Simple Image Gallery Extended - Joomla! Plugin - Logo

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Name: Simple Image Gallery Extended - Version: 3.4.2-FREE / 3.6.5.0-PRO / 4.4.1.0-PRO / 5.0.1.0-PRO - Type: Plugin - License: GPLv3
Description: Creates galleries in Joomla! articles - with Turbo Mode - Joomla! Extensions Directory

Overview of all downloads of the extension: SIGE - Simple Image Gallery Extended Downloads

Simple Image Gallery Extended creates galleries in Joomla! articles - with Turbo Mode

Plugin: SIGE - Simple Image Gallery Extended
Function: Gallery in article - Images are loaded automatically from a given path
Languages: German / English
Bonus: Editor Button - SIGE Parameter

Simple Image Gallery Extended is a powerful gallery content plugin for Joomla!

Simple Image Gallery Extended (SIGE) offers a dynamic platform to seamlessly integrate pictures into your articles. Its distinctive feature lies in its versatility - every parameter can be controlled directly through the syntax call.

SIGE Pro introduces a backend component, allowing users to manage galleries directly from the site's backend. This streamlines workflow provides enhanced control and offers a comprehensive view of all galleries, significantly improving the management of large image quantities.

The Pro version's backend component enables direct uploading and editing of images and handles complex tasks efficiently. This significantly reduces loading times and improves overall site performance, especially when processing large images or creating extensive galleries, making SIGE Pro a powerful tool for creating high-quality, professional image galleries.

A valuable complement to SIGE, the Editor Button allows you to effortlessly tweak parameters on-the-fly within an article, streamlining the image integration process.

Key features of SIGE include direct parameter call, watermark functionality, IPTC data reading, thumbnail storage, image cropping, various sorting options, list output, CSS image tooltip, and the Editor Button, among others.

One of the most remarkable innovations of SIGE is its Turbo Mode. Unlike any other Joomla! plugins, the turbo mode substantially speeds up the image-loading process by creating two text files from the gallery's HTML output, which are then loaded in successive runs. This bypasses the need to process each image individually. During a test with 50 large images, a gallery equipped with features like thumbnail saving, watermark generation, and original image resizing took only 1 second to create in Turbo Mode, compared to over 17 seconds required without it.

To further enhance the user experience, an Editor Button is available for adding the galleries into articles. This button displays all the settings and parameters of the plugin, making the syntax selection process significantly more straightforward and enriching the overall usage of the SIGE plugin.

Features

  • Thumbnail generation and storage: Preview images are created and stored - faster loading, better quality
  • Turbo Mode - the whole gallery is loaded from a text file
  • Parameter call - individual galleries possible
  • Lazy image loading
  • Backend component to create galleries and add images information (PRO)
  • Integration of Slimbox, Lytebox, Shadowbox, Milkbox and Mootools
  • Lytebox installed to display a slide show and avoidance of JS conflicts
  • Number of images displayed adjustable
  • Pictures can be viewed without a link
  • Random order of the images
  • Sort by modification date possible
  • Captions
  • Read IPTC data (title and description)
  • Read text file (title and description) - support for multilingual files
  • Print option - print image easily in the JS view
  • Download Option - download image with one click
  • Show a single image (no gallery and with gallery)
  • List view - image output as a list
  • Crop function
  • Watermark function
  • CSS Image Tooltip
  • Editor Button - SIGE Parameter
  • Link words with gallery
  • The original image can be resized
  • Valid XHTML 1.1 - CSS and JS files are included in the head section, eliminates syntax errors
  • An index.html is automatically generated in each image folder, to protect against the reading of the content by the browser
  • Backend German / English and some more languages

Installation

Install the plugin in the backend and enable it under Extensions - Plugin-Manager - Simple Image Gallery Extended

Update

A new version can be easily installed over an existing installation. Of course, you can uninstall any older version first or replace files via FTP (path: plugins/content/sige).

