Phoca Gallery 
Version
2.7.8, 3.2.4 (last update on May 20, 2013)
Rating
Compatibility
Reviews
328
License
GPLv2 or later
Non-Commercial
Type
Date Added
28 September 2007
Editor's Note
- This extension has additional addons listed in an extension specific category.
- Includes visible backlink
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
Images
I spent hours going through and setting up various galleries before trying this one. They all had one conflict or another. I wish I had tried this one first. Install is simple, setup is simple, configuration is simple, and the end result is beautiful. Best gallery available for 1.5. Thank you for this product. Excellent work.
I'm new to the world of Joomla / CMS and have been searching high and low for a simple, unbloated photo gallery that would allow basic editing from front-end users, but with the majority of the work done on the back end. After testing almost all of the non-commercial extensions on this page as well as trying to bridge stand-alone galleries like Gallery2, Zen Photo and Coppermine into Joomla (with rather disappointing results, might I add), I finally ran across Phoca Gallery.
Finally! Someone gets it! Thank you, Phoca Gallery, for delivering an complicated, lean photo gallery with just enough bells and whistles to keep things interesting without crossing over into the "only a php geek would know what to do with 99% of these options."
Oh, as for installation...I'll repeat what everyone else below me has said...go by the documented instructions and you'll be just fine. It might seem a little intimidating for newbies to amend one or two lines of code, per the instructions, but trust me, it's easy as pie and definitely worth it for this outstanding non-commercial gallery.
Finally! Someone gets it! Thank you, Phoca Gallery, for delivering an complicated, lean photo gallery with just enough bells and whistles to keep things interesting without crossing over into the "only a php geek would know what to do with 99% of these options."
Oh, as for installation...I'll repeat what everyone else below me has said...go by the documented instructions and you'll be just fine. It might seem a little intimidating for newbies to amend one or two lines of code, per the instructions, but trust me, it's easy as pie and definitely worth it for this outstanding non-commercial gallery.
First I had a fancy gallery extensions - which suddenly refused to work. Installed Phoca Gallery, and it does the job without any fuzz.
Jan is making great extensions (look up everything named "Phoca"). It seems that his programming always is clean and simple.
My wish for this component is that there should be more different ways to show the galleries. There a few, but most of them are only slight variations.
Jan is making great extensions (look up everything named "Phoca"). It seems that his programming always is clean and simple.
My wish for this component is that there should be more different ways to show the galleries. There a few, but most of them are only slight variations.
I tried many Gallery mods and tried to find the best and simplest one...
When I first approached Phoca Gallery and I saw all the add-ons available, I thought that this might be complicated or too much for my needs.
Well I was wrong:
Documentation & FAQ are Excellent
Installation is a Breeze
Customization is very clear and straightforward
Usage, usability & functions are simply magnificent.
& its free!!!!!
Thank you for the dedicated work.
When I first approached Phoca Gallery and I saw all the add-ons available, I thought that this might be complicated or too much for my needs.
Well I was wrong:
Documentation & FAQ are Excellent
Installation is a Breeze
Customization is very clear and straightforward
Usage, usability & functions are simply magnificent.
& its free!!!!!
Thank you for the dedicated work.
I have basically tried every photo gallery extension and I would say that this is one of the best and most coplete out there. First of all, all of the features actually work, which compared with some is a big deal. It is set up very much like your typical joomla setup, so there really isnt a learning curve as you try to navigate something new. Also, it is loaded with features, so you get a lot in this componant. My favorite feature is being able to easily select from your list of registered members if you want a gallery category to only be visable to them. This is really cool... esspecially for people who do paid work. Great job! I havent even gotten to check out the extensions yet, but I am excited to try them.
After having been through the nightmare of using G2 several years back, I have so far been amazed at the simplicity of this extension! Very professional, from the installation through the presentation of the galleries on my site. While there are tons of options, I had 6 different galleries up on my site in about 20 minutes, from download to display.
5 Stars all the way!
5 Stars all the way!
I have looked at a lot of galleries. This is hands down the best. It is easy to install. The parameters can be a little tricky but the documentation is great, the forum has lots of answers. It is clean, fast, good looking, and theme driven.
To get started you can ftp your images and choose add multiple from the control panel and voom the subcategories are created and the thumbnails. No more bringing them up 5 or 10 at a time. I loaded over 500 images in less than 15 minutes.
Then you get a random image module that links directly to the gallery. No more having to keep images in 2 locations, 1 for the random image, and then in your gallery.
