[wp-pro] Add photo gallery to existing WP site

[Mr. Tasty Peppers]

OVERVIEW



An existing WordPress blog needs a photo gallery. Please advise me on the best solution, then install the software, any
necessary plug-ins, and widgets.


THE WEBSITE



It is a site for an elementary school's third grade class.  I am a room parent and, well, I don't have all the time in the world if you know what I mean.  Also, I am not exactly the sharpest tool in the WordPress toolbox.  So I need help.  And I'll pay.

THE CURRENT INSTALL

The website is password-protected using Angsuman's plug-in. (I want
to convert over to a password-protected login using the .htaccess file
later).  


The theme is an unmodified version of Palaam.  http://wpthemepark.com/themes/paalam/



I always have the most recent version of WordPress installed.  I am well-trained.


The web host uses CPanel and Fantastico, which means that Gallery2
and Coppermine are easy to install, if that's what you want to use.



Bandwidth and diskspace issues are not a concern.  Security is a concern.  Only registered users should have access.



SPECIFICATIONS FOR PHOTO GALLERY -- UPLOADS



Registered users should be able to upload photos to the gallery.
Really bone-dead simple is essential. 


They should also be able to upload photos by email. The Flickr
method of uploads by email is a good model for how this should work.



The site owner can of course also upload from the Admin panel.



TOOLS THAT ARE OK



The selected tool can host the photos on the blog's webserver
(Coppermine, Gallery2, etc.) or can use Flickr, Picasa, etc. to host
the files then bring them over to the website via some sort of plug-in.
If the photos are hosted on Flickr, Picasa, etc. the Flickr/Picasa/etc.
accounts must be highly secure.



USERS



Almost all of the users of this website are easily confused.  "How do I send an email with my iPhone?" Yes, I really heard that today. So
"keep it simple" is essential.



ORGANIZATION OF UPLOADED PHOTOS



The photos should organize themselves into sets. Default should be
"organize by month" so if a photo is uploaded in September it will show
up in the September set. 

The administrator should have the ability to
add additional tags/categories/etc. so that a September photo could
also be assigned to the "Labor Day Picnic" set. That's just an example.



CSS, THEME, ETC.



The gallery should inherit the look and feel of the theme in use.
While we are using the Palaam theme now, we might shift to another theme in order to crowd yet more stuff onto the main page. 

The
gallery should adopt the theme's CSS and look like the rest of the website. Having everything inside a
WordPress page is probably the easiest way but I will leave that to
you.



USING PHOTOS IN POSTS



Blog authors should have the ability to put photos from the gallery into posts.



USERS



Figure that the typical user is completely non-tech. I mean _really_
non-tech. They will get confused if they are switched to the Flickr
site. This is why the gallery should look like the rest of the website, and when they look in the address bar of their browser (universally IE of course) they'll be stunned and darkly suspicious if they see flickr.com up there.  In other words, you can use Flickr to host the photos and deliver them to the website
but the users should not be taken off the website when they want to
view the pictures.

ME

Email me at philiphodgen(at)gmail(dot)com.

Thanks,

Phil.



       
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