Import PhotoPost to Xenforo?

[WoodiE]

I'm in the planning process of migrating a vBulletin forum to XenForo. On my site currently we have a photopost pro image gallery. While fairly popular back in the day it's greatly unused now. So I'm considering either buying @Chris D's Xen Media Gallery and importing the PhotoPost gallery.

However, being that the gallery is a feature most don't use or don't care about it almost seems like wasting the $66 for an add-on no one is using and very possibly still won't use after the migration.

Is there another add-on or alternative way that I can import those images as user attachments into XenForo directly and just be done with a stand alone image gallery all together?

 

[Martok]

If you don't think a gallery add-on is going to be used, is there any point in importing Photopost images? Maybe you'd be better archiving them.

I don't think there's a way to import Photopost images into the forums, otherwise it would have been done already. I think you option is import to a Gallery or abandon them.

Personally I think XMG is worth it. You could invigorate the use of a Gallery by leading the way - setting an example of its use and getting your moderators to do the same. I don't know what your site is about but sit categories based on content would help. My site is quite small and members didn't think a Gallery would be used. However I bought it, I've led by example and members started using it.

 

[WoodiE]

If you don't think a gallery add-on is going to be used, is there any point in importing Photopost images?

For the majority of the images, there really isn't a reason to keep them other than to have them. There are however about 50-100 images that are tied into useful and important threads so just deleting the images would not be ideal.

I have a feeling I'll be buying XMG out of necessity, for the fact that there doesn't seem to be a way to take the images that's currently in the gallery and importing them as attachments.

 

[Walter]

Another option is to keep Photopost, it actually works with Xenforo.

But you wont regret buying Chris gallery, its so much better than Photopost.

 

[HWS]

You also may think about buying XenGallery. It is cheaper than XMG and imports PhotoPost very well. We used it to import 100.000+ pictures without any problems. Plus the users like it more than PhotoPost, thus using it more than before.

 

[Chris D]

It is cheaper than XMG and imports PhotoPost very well.

Yes, sonnb under sells himself. XMG also imports PhotoPost very well.

 

[Chris D]

And, actually, XMG is cheaper. There's just no branded version like sonnb's at the moment. 40 GBP / 65 USD gets you Xen Media Gallery branding free. The XenGallery equivalent is 55 GBP / 90 USD

 

[HWS]

Unfortunatelly I like the UI of XenGallery much more compared to the UI of XMG. It looks more modern and is a little bit more intuitive for users also.

However both are very robust options for a XF photo gallery. And both of them trump the stoneold PhotoPost in all areas by far.

 

[Martok]

Unfortunatelly I like the UI of XenGallery much more compared to the UI of XMG. It looks more modern and is a little bit more intuitive for users also.

However both are very robust options for a XF photo gallery. And both of them trump the stoneold PhotoPost in all areas by far.

That's the good thing about having two galleries made by great developers. Each has its own style and users can choose the one they prefer.

Personally I hate masonry and infinite scroll, so XMG and its more uniform look (which I also think is more in-keeping with XenForo) is the one for me. I think XMG has a more modern look too.

Anyway, they are both great solutions and well worth considering.

 

[Chris D]

Everyone wins!

Well, except PhotoPost of course...

 

[WoodiE]

Another option is to keep Photopost, it actually works with Xenforo...

I have no desire to keep PhotoPost and the version I'm currently running is rather old so I doubt it would work with Xenforo anyways.

You also may think about buying XenGallery. It is cheaper than XMG and imports PhotoPost very well. We used it to import 100.000+ pictures without any problems. Plus the users like it more than PhotoPost, thus using it more than before.

I have not heard of XenGallery and will check it out, but really this isn't a XenGallery vs XMG vs PhotoPost - more so than a "I want to get out of the gallery business all together" type thing.

We started a gallery back in the early 3.x days when attachments was clunky and nothing near as smooth as XF is now. Also people needed a place to upload their pictures. Now there are free online image uploading sites like imgur, photobucket, shutterfly everywhere and it's super easy and quick to upload there and share everywhere. Also, as mentioned XenForo's attachment system is super easy to use (simply drag and drop) and since in nearly every case my members used the gallery to show off their cars in a forum thread. So it's going to the gallery just to go to the forum. Why not just leave it at the forum.

See what I mean? Nothing really against any of the gallery options available, just wanting out.

That said it doesn't look like there is going to be a way out or not easily so I'll check out XenGallery and XMG both. Thanks guys!

 

[Steve F]

I have no desire to keep PhotoPost and the version I'm currently running is rather old so I doubt it would work with Xenforo anyways.



I have not heard of XenGallery and will check it out, but really this isn't a XenGallery vs XMG vs PhotoPost - more so than a "I want to get out of the gallery business all together" type thing.

We started a gallery back in the early 3.x days when attachments was clunky and nothing near as smooth as XF is now. Also people needed a place to upload their pictures. Now there are free online image uploading sites like imgur, photobucket, shutterfly everywhere and it's super easy and quick to upload there and share everywhere. Also, as mentioned XenForo's attachment system is super easy to use (simply drag and drop) and since in nearly every case my members used the gallery to show off their cars in a forum thread. So it's going to the gallery just to go to the forum. Why not just leave it at the forum.

See what I mean? Nothing really against any of the gallery options available, just wanting out.

That said it doesn't look like there is going to be a way out or not easily so I'll check out XenGallery and XMG both. Thanks guys!

Let me know and I can set up XMG on the dev board @WoodiE so you can have a play with it while we are working on things.

Edit: Just so its clear, this would be my dev board so no files changing hands..

 

[Kevin]

If you really don't want any gallery solution but still want to keep your data then I recommend reaching out to @sonnb for a PhotoPost to XF Forums importer. When I imported by old PP vB Gallery installation to his XenGallery I had several file types that were not supported (such as zip files, PDF files, font files, and so on). Rather than lose that content Sonnb did a private job for me to create an importer from vB Gallery into XF Forums so that each entry would create a new thread with the old media file attached to the first post in the thread and and then any comments were created as posts in the new thread.

You might have some cleanup to do after, for example if any of your gallery items don't have a title then what should the title of the new thread be, but for the most part his importer worked great and I didn't lose any content from the old vB Gallery installation.

 

[WoodiE]

Thanks @Kevin, I'll send sonnb a PM.

 

[WoodiE]

Let me know and I can set up XMG on the dev board @WoodiE so you can have a play with it while we are working on things.

Edit: Just so its clear, this would be my dev board so no files changing hands..

Thanks @Steve F! I don't think that would be necessary though, so long as you feel your style design will carry over to either XMG or XenGallery without any issues. That's something we can work through once we get the forum migrated and new design finished and imported.