It also has an add on slideshow plugin so you can put slide shows in content or on a page directly from any category.
It is all well written. This is the gallery you should start with and prevent yourself a lot of headaches. Seemless integration into my theme and joomla. Great all the way around.
To get started you can ftp your images and choose add multiple from the control panel and voom the subcategories are created and the thumbnails. No more bringing them up 5 or 10 at a time. I loaded over 500 images in less than 15 minutes.
Then you get a random image module that links directly to the gallery. No more having to keep images in 2 locations, 1 for the random image, and then in your gallery.
It also has an add on slideshow plugin so you can put slide shows in content or on a page directly from any category.
It is all well written. This is the gallery you should start with and prevent yourself a lot of headaches. Seemless integration into my theme and joomla. Great all the way around.
I had been looking for an easy to use gallery and this one does everything, plus the little extra of batch upload in folder structure (which becomes categories). Very cool
Development is constant and the user interface has been well thought out. Good work.
Development is constant and the user interface has been well thought out. Good work.
Cute little component but with no pagination and a clumsy upload procedure it is not practical for large galleries.
Owner's reply
Hi,
- there is a pagination (since the first version of Phoca Gallery)
- Upload procedure - standard upload in Multiple Add View, flash upload in Multiple Add View, standard upload in Add View, flash upload in Add View, Java upload will be implemented in next version. Upload works in frontend and in administration...
There is a special way how to quickly create your L A R G E gallery. Just create a folder structure on your PC (folders, subfolders, images), then upload this structure into your server (e.g. via FTP). Go to Multiple Add and with just one click, Phoca Gallery creates categories (from folders), subcategories (from subfolders without any limit) and thumbnails... Thousands of images in e.g. hundreds categories and subcategories per one click ... :-)
This is post by StaleY from http://www.phoca.cz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2239.
>>I was thinking, would it be too much of a hassle, if the random image module would work in an alternative way ->
Now, when the user clicks on the random image the modul is showing, currently he sees a blow-up of the picture (lightbox, highslide, whatever you choose). Since I want visitors to come and see the other galleries too, it would be very nice that when they click on the displayed random thumbnail, it would redirect them to the gallery, where the random thumb was taken from.
Could this be done?
Hope you understand what I was trying to say here :D
>>
It's very good idea. Is this feature ready?
>>I was thinking, would it be too much of a hassle, if the random image module would work in an alternative way ->
Now, when the user clicks on the random image the modul is showing, currently he sees a blow-up of the picture (lightbox, highslide, whatever you choose). Since I want visitors to come and see the other galleries too, it would be very nice that when they click on the displayed random thumbnail, it would redirect them to the gallery, where the random thumb was taken from.
Could this be done?
Hope you understand what I was trying to say here :D
>>
It's very good idea. Is this feature ready?
I thought that I should write a detailed review here as a Christmas and New Year presents to Jan, who has continued to develop and improve Phoca Gallery. When I first encountered the extension, I realised that it is significantly different from many other Joomla extensions. Not only is it easy to install, it is just as easy to upgrade without requiring deinstallation.
Apart from being able to code very well, it is evident that Jan has had a well-developed sense of design and colour, so much so that for quite some time I thought that the person is a female, until I saw Jan's avatar in his forum (assuming that it is an actual photo of himself). Great! Here is a person who is unafraid of showing facial hair, loving cute animals like wide-eyed seals, being highly creative and sometimes quite feminine in colour and design, and most of all, willing to help others with his expertise in his spare time, and also accept suggestions for improvements and requests for new features. For example, I asked in late September of 2008 for the inclusion of Ratings, Comments and Image Protection in Phoca Gallery gaving pertinent rationales for their necessity. A couple of months later, their preliminary implementations have already become quite concrete and commendable.
At the moment, it seems that ratings and comments can only be applied wholesale at the level of individual categories, not of individual images. I assume that the latter is forthcoming. In anticipation, comments for images would probably best be implemented via AJAX: the user simply clicks on the comment/rating icon of any thumbnail, and a dialogue box (modal or popup) appears to allow the user to insert a rating and to provide comments.
It would be very expedient when page loading is rendered unnecessary with AJAX, meaning that page navigation could be done with AJAX so that the user does not have to wait a long time for the entire webpage to be reloaded just to see the next, the previous or a particular set of images.