Usage of the SIGE plugin

With the syntax call {gallery}folder{/gallery} - folder must be located in images - the gallery can be embedded in the desired position. Parameters can control the gallery. (see List of parameters)

Example

  • Create a new folder in images (e.g. joomla-rocks) - so the path to the images is images/joomla-rocks
  • Upload your images into this new folder
  • Enter in the article (where you want to place the gallery):
{gallery}joomla-rocks{/gallery}

List of parameters

Galleries can be adjusted using parameters in the syntax call.

Possible parameters

width - Width of the thumbnail - example: 300
height - Height of the thumbnail - example: 300
gap_v - Vertical gap - example: 30
gap_h - Horizontal gap - example: 30
quality - Quality (jpg) - möglich: 1-100
quality_png - Quality (png) - possible: 1-9 (Compression level)
displaynavtip - Show navigation tip - 1 = yes, 0 = no
displayarticle - Show article name - 1 = yes, 0 = no
thumbs - Generate and save thumbnails - 1 = yes, 0 = no
limit - Activate limiting - 1 = yes, 0 = no
limit_quantity - Show number of images - example: 10
noslim - Deactivate lightbox effect - 1 = yes, 0 = no
sort - Random order - 1 = yes, 2 = no, ascending, 3 = no, descending, 4 = ascending by modified date, 5 = descending by modified date
root - Path to the images starting at the root folder - 1 = yes, 0 = no
ratio - Maintain aspect ratios of the images - 1 = yes, 0 = no
caption - Display captions - 1 = yes, 0 = no
caption_description - Display short description in the caption - 1 = yes, 0 = no (PRO)
iptc - Title and description of IPTC data - 1 = yes, 0 = no
iptcutf8 - IPTC data is already UTF8-encoded - 1 = yes, 0 = no
print - Display printing option in lightbox - 1 = yes, 0 = no
count - Set count variable manually - example: 5
single - Show a single image - example: imagename.jpg
scaption - Caption in single view, only use with parameter single - example: This is my caption
single_gallery - Show gallery if parameter single is used - 1 = yes, 0 = no
salign - Align single image - example: left / center / right
connect - Connect images in other syntax calls - example: bildset
download - Show download button - 1 = yes, 0 = no
list - Display images in a list - 1 = yes, 0 = no
crop - Enable crop function - 1 = yes, 0 = no
crop_factor - Zoom level - example 50 for 50 percent (enter without %!)
thumbdetail - Choose image section for thumbnail - 0 = 1:1, 1 = top left, 2 = top right, 3 = bottom left, 4 = bottom right
watermark - Enable watermark function - 1 = yes, 0 = no
watermarkposition - Position of the watermark - 0 = centered, 1 = top left, 2 = top right, 3 = bottom left, 4 = bottom right
watermark_trans - Transparency of the watermark - 0 to 100 - 0 = opaque, 100 - completely transparent
encrypt - Encryption method - 0 = ROT13 - very weak, but fast. 1= MD5 - safe, fast. 2 = SHA1 - very safe, slower than MD5
image_info - Show image name or IPTC data - 1 = yes, 0 = no
image_link - Set a link - example: www.kubik-rubik.de
image_link_local - Allows to set internal links, to use with image_link - 1 = yes, 0 = no
image_link_new - Open link in a new window - 1 = yes, 0 = no
column_quantity - Images per line - example: 3 (for 3 images in one line)
css_image - Enable CSS Image Tooltip - 1 = yes, 0 = no
css_image_half - Half the size in tooltip - 1 = yes, 0 = no
copyright - Link to the author - 1 = yes, 0 = no
word - Link the gallery with a word - example: Gallery
watermarkimage - Set a different watermark image (image has to be located in plugins/content/sige/plugin_sige) - example: watermark-new.png
calcmaxthumbsize - Calculate maximum size of all thumbnails - 1 = yes, 0 = no
fileinfo - Information from text file (captions.txt - see slide Extras) - 1 = yes, 0 = no
turbo - Activate turbo mode - 1 = yes, 0 = no
resize_images - Resize original images - 1 = yes, 0 = no
width_image - Maximum width of resized images - example: 800
height_image - Maximum height of resized images - example: 800
ratio_image - Maintain aspect ratios of the original images - 1 = yes, 0 = no
images_new - Overwrite resized images - 1 = yes, 0 = no
nodebug - Suppress debug message output - 1 = yes, 0 = no
filterImage - Filters the loaded images by specific name parts - Example: .png|.webp (PRO)

Usage

Syntax call: PARAMETER = VALUE. The parameters are separated with a comma. The order is irrelevant, what matters is that the image directory comes first.

