whynot
Well-known member
We should agree that you have your opinion and I have my opinion.
I hope that it's accurate.
Xenforo Gallery Options - Xen Media Gallery Vrs XenGallery
- Thread starter tajhay
- Start date
We should agree that you have your opinion and I have my opinion.
I hope that it's accurate.
Martok
Well-known member
I have Xen Media Gallery and I'm very happy with it. Yes, I wish the development cycle had been faster but can understand why things have been slower due to Chris' other work.
Personally I like the style of XMG. Some have said XenGallery is 'more modern' in appearance. Well I think that's down to personal taste - I don't like the infinite masonry look of XenGallery and much prefer the more organised look of XMG which I don't think looks 'less modern'.
Whilst some have commented that XMG's development has been too slow in their opinion, I've read other comments from XenGallery owners that releases have been too thick and fast at times.
What I'm trying to say is that both developers aren't perfect (none of us are) but they have created two excellent gallery products which will both be well supported and developed in the future. The decision on which one to go for should be on which gallery you personally prefer and has the features you require.
Personally I like the style of XMG. Some have said XenGallery is 'more modern' in appearance. Well I think that's down to personal taste - I don't like the infinite masonry look of XenGallery and much prefer the more organised look of XMG which I don't think looks 'less modern'.
Whilst some have commented that XMG's development has been too slow in their opinion, I've read other comments from XenGallery owners that releases have been too thick and fast at times.
What I'm trying to say is that both developers aren't perfect (none of us are) but they have created two excellent gallery products which will both be well supported and developed in the future. The decision on which one to go for should be on which gallery you personally prefer and has the features you require.
The Sandman
Well-known member
@whynot Chris certainly doesn't need my help in responding to this, but since you quoted me in your post, I will say that I completely agree with his assessment and plan regarding the niggle (too insignificant to be called an issue) you were referring to. I was satisfied with his reply to me and I'm content to wait patiently without further comment.
I'm not intimately familiar with either gallery add-on but it sounds like both are winners. If I was in the market, I'd check them out by comparing feature sets set, demos, and user recommendations just as the original poster in this thread is doing. And I for one wouldn't hesitate to recommend Chris based on his long list of accomplishments, his stellar reputation, and the excellent interview he recently did.
I'm not intimately familiar with either gallery add-on but it sounds like both are winners. If I was in the market, I'd check them out by comparing feature sets set, demos, and user recommendations just as the original poster in this thread is doing. And I for one wouldn't hesitate to recommend Chris based on his long list of accomplishments, his stellar reputation, and the excellent interview he recently did.
tajhay
Well-known member
I agree both these addons are awesome and so are these devs who have empowered our communities with their brilliant work. I really dont want this thread to be turned into a slanging match.
Id love for both of these addons to prosper and hooe these great devs continue to provide the community with these quality addons.
Id love for both of these addons to prosper and hooe these great devs continue to provide the community with these quality addons.
Alpha1
Well-known member
Both products are awesome and are developed by highly qualified and customer oriented developers.
I think the main question is which setup do you like most. Directory style (XMG) or pinterest style (XG)
The speed of development of XG is remarkable and makes it a rock solid product IMO. Feature wise XMG has fallen quite far behind XG. There also are no importers yet. As Chris has certainly proven to come trough and a major update is coming along it may be best to re-evaluate after both products have their next update.
I think the main question is which setup do you like most. Directory style (XMG) or pinterest style (XG)
The speed of development of XG is remarkable and makes it a rock solid product IMO. Feature wise XMG has fallen quite far behind XG. There also are no importers yet. As Chris has certainly proven to come trough and a major update is coming along it may be best to re-evaluate after both products have their next update.
DragonFlames
Active member
I tried to purchase one of these products to give it a serious trial but found that using my normal IE10 I couldn't manage to pay for it.
That made me sit and ponder more, and I actually decided to hold off until one of the products for XF seemed able to do all that I currently can.
At present I use Photopost. It has always had videos and albums, and it also has things like competition modes and built in plugins. The plugins for XF put latest member photos and stats into the users member info, and random and latest photos at the top of pages as needed. It picks up the XF styling and header and footer and login and so on.
Seeing new features added that can totally match much older products like these and that have full importers for them will probably get my business - but ideally I'd like to also see lots of other abilities that my system currently doesn't have. I'd be willing to pay much larger amounts for a much more capable 'professional' version or whatever.
I can never understand why so many obvious things don't seem to be about. GPS info for instance, showing each member a map of the photos they have uploaded that have GPS info in them. Also with photo albums and categories able to be presented that way.
A member map of their locations using their IP address would also be nice.. though that doesn't have to be part of a photo gallery.
As others have said, it is great that developers are creating things to work with XF, and I want to support them all just as most here probably do.
Steve
That made me sit and ponder more, and I actually decided to hold off until one of the products for XF seemed able to do all that I currently can.
At present I use Photopost. It has always had videos and albums, and it also has things like competition modes and built in plugins. The plugins for XF put latest member photos and stats into the users member info, and random and latest photos at the top of pages as needed. It picks up the XF styling and header and footer and login and so on.
Seeing new features added that can totally match much older products like these and that have full importers for them will probably get my business - but ideally I'd like to also see lots of other abilities that my system currently doesn't have. I'd be willing to pay much larger amounts for a much more capable 'professional' version or whatever.
I can never understand why so many obvious things don't seem to be about. GPS info for instance, showing each member a map of the photos they have uploaded that have GPS info in them. Also with photo albums and categories able to be presented that way.
A member map of their locations using their IP address would also be nice.. though that doesn't have to be part of a photo gallery.
As others have said, it is great that developers are creating things to work with XF, and I want to support them all just as most here probably do.
Steve
yavuz
Well-known member
I own a copy of XenGallery and while I'm not currently using it I'm waiting for the 1.3 release. I remember when I had purchased the Simple Gallery from Robbo with the promise we would get the stable version