As notified, there are also a few very tricky bugs to iron out when the component is deployed. One of these involves jos_content for some unknown reason(s) as follows:
DB function failed with error number 1064
You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ': LIMIT 0,30' at line 1 SQL=SELECT `title` , `introtext` , `fulltext` FROM jos_content WHERE state = 1 AND catid=29: LIMIT 0,30
We should be very grateful and feeling lucky that Jan has not been spending his spare time indulging himself at the pubs and/or playing computer games, that he has not been required to be content with too much domestic bliss or to many family responsibilities in his personal life, and that he is very palpably in loving, indefatigable devotions to his extensions, and wanting to do ever more and even better . . . . . Yes, Jan is indeed one of the finest specimens in the Joomla 1.5 pantheon!
Let us hope that this review will be published in time at extensions.joomla.org by Christmas to honour Jan's flairs and dedications!
==========
SoundEagle
==========
Apart from being able to code very well, it is evident that Jan has had a well-developed sense of design and colour, so much so that for quite some time I thought that the person is a female, until I saw Jan's avatar in his forum (assuming that it is an actual photo of himself). Great! Here is a person who is unafraid of showing facial hair, loving cute animals like wide-eyed seals, being highly creative and sometimes quite feminine in colour and design, and most of all, willing to help others with his expertise in his spare time, and also accept suggestions for improvements and requests for new features. For example, I asked in late September of 2008 for the inclusion of Ratings, Comments and Image Protection in Phoca Gallery gaving pertinent rationales for their necessity. A couple of months later, their preliminary implementations have already become quite concrete and commendable.
At the moment, it seems that ratings and comments can only be applied wholesale at the level of individual categories, not of individual images. I assume that the latter is forthcoming. In anticipation, comments for images would probably best be implemented via AJAX: the user simply clicks on the comment/rating icon of any thumbnail, and a dialogue box (modal or popup) appears to allow the user to insert a rating and to provide comments.
It would be very expedient when page loading is rendered unnecessary with AJAX, meaning that page navigation could be done with AJAX so that the user does not have to wait a long time for the entire webpage to be reloaded just to see the next, the previous or a particular set of images.
As notified, there are also a few very tricky bugs to iron out when the component is deployed. One of these involves jos_content for some unknown reason(s) as follows:
DB function failed with error number 1064
You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ': LIMIT 0,30' at line 1 SQL=SELECT `title` , `introtext` , `fulltext` FROM jos_content WHERE state = 1 AND catid=29: LIMIT 0,30
We should be very grateful and feeling lucky that Jan has not been spending his spare time indulging himself at the pubs and/or playing computer games, that he has not been required to be content with too much domestic bliss or to many family responsibilities in his personal life, and that he is very palpably in loving, indefatigable devotions to his extensions, and wanting to do ever more and even better . . . . . Yes, Jan is indeed one of the finest specimens in the Joomla 1.5 pantheon!
Let us hope that this review will be published in time at extensions.joomla.org by Christmas to honour Jan's flairs and dedications!
==========
SoundEagle
==========
Phocagallery is a nice component and I've finally selected it for my galleries, though it has some limits which could determine whether this is the right tool for you.
On the positive side, it creates slideshows with beautiful effects. It supports access control. You can specify a group (Public, Registered, Special) for each gallery. This is a key feature, although I'd prefer to see additional support for per-image access control. There is good support for large images, which when downloaded, display in a separate scrollable window.
On the negative side, I have given up trying to use the built-in tools to create thumbnails. Not being a graphics programmer, I don't know what is wrong but the graphic buffers are simply not big enough to create thumbnails. It is rather easy to create all thumbnails by hand but it takes time. This is Phocagallery V2 Beta 2's biggest problem. I hope it gets fixed...
There are quirky design issues as well. 1) The icon to download an image is displayed in the gallery view, not in the detail view. That means that, while viewing a slideshow and coming across an image you'd like to download, you must exit the show and find the thumbnail of the image - not always easy to do. 2) Many settings are made for the entire component and cannot be overridden for a single gallery. For example, I believe that control for downloads (whether or not to allow them) is made at the component level rather than the gallery level). I would rather disallow this on certain galleries...) 3) A slideshow displays the current page of images from the gallery not the entire gallery. If you have a gallery with 25 images and the visitor is displaying 20 per page, then the visitor must view the show, end the show, change the page, start the next show, etc, to see all images.
I've also found some quirks in the display of public galleries containing private galleries and such. These were not difficult to work around and it is very excellent of this free component to have such problems because most of the gallery tools do not support private galleries.
