ShutterFreaks Gallery Tips
We're delighted you have chosen to host your gallery with us, and
we will try to establish and maintain a high standard of service and availability.
The gallery software is extremely easy to use, so you can probably just start right in.
However, creating your first nested gallery can be a little disorienting,
so you might want to scan the following hints.
Logging In
After ordering gallery space from us, you will receive an email
containing the URL for your gallery, which should look something like
"http://www.shutterfreaks.com/gallery21/main.php/v/YourName." When you browse to your gallery, it will look like this:
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Notice that your gallery name is in the upper left corner, and there's a link to the list of all ShutterFreaks galleries
in the upper right corner.
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Click on the login link in the upper right corner, and log in, using your login name and the password we sent you.
Passwords and User Names are case-sensitive.
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After You Log In
After you log in, your gallery should look something like this:
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As you can see, your menus are in the upper right corner. Your album may contain a placeholder photo
which you can view (by clicking it) and then remove.
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Showing the Sidebar
To show the sidebar, you can click "Sidebar" in the top-right menu, or click the icon at top-left.
The sidebar (shown on the left side) gives you many options for managing your gallery:
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Changing the appearance of your gallery (optional)
This step isn't required, and if you're happy with the way your gallery looks,
you may just want to
skip down to "Creating Nested Albums."
If you do want to change the appearance of your
gallery, from your top-level album, show the Sidebar and choose "Edit Album."
You will see several
tabs:
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General
Here's where you can change your gallery's title, description, etc.
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Note: please do NOT change the Name in the top area (labeled
"The name of this item on your hard disk"). That would change the URL of your gallery,
breaking all links to it, including our link from the gallery index page.
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Album (changes made here become the defaults for sub-albums you create later)
You can change
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Sort Order
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Thumbnail size - we recommend 200 pixels
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Image size - we recommend leaving this blank and only uploading web sized images.
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Theme (changes made here become the defaults for sub-albums you create later)
You are on your own here. there are several different themes. Each has several settings.
It's your album :). Just pick a theme from the list, and then click "Choose Theme."
Note that you can apply this theme to all sub-albums, or have a
different theme for each album.
After you have chosen your theme, you have the option of configuring it
to your personal tastes.
If you are feeling creative, try the Color pack option
about half way down the page. When you have completed your edits, but sure to
Click 'Save Theme Setting', or you can use Reset to put the settings back as you found them.
Again, you can apply these settings to just the current album, or to all of your albums
that use this theme.
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Creating Nested Albums
You may store photos at the top level of your gallery if you want, but we believe that you will find it more effective to
create "Nested Albums" in which to store your photos. This allows you to organize your photos by category,
such as "My Trip to Bermuda" or "Landscapes."
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To create a nested album, click "Sidebar," and then click "Add Album" in the left menu. You will be asked
to give your album a name, title, etc. When you're done, scroll down and click "Create."
You will get the "Album Created Successfully" notice at the top of the "Edit Album" screen, which has several
tabs where you can change the default album settings.
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Click "Back to Album" in the left menu. You'll see your new album, which says "no thumbnail."
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Click "No Thumbnail," which will put you inside your newly-created album. Click "Add a Photo," and upload some
photos from your hard disk.
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Adding Photos
To add photos, click "Add a Photo" if it's visible. If not, click "Sidebar," and
choose "Add Items."
Then browse your hard disk to specify the the images you want to upload.
To add multiple images:
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Click "Browse," browse to the first image you wish to add, and click "Open"
at the bottom of the page.
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Repeat with the next Browse button.
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Note the "More Upload Boxes..." under the bottom Caption window. You can
continue to add Upload Boxes and browse to more images. When you have selected all of images,
be sure to click "Add Items" at the bottom of the page.
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Note that you can upload Zip files. It is easier when adding multiple images to first
put them in a Zip and then just upload it. Gallery will unzip the file automatically.
For best quality, we recommend that you upload images in the size in which you want them to be viewed.
Due to bandwidth considerations, we ask that members restrict the file sizes of
most of their uploaded photos to under 200KB. For an 800x520-pixel image, this can usually be accomplished by saving for the web at a quality level of 50% to 70%.
More information...
The first photo you add becomes the one that shows on
your main gallery page as a thumbnail. That can be
changed later.
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In the menu, click your gallery name to move up to your top-level gallery. You will see the thumbnail of one of your photos, which will represent the album you just created. Under the thumbnail, you will see the title of your album. You'll also see how many photos you currently have in that album.
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Please check out our
Gallery FAQ for much more information about
using and changing your gallery, as well as help with common problems.
The remainder of the Options are pretty much self explanatory, or we haven't tried them and have no idea
what they do or how they do it :). Please let us know if you have problems or questions at
shutterfreaks@shutterfreaks.com.
