# Looking for software or established site for shared galleries...



## jonathan7007 (Jul 6, 2014)

...not Flickr, Facebook, Google+. Everything I have found wants people to sign in to become a community and share lots of info or whatever. We are a photo club and there is no one site/community that everyone is willing to join and people don't want to sign into a site to either upload and see other members' images. Some members get confused about sign-ins and especially uploading.

We have used/tried Facebook, GoogleDrive/Google+/Picasa. I am starting to look at WordPress templates, hoping there is a plug-in or theme there that does this.

Please let me know if there is a template or system that can do this. I can't build it in Dreamweaver, etc. Just don't have those skills.

An example of use: six club members go to a 4th of July parade and they want to show other members the images - to be viewed on the web. (For this last [viewing]step Google and Facebook require membership and sign-in.)

The best operating model would be uploading images as attachments: upload by e-mail message. Control would came from the careful distribution of the e-mail addresses. Every member of the club performs e-mal tasks and management. The alternatives make someone a images Secretary who aggregates everyone's input and does the uploading.


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## jrista (Jul 6, 2014)

Wordpress should do what you want. It is a multi-user system, so you can set up other users for your wordpress site, and they can upload stuff if they have the right user level (i.e. contributor or editor). WordPress has a LOT of themes, although the best ones are for-pay (usually worth it, one time cost for any given site). WordPress sites hosted at WordPress.com have a decent amount of features, usually enough for the vast majority of people to get by. 

If you need ultimate flexibility, you can always find a cheap web host that offers WordPress hosting, and you can install any one of thousands of plugins that pretty much make WordPress one of the most powerful hosting web site and blog platforms on the planet.

If you want to see what WordPress can do, take a look at my personal site: http://jonrista.com. It's built entirely on WordPress, including the blog, photo carousel, gallery, and individual pages.


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## unfocused (Jul 6, 2014)

I agree with Jon. Wordpress is probably your best bet. Easy to use and very flexible. (Canon Rumors uses WordPress the last I checked).

As far as hosting goes, I would strongly endorse Dreamhost. I've used them for years and have always been pleased and impressed with their service. They are a massive server farm, but treat their customers like a small firm. Every time I've had a problem (which is rare) they responded quickly and with clear instructions (usually getting back to me within an hour.)

They are inexpensive (I think I pay less than $200 a year for hosting), very reliable (I don't recall ever having a site go down), responsive and helpful. They will automatically upgrade your site to the latest versions of Wordpress and PHP if you request that service (free), their one-click installation of Wordpress and other content management systems (Joomla, Drupal etc.) gets you up and running without having to do much of anything, they will take care of all the necessary domain registration for you, including keeping your domain registration current.

They also offer free sub-domains, which could be a nice option for a club. This would allow you to register as "ourphotoclub.com" and then later, if you choose individual members could have their own sites as johndoephotography.ourclub.com. Members can use the same Wordpress theme or pick their own themes. In fact, with a subdomain, one member could even be on Joomla or Drupal, while the rest of the club is on Wordpress. 

As Jon said, there are tons of free Wordpress themes and if you can't find something for free, there are lots of companies that sell themes (RocketTheme being one I've used in the past). The way most of these services work is you buy a "membership" for maybe a month or so and have the option to download as many themes as you want. Once you've downloaded them, the themes are yours to use forever, so it's not an ongoing expense. 

I built my personal site in Dreamweaver, because I really wanted to learn the program. But, if that hadn't been the case, I would have used Wordpress (I do use Wordpress for my blog, but like most bloggers I'm very bad about keeping it current).

Simplified glossary in case you need it. (Warning to Geeks, this is simplified, so let's not quibble over insignificant points)

PHP -- that's the open-source software that is "under the hood" of Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.
Wordpress -- That's the content management system. All the systems work basically the same. Instead of adding content directly to the webpage, you add it through a dialogue box (just as you do on this forum). 
Themes -- These control the "look" of your content. They provide the shell that it presents to the world.
Plug-ins -- Specific enhancements that you can add to your basic theme, such as a slide show, gallery, contact form, order form, etc. etc.
Hosting Service -- Such as Dreamhost. These are the companies that own the servers that connect to the web and put your site on the web so the world can access it.


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## privatebydesign (Jul 6, 2014)

My local club uses Zenfolio.

There is one login and password that all current members are told, it changes each year when the membership fees are due, $25 for a full annual adult member.

Each member gets a folder with as many galleries/sub folders as they want, they can make them private or public, they can link or copy images to club event/competition galleries etc etc.

It is very cheap for the club.

For a club setup it is very good, easy for those that need easy but can be used to good effect and customised by those that want a bit more.


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## jonathan7007 (Jul 6, 2014)

Thank you for the thoughtful replies.

I should have included that I was sort of assuming WordPress if I didn't get a suggestion of a service, and I am already a Zenfolio member for my professional work, so these ideas from CR members are right on. I wrote the above post too late to cover all the bases...it was getting long... I use Wordpress.org software at my host (Hostgator, also recommended) for my own outward-facing portfolio site and like the platform and its many theme-makers. 

(Positive nod to the Expression theme from Pexeto for reasonable fee, BTW) hinking of Zenfolio. Had a .com WP site some years ago for a different group.

www.jonathanrawle.com shows Expression theme. Pexeto distributes through Themeforest and has a couple other themes that would work for shooters. Scroll to see earlier galleries.

PbD, I had been thinking of Zenfolio, as I and my clients like it, plus support has been good. New ownership hasn't changed anything I notice so far. We have the same club fee so there's $$ to run the subscription. I see how it would work; everyone has to remember the sign in but at least you can VIEW images with no sign-in, and a small group could learn the interface for admin. In our club there is such a wide range of computer skills and tolerance of sign-ins that I was hoping for a super-simple e-mail-only upload. Perhaps e-mail upload is so hard to do that it is rare, because it IS rare. SmugMug claims you can do this for your pages on their service, but it sounds like their staff just does it as a manual "support function". I will ask them if they still do this and guarantee the process will occur right away.

PbD, have you used Jeffrey Friedl's Lightroom plug-in for easy Zenfolio upload? Super.

Unfocused-- I am not worthy! building a site takes a lot of learning, work, and attention to detail. I have done some maintenance for a client with DW4 and struggled wth the nesting complications of CSS! Fun though. The experience made me appreciate Wordpressa lot more.

jrista--Than you both specifically for your Wordpress nod and broadly for the good information and careful writing you do on these forums.


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