I recommend this component, though must spend time with each gallery I create to work around the design and implementation restrictions. But the price is right, isn't it?
On the positive side, it creates slideshows with beautiful effects. It supports access control. You can specify a group (Public, Registered, Special) for each gallery. This is a key feature, although I'd prefer to see additional support for per-image access control. There is good support for large images, which when downloaded, display in a separate scrollable window.
On the negative side, I have given up trying to use the built-in tools to create thumbnails. Not being a graphics programmer, I don't know what is wrong but the graphic buffers are simply not big enough to create thumbnails. It is rather easy to create all thumbnails by hand but it takes time. This is Phocagallery V2 Beta 2's biggest problem. I hope it gets fixed...
There are quirky design issues as well. 1) The icon to download an image is displayed in the gallery view, not in the detail view. That means that, while viewing a slideshow and coming across an image you'd like to download, you must exit the show and find the thumbnail of the image - not always easy to do. 2) Many settings are made for the entire component and cannot be overridden for a single gallery. For example, I believe that control for downloads (whether or not to allow them) is made at the component level rather than the gallery level). I would rather disallow this on certain galleries...) 3) A slideshow displays the current page of images from the gallery not the entire gallery. If you have a gallery with 25 images and the visitor is displaying 20 per page, then the visitor must view the show, end the show, change the page, start the next show, etc, to see all images.
I've also found some quirks in the display of public galleries containing private galleries and such. These were not difficult to work around and it is very excellent of this free component to have such problems because most of the gallery tools do not support private galleries.
I recommend this component, though must spend time with each gallery I create to work around the design and implementation restrictions. But the price is right, isn't it?
Owner's reply
Hi, thank your for this info.
- Thumbnails Creation - Thumbnails are created by GD library which is a part of server so it depends on server settings how sucessfull the creation of thumbnails will be... on most servers there is GD 2 so it should not be a problem.
- Slideshow - it depends on you which images will be shown by slideshow. If you use the: standard popup window, modal box, highslide then all images are included in slideshow ... if you use modal box (image only), shadowbox, highslide (image only) then only images which are displayed on the site as thumbnails will be displayed (because these javascript methods work this way)
see: http://www.phoca.cz/documentation/category/2-phoca-gallery-component
If you don't want to waste your time with design the gallery just use some Phoca Gallery Theme (it is very easy to create own too - you only change the images and icons):
http://www.phoca.cz/themes
Thank you for ideas about new features, the problem is that I have prepared many new features but cannot find time for implement them, because I am not able to do all the things by myself (I do them in my freetime :-( next to my work ): developing, bug fixing, writing documentation, answering all the post in emails, answering all the post in forums, all languages coordination, ... so every help for this project will be appreciated:
Answering post in forum:
http://www.phoca.cz/forum/
Creating language packages:
http://www.phoca.cz/download/category/1-phoca-gallery-component
Creating themes:
http://www.phoca.cz/themes
Creating new modules, plugins, ... and documentation:
http://www.phoca.cz/documentation
Every help will be very appreciated, thank you, Jan
Wow is all I can say. This gallery is feature rich, flexible, and looks great.
I've tried over a dozen Joomla gallery extensions and this one kicks butt! No glitches so far, and no serious limitations.
Could use a multiple upload button though - the average site user can't figure out ftp and is too impatient to load files one at a time.
I've tried over a dozen Joomla gallery extensions and this one kicks butt! No glitches so far, and no serious limitations.
Could use a multiple upload button though - the average site user can't figure out ftp and is too impatient to load files one at a time.
It's excellent component. In case you have an installation problems (mysql), like I was, it's detailed documented in installation instruction.
Great job!
Great job!
This is by far the best gallery component yet!
Easy to install
Easy to configure
Easy to add photos and albums.
NO PROBLEMS at all!
Just still trying to figure out why my sub categories dont have thumbnail images generate but all done after 10 minutes so spending time to figure it out absolute pleasure.
THANK YOU for a SUPERB component!
Installation: Joomla 1.5.8, Legacy Mode
Easy to install
Easy to configure
Easy to add photos and albums.
NO PROBLEMS at all!
Just still trying to figure out why my sub categories dont have thumbnail images generate but all done after 10 minutes so spending time to figure it out absolute pleasure.
THANK YOU for a SUPERB component!
Installation: Joomla 1.5.8, Legacy Mode
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