Parameters can be used very easy with the Editor Button - SIGE Pparameters!

Examples

Limiting disabled, random order, size 100, vertical / horizontal distance of 20

Code:

{gallery}imagefolder,limit=0,random=1,width=100,height=100,gap_h=20,gap_v=20{/gallery}

No lightbox effect (like a 1.0-Web gallery), single image is image.jpg, show IPTC data, enable printing option

Code:

{gallery}imagefolder,noslim=1,single=bild.jpg,iptc=1,print=1{/gallery}

Show gallery in a list, display the download button, load images in the set "pictures", IPTC data is encoded utf8

Code:

{gallery}imagefolder,list=1,download=1,connect=pictures,iptcutf8=1{/gallery}

PRO Features

Backend component

Simple Image Gallery Extended - Component - Galleries

Simple Image Gallery Extended - Component - Images

Masonry gallery view

Simple Image Gallery Extended - Masonry View

Extras - Tips and tricks

Enable Turbo Mode – Gallery is loaded in seconds

From Version 1.7.-2 on you may enable the Turbo Mode. This feature is only available in SIGE!

First, you need to create a gallery. If everything is set up appropriately, the Turbo Mode may be activated, using the parameter turbo=1 as a syntax. The next time the front page is loaded, two text files will be generated containing the complete output of the gallery. In subsequent calls, only those text files will be loaded what will eliminate the time-consuming editing of all the images. The turbo mode is not set globally and must be activated manually on each syntax call.

Information: In a test with 50 large-scaled images, the loading time could be reduced, using the Turbo Mode, from 17 to 1 second!

If you would like to change settings of your gallery after using the Turbo Mode, the text files must be recreated. This is possible by setting the parameter turbo=new. After the new text files were created (one call to the gallery on the front end needed), you have to change the parameter back to turbo=1.

You get tips for using the parameters in the slide "List of parameters".

Load image information from a text file – several text files for different languages

Image information (title and description) can be loaded through a text file (since version 1.5-15).

For this feature, you have to create a text file captions.txt in each image folder. The file must contain the following structure:

picutre.jpg|Image Title|Image description|Alt attribute for thubmail
picutre2.jpg|Image Title of the second image|Image description of the second image|Alt attribute for second thubmail|Link for second image

Parameters:

  • 1 - Image Name
  • 2 - Image Title
  • 3 - Image Description
  • 4 - Alt Attribute
  • 5 - Link

Each row refers to one image. You have to specify at least the first two parameters, separated with a pipe symbol ( | ). The other parameters may be omitted.

First, you have to set the exact image name, including the file extension, as the second argument you choose the desired title of the image and finally the description.

SIGE as well supports the use of different text files for different languages which are loaded depending on the active language. For using this feature, you have to name the files with the correct language codes.

Example: German – captions-de-DE.txt, English – captions-en-GB.txt, and so on.

With this option, it is possible to provide a different title and description for the same image.

From version 1.7-2 on you have to explicitly activate this feature at the settings page under "Information from textfile".

Attention: The files have to be saved with the encoding UTF8 without BOM (e.g. with Notepad++) to work properly!

Link to the gallery with a word, used at the article

From version 1.5-15 and 1.6-2 on you can connect single words with a gallery or an image. It will not show a gallery with thumbnails but will link to a gallery (or image) within your article.

Parameter: word

Example for calling:

You may find our {gallery}imagedirectory,word=Holiday Pictures{/gallery} here!

If you want to link to a single image from a folder, you have to use one more parameter:

Here is the {gallery}imagedirectory,word=Picture,single=name.jpg{/gallery}!

