Am I the only one who doesn't like any of the current Gallery add-ons?

imthebest

Well-known member
Hello,

Currently there are two live and supported Gallery add-ons available for XenForo:

XenGallery by @sonnb
Xen Media Gallery by @Chris D

The problem to me is that those both came bloated of useless features that regular forum members will probably never use. In fact I think that while XenForo tries hard to make the UI as easy and less cluttered possible, the current Gallery add-ons destroy this principle immediately.

I'm still running vBulletin 3.8.5 and one of the reasons why I'm still on this software is because I miss a basic User Album feature like the one that comes with the stock vBulletin. So easy, so simple yet so powerful: a member creates an album and upload pictures to that album. Then people can comment on the pictures. That's all.

Why Gallery add-ons for forum softwares are so bloated these days? Go take a look at all the features offered by the add-ons mentioned on this thread... do you really think your members will be using even 25% of those features?

I would suggest @sonnb and @Chris D to release a "Lite" version of their add-ons with basic User Album functionality: comments and likes, nothing more! I believe that those Lite versions will sell more than their full counterparts and not because the price... in fact if you provide both versions at the same price I'll take the Lite one.

If you guys support my idea please like this post.

And on a side note, there was even a thread on the Suggestion forum asking for basic user album functionality and the moderator closed it and marked that one as "Duplicate" of another completely different suggestion of someone asking for a full Image and Media Gallery. I really hope the moderator could reconsider his decision.

Thanks,
Super120
 
I use Koken for any such things. Granted its for me only, but its fantastic.
 
Drivel about bloated Gallery add-ons.
I completely disagree. @Chris D's Xen Media Gallery is a superb add-on and I'm sure @sonnb's Xen Gallery is too. I use many of the features in XMG as do many of the other admins who gave bought it. Our members do too. In fact, @Chris D is always receiving more suggestions for additional features. There's never been any requests to remove features and make it lighter.
 
What features would you describe as bloat, @Super120?

All the features added to XMG have been considered in great detail and executed only once it has been ascertained to be the stuff that people truly want.

The code has been written so that it scales well to galleries that contain nearly half a million images and beyond.

But most of all, nothing has been added to XMG that hasn't been requested by a considerable majority of users or has at least been considered to be a good enhancement to the majority of users.

Finally almost everything you may consider to be bloat can be turned off via options or permissions. So in response to your question "release a lite" version: I already have.
 
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The problem to me is that those both came bloated of useless features that regular forum members will probably never use.

You've told us you don't own either, so how are you certain their are "bloated of useless features"? What do you base this off of? How others are running the add-on at their own sites (which, are their preferences, so they can pick and choose what they want shown or run), or off screenshots, or what?

I own both, and have both running. While both are "galleries", they are very unique in what they offer. I don't see either one being bloated, and as stated above, many of the features (in both add-ons) can be completely turned off---making it your "Lite" version you are seeking.
 
I think the point of them being bloated is pointless since they are both intended to be robust gallery solutions.

With that being said i do tend to agree a bit.. At least in the sense of UI i wish they were cleaner and used more stock XF images when possible.. (Disclaimer i only own one of the two listed licenses.)
 
used more stock XF images when possible

You mean like this?

xenforo-ui-sprite.png


The big problem is "when possible". What about when it isn't possible? Most of the time it isn't possible because the stock XF UI isn't geared towards a gallery. So what then? I could use an icon pack of some sort. But, that's still not stock XF. Instead, I decided to use something I thought was much more "accepted". Most people have grown to accept, and like Font Awesome so it seemed like a natural choice.
 
You mean like this?

xenforo-ui-sprite.png


The big problem is "when possible". What about when it isn't possible? Most of the time it isn't possible because the stock XF UI isn't geared towards a gallery. So what then? I could use an icon pack of some sort. But, that's still not stock XF. Instead, I decided to use something I thought was much more "accepted". Most people have grown to accept, and like Font Awesome so it seemed like a natural choice.
Chris your point is well taken and is why my post was general.. Its a catch 22 thing. damned if ya do and damned if ya don't.. Font Awesome is a great options and use it extensively on a new community i'm developing. (for the record i don't own a Xen Media Gallery license.)
 
Having used both Photopost and IP.Gallery in the past, Xen Media Gallery is by far the best integrated and feature rich forum gallery software that I have ever used. There is no bloat as its a media gallery and not a user album.
 
Just to update my thread: I have just bought @Chris D's add-on Xen Media Gallery. It was hard to choose between his add-on and the one from @sonnb called XenGallery. In fact, XG was cheaper ($50) than XMG ($65 approximately). Also XG has redirection scripts from vBulletin and XMG don't have that tool.

However in the end I choose XMG because @Chris D was of help in many threads I created here so as a way to show him my support I bought his add-on.

Now I'll see how hard is to make it work like the basic user albums functionality that came with vBulletin 3.8. I don't want all the complexity of XMG, I just want basic user album functionality: member creates an album, upload pictures and start receiving comments and likes, that's all I want. I'll customize this to suit my needs by editing the templates.
 
I use sonnb's xengallery and would highly recommend it to people looking for a gallery solution.
 
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