I would want to have an online backup of my project images in a organized way. Since they already should be displayed in my portfolio, it saves me time & money if I can upload them onto my hosting using couch. However, I do realize I need to have an image full quality (for archive) and a lighter version for on the website (loading time, etc.).

1) Is it possible using the image to thumbnail feature to keep the original and display a rather large thumbnail?

2) how can I increase the size for uploading (most of my HQ photo's are larger than 2MB, mostly around 5MB)

3) Default quality is 80%, does this mean the uploaded image gets decreased quality? Is it possible to change the default quality to 100%?

hi Cowgirl, quality can be adjusted as a parameter of the image tag - see http://docs.couchcms.com/tags-reference/editable/image.html

Re changing the upload limit - I have grappled with this on a few occasions. But I did manage to succeed for a client some time ago - I kept some notes on what I did - hope they make sense:

1. Specify the size in 'couch/includes/plupload/upload.php' (Line: 109 ):
max_file_size : '2mb', change to 20mb

2. couch/includes/fileuploader/config.php:
$Config['k_max_upload_size'] = '2'; //Size in MB. Set to '0' to allow any size.

3. php.ini
upload_max_filesize = 20M

4. php.ini
memory_limit = 20M

also try

5. includes/timthumb.php - Line 49:

ini_set('memory_limit', "50M");


I haven't really worked out if all are necessary - but these are things to try out. Good luck!

[KK]

@cowgirl, @potato has answered two of your queries. I'll try to answer the remaining one -

1) Is it possible using the image to thumbnail feature to keep the original and display a rather large thumbnail?

Of course. It is totally up to you as to what you choose to display on the frontend (i.e. the main image or one of its thumbnails).

I suggest you use the 'Advanced thumbnail' addon found here - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9299

As an example. define a region for the main image (i.e. archived) as follows -

Code: Select all

<cms:editable
      name='main_image'
      label='Main Image'
      type='image'
/>

Please notice that we have not used either the 'height' or the 'width' parameter above so whatever image is uploaded remains totally untouched (if you do want to enforce some maximum dimensions, you can define those and use quality='100').

Next attach a thumbnail region to the main image as follows -

Code: Select all

<cms:editable
          name='my_imagethumb'
          type='jcropthumb'
          assoc_field='main_image'
          desc='Will be created automatically'
          show_preview='1'
/>

Set the 'width' and 'height' above if you do not want to allow freeform selection.

Then on the fronend you can simply ignore the main image and use the thumbnail instead -

Code: Select all

<img src="<cms:show my_imagethumb />" />

Hope it helps.

@cowgirl, I have done this exact thing with an art gallery of my own. I upload the original full-size artwork into an editable region, then set thumbnails for the different sizes I want to show on the site.

I personally have never run afoul of the size limitations that you and @potato refer to. Maybe I've just been lucky. Since this is my own site and not for a client, I find it easier to upload images in bulk via ftp to the appropriate folder instead of using the file uploader. (That's one way to get around the size limitations without mucking about in the source code.) Then in the admin panel, I can select the gallery image from those I uploaded and Couch generates the thumbnails.

The code for my gallery generates 2 images that are used on the front end, a small thumbnail with maximum dimensions of 150px, and a larger image with max dimensions of 800x600. It doesn't use the jcropthumb addon that @KK mentioned, since the images are simply resized, not cropped.

Code: Select all

    <!-- PHOTO -->
   <cms:editable name='artwork'
      label="Original Image"
      quality='100'
      show_preview='1'
      preview_width='250'
      type='image' />

   <!-- THUMBNAIL -->
   <cms:editable name='artwork_thumb'
      assoc_field='artwork'
      label="Thumbnail"
      desc="150x150"
      width='150'
      height='150'
      quality='100'
      enforce_max='1'
      type='thumbnail' />

   <!-- LARGE IMAGE -->
   <cms:editable name='artwork_large'
      assoc_field='artwork'
      label="Large"
      desc="800x600"
      width='800'
      height='600'
      quality='100'
      enforce_max='1'
      type='thumbnail' />

Found all of your replies very helpful!
I adore this jcrop tool, since you don't have to touch the original photo's aspect ratio and you can crop the exact thumbnail you want that would fit for the gallery, and display the full size on the page.
But unfortunately this cropping doesn't work with repeatable regions, so I'm going from a regular cloned page with dynamic folders to gallery with extended folder options. Since I haven't uploaded to much content already it is still manageable to change the structure

However trying to upload larger images does work, but using them in the thumbnails just makes my page turn white and get stuck. On second thought, my hosting plan is probably not big enough to have all my +8MB pictures uploaded, so maybe a downsize on upload would be a better idea? Is something like that available?

The reason I have +8MB pictures is because I photograph in RAW+fine settings because photo's with good lightning I can use straight away, photo's with bad lightning, I can edit more easily with the RAW. Also for large prints (I order occasionally for my very best photo's) this does makes a huge difference. I love the quality of my photo camera, but yeah, the size is often overkill, I know...

Any change these thumbnails might be repeatable in the future? Can I ask if there is a particular reason for not being able to repeate those?

@cowgirl,
The documentation for repeatable regions refers you to using the thumbnail tag on the front end rather than the editable type='thumbnail' tag in the back end code. http://docs.couchcms.com/tags-reference/thumbnail.html

Is there a reason that wouldn't work for you?

Another alternative would be to use a clonable template instead of a repeatable region, for instance if you wanted to use the jcropthumb addon.

Yes Tim, because of the jcrop, I think this feature is so cool! I'm using clonable templates for now, but that means I have to store my actual topic in extended folders and the images in cloned templates inside the folder. It's okay, but it would be nice to have it in the same place by using repeatable regions...Just wondering if they are already working on this or not?