remove all line breaks". To avoid losing formatting, install contributed module:
http://drupal.org/project/wysiwyg_linebreaks and enable the "Force linebreaks" check mark

- FileField Sources 6.x-1.4, when used for attaching images that are already on the site, cannot access subdirectories within the directory that you set for it to look up images. If this is needed, IMCE module can can be set to behave more like a file manager, browsing subdirectories; a disadvantage is its pop-up window.

- IMCE is either an alternative, or "additional means" for FileField Sources to "select existing files"; upgradable from D6 to D7:
http://drupal.org/project/imce for file uploading and attaching existing files, to integrate IMCE module with WYSIWYG module, must have:
http://drupal.org/project/imce_wysiwyg = "IMCE Wysiwyg bridge" and enable IMCE as a plugin in WYSIWYG administration. But IMCE appears to work also without this brigde, not sure what is missing from it without it.

Interesting
http://drupal.org/node/528074 images
http://drupal.org/node/265416 file management
http://drupal.org/project/image_caption
http://drupal.org/node/1083742 (with css static positioning of images)
http://drupal.org/project/views is not needed to insert images into posts.

Photo album
First: What's the difference between a photo gallery and a photo album? Probably this:

A gallery is intended to show images in an artful, pleasing way that somehow reflects the quality of the images themselves. Emphasis: artful presentation.

An album is intended to show images in a practical and functional way, somehow reflecting ease of use and the ability to interact with the makers of the photo content. Emphasis: structure and interaction.

This is for my personal photo album. of course it would be great if it also looked good. Prerequisites: needs to be D6, currently best, most forward looking practice, hierarchical structure must be possible (> albums), image descriptions, ability to comment on an album as a whole (if possible) and on individual images (crucial).

An overview of example photo albums and photo gallieries:
- http://groups.drupal.org/node/7018albums

The best, meeting the criteria with an elegantly simple "minimalist" design:
- http://vuphotographie.com. very nicely done!
- http://www.davidlesieur.com/vu-revu used modules - french
- http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidlesieur.co... - google english
- http://www.facebook.com/WhiskyEchoBravo - the author

Uses the following:
- http://drupal.org/project/cck
- http://drupal.org/project/custom_pagers
- http://drupal.org/project/imagecache
- http://drupal.org/project/imagefield
- http://drupal.org/project/pathauto
- http://drupal.org/project/views

Interesting:
http://blip.tv/drupal-school/drupal-school-maintainable-image-gallery-26...
not sure if this is in keeping with best practice, but uses cck and views from scratch
http://drupal.org/node/587878, http://drupal.org/node/144725

Watermarks
Also watermarks require some doing.

- http://drupal.org/project/watermark D5 only
- http://drupal.org/node/214454 imagecache patch, tutorial for D5. D6 ??? not clear
- http://drupal.org/project/imagecache_effects D6, some issues, maintenance status unknown
- http://drupal.org/project/imagecache_actions D5, D6 - widely used, no online documentation?; addon to:
- http://drupal.org/project/imagecache D5, D6. D7 integrated in core
- http://koukounari.gr/watermark-images-in-drupal tutorial, 2009 (looks good)

IMCE supports watermarking
Obviously this only works when using IMCE for image insertions
- http://drupal.org/project/imce_watermark D6 and D7-dev not overly used addon to
- http://drupal.org/project/imce D6, D7, widely used

IMCE uses watermarking via script or by using submodule imagecache_canvasactions of above addon module imagecache_actions.

Well. Time for some lengthy experimentation.

Trying:
- http://drupal.org/project/imagecache_actions D5, D6 6.x-1.8
there are some warnings in the readme.txt file, amongst others, about caching

Not working properly. Enabled Canvas Actions. Following various instructions, I created a transparent small watermark.png file with a short text in it and uploaded to the sites/default/files directory. The text appears on the image, but it is in bad quality and has a solid black background. Well. Back to the drawing board.

Workaround:
Disabled and uninstalled Canvas Actions, enabled Text Actions. Here we can overlay a text, i.e. a copyright text. That is working OK. Using this in the meantime.