Phoca Gallery 
See demo with different features:
http://www.phoca.cz/demo/ (click on links on left side to see different features of Phoca Gallery)
Demo with tree and image module:
http://www.phoca.cz/wallpapers/
Demo with description and no popup:
http://www.phoca.cz/templatedemo/phoca-gallery-description
Demo Phoca Gallery and Simple Caddy integration:
http://www.phoca.cz/stockphoto/
Demo Phoca Gallery and Joomla! 1.6 (1.7):
http://www.phoca.cz/joomlademo/phoca-gallery
Demo Phoca Gallery and YouTube Video (CSS3):
http://www.phoca.cz/virtuemartdemo/phoca-gallery-youtube
Phoca Gallery 3.0.2 Requirements:
PHP 5.2.4+
MySQL 5.0.4+
Joomla! 1.6, 1.7
That said tho it's still a very good extension!
Hi, thank you for your review, will be great if you can explain it little more in e.g. Phoca Forum.
"... folders used to store files with no clear way of setting custom folders for specific media types"
At this time I don't understand what you mean with specific media types? In image gallery, there is only one media type - Image. ???
Jan
But it's just as easy as "a b c". Install it, upload your pics, multi-add them and you are done!
Looks great, easy customizable.
Everybody should donate for this! Thanks from me for this great work!
I have just wasted an entire week trying to adapt properly a variety of galleries, the only real condition being upload from front-end. Apart from that, I was open to anything, from accepting stuff missing to having to completely style it myself.
Still this flexible, I havent found anything proper, from Oziogallery who has only support in Italian to HWDphotosahe which I even after having paid for can find no documentation about and which as a component is so bad that it seems clear that they spend all their efforts on their video component.
This time I will do the unusual of posting my review BEFORE installing the extension, and I do so with a purpose - I KNOW that this one is the best alternative for me. Why? Because having studied it I know that this Jan, on the contrary to all his "rivals" here works on this component day and night like I do, is always available and most importantly - has provided endeless amounts of documentation.
That to me is Joomla spirit, these people who develop complex components with neither documentation or support should be banned from offering them, they have cost me and other more time and money than people can imagine.
And upgrading Phoca Gallery from Joomla 1.5 to 1.7 was a treat, although it took a while for us to figure it out (as there isn't a migration script for it yet). All you need to do is follow this video, which does the trick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJZPN8y-GHU
I hope that it helps anyone who had the same doubt as me :)
There's also a ton of add-ons that make this a really robust piece of technology.
Thank you, Jan - can't wait what's coming next from your "workshop" :)
This is very much a fully featured Gallery extension. As a result there are many options and some of the terminology used to describe the options and the concepts was, for me at least, difficult to get to grips with initially. I would have liked to have seen slightly more extensive documentation to help new users. However, I persevered and found that the level of support which is provided by the extension developer is nothing short of phenomenal and this made up for any other shortcomings. Thank you Jan for an excellent extension.
CONS: Image descriptions don't show up fully below images and when images are clicked on, you still can't see the full description because there is no image descriptions when the picture is brought into full view.
All in all this extension is fantastic, but only lacks one feature - description controls and placement.
Hi, displaying of description depends on used detail window method (standard popup, modal box, modal box image only, highslide js, highslide js image only, shadowbox, jak lightbox, slimbox, boxplus, boxplus image only, etc.)
By image methods - this can be customized in the specific javascript library
By iframe methods - it can be easily set in template of detail window:
components/com_phocagallery/views/detail/tmpl/default.php or can be overwritten with help of MVC in template. Or can be set in parameters (description can be displayed below image or over the image in opacity box)
See:
http://www.phoca.cz/documents/396-phoca-extensions-general-advices (8) - difference between image and iframe method
http://www.phoca.cz/documents/2-phoca-gallery-component/494-options-parameters - setting parameters to display/hide or set specific position of description
Jan
I read other reviews here for Phoca Gallery and see that they say there are issues with translations. This may be the case (or not) but for something that is free I cannot fault it. Installed seamlessly and had it up and running within a few hours (the first time). Now I understand the options it will be a breeze in the future.
Thank you to the developers of this component. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a versatile, well designed, attractive gallery with administrator and frontend upload features.
I haven't had a chance to communicate with the developer directly but he needs to be congratulated without any reservations. And by making such an awesome product available for free, the person has some serious contribution to the Open-source community.
I will be sure to send across whatever financial help I can send when possible.
Kudos to the developers again!
Easy to set up and allows very different layouts.
We are still missing a complete multi-language capacity.
Batch uploads not yet as polished as other functionalities
Hi, please write more details about your review in Phoca Forum: http://www.phoca.cz/forum because I don't understand it :-(
What does it mean:
"We are still missing a complete multi-language capacity"?
Phoca Gallery follows Joomla! rules in multi-language feature, so in 1.7, the standard core multi-language feature can be used. In 1.5, Joom!fish files are ready.
"Batch uploads not yet as polished as other functionalities"
Really no idea, how I should understand this? :-(
Will be great to get detailed info in Phoca Forum.
Thank you, Jan
Anyway, the thing is that i like the geotagging incorporated in gallery, but the only thing is that i can't change the marker, I saw i colud do it with phocamap, but not on gallery 3.1.0.
Any clue from anyone?
Im NEW to Joomla. I have downloaded Phoca gallery and I am BATTLING to get it to display on Joomla. Im sure this is a great component, but not user-friendly for newbies! I know I still have a lot to learn, but more clear guidelines would be appreciated. The documentation was not helpfull at all.
Hi, not sure if this is a fake review or not. If not and you are newbie as you wrote, try to follow these steps.
Instead of writing bad review which will not help you, try to:
- see Phoca Gallery documentation
- see Joomla! documentation (as Phoca Gallery uses all Joomla! features and mostly it inherits behaviour from Joomla!)
- if you still don't know, just ask in Phoca or Joomla! forum.
And in case you want to write bad review, please be either specific, because:
- developers cannot take your review seriously as there is no info what is actually wrong
- other users get confused, because somebody has written bad review on some component but didn't write what in fact is the reason for the bad review.
So such review is not helpful for you (you will not solve your not described problems), not for developer - I cannot enhance something because I don't know what, not for other users as such information is not useful for them as they really don't know why not use the component. :-(
If you think, the gallery is "not user-friendly for newbies", maybe you should recheck if you want to run Joomla! as Phoca Gallery follows all the Joomla! behaviour features (e.g. adding new category in Phoca Gallery is identical to adding new article in Joomla!, managing parameters is the same for both - Joomla! and Phoca Gallery because Joomla! Config component is used, etc.)
Jan
Two very different presentations from the same component. And I am sure I still haven't understood it's full potential.
Very highly recommended.