Note: There are no special characters such as comas or question marks possible (special characters in regular expressions are meaningless). Several words can be entered with spaces.

Use different watermarks

From version 1.5-15 and 1.6-2 on you may set different watermarks. The parameter is called: watermarkimage

The watermark imges musst be found at the plugins/content/sige/plugin_sige directory.

Example:

{gallery}imgedirectory,watermarkimage=watermarkimage-new.png{/gallery}

The watermarkimage-new.png would be the watermark image and is set at the plugins/content/sige/plugin_sige/watermarkimage-new.png directory.

General tips

The correct thumbnail size should be determined using the "on-the-fly" method. After you found the right size, you may activate the thumbnail generation/ -storage. Since version 1.5.7 thumbnails are only overwritten using the additional option! Changes in the image quality will not modify existing thumbnails. Should a modification be necessary then you should either delete the thumbnails at there respective thumbs directory. Activate the additional option "Overwrite thumbnails". Since version 1.5-3 already generated thumbnails can be easily overwritten. Therefore you may enable the option "Overwrite thumbnails" and reload the image page. Were the thumbnails created as desired, the option should be disabled; otherwise, they are rebuilt again on each page load.

Internal Error 500 on many images

Are there a lot of pictures (as from 60 upwards), then there may occur internal errors, due to limitations of you hosting or overloading the server processes during the generation of the thumbnails. This problem can be easily circumvented since version 1.5-4. You should activate the Option "Limit the displayed number of images?" and choose a value of about 30 images. On the first page load, according to the setting, 30 thumbnails are generated. Now you may increase the number to 60. Already created thumbnails will not be recreated (option "Overwrite thumbnails" must be deactivated!), and only the new 30 thumbnails will be processed. This is continued until all thumbnails are created. After that, you may disable the "Limit the displayed number of images?" option.

An easy solution would be to reload the page, hitting F5, until the creation of the thumbnails is done. With each load, some new thumbnails are generated and added. However, we recommend the first method!

Remove borders and shadows on thumbnails

Open /plugins/content/plugin_sige/sige.css

Delete background:url(shadowAlpha.png) no-repeat bottom right!important; - at the selector .sige_thumb for the shadow.
Delete padding:4px; - at the selector .sige_thumb img for the border.

Changelog

+ = Added - ! = Removed - ^ = Changed - # = Fixed

Latest release

Version 5.0.1.0-PRO - 2024-01-04

  • + Added Convert image names option. This option makes the image names human-readable. Example: my-vacation-2024.jpg becomes My Vacation 2024. Thanks to Antonio C. for requesting it!
  • ^ Improved Encoding recognition for IPTC data. In some cases, PHP could not correctly recognise the encoding of the provided IPTC data, which resulted in broken output. However, the detection mechanism has been enhanced, and the likelihood of such mismatches occurring should now be significantly reduced. Thanks to Maeder for reporting it!
  • ^ [PHP82] Resolved an issue of "Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float to int loses precision." in the crop function. Thanks to efrancis76 for reporting it!

Editor Button

Editor Button - SIGE Parameter

Install the editor plugin with the installer and adjust it in Extensions -> Plugins -> Button - SIGE Editor Button. There are two methods: On-the-Fly Modal Window or Plugin Settings.

1st Method (recommended):
After clicking on the SIGE Parameters button a modal window is opened, where you can set all parameters (including image folder) individually. After clicking on "Insert", the desired parameters are transferred into the text field.

2nd Method:
Set the desired parameters in the plugin settings menu and activate the plugin. All parameters are explained with a tooltip (mouseover button)!
When writing an article, click on the SIGE parameters button. The code with the set parameters will be automatically written into the text area! Then, the image folder must be adjusted.

Note: This is just a little helper plugin for the main plugin, SIGE!

Changelog

+ = Added - ! = Removed - ^ = Changed - # = Fixed

Download

Overview of all downloads of the extension: SIGE - Simple Image Gallery Extended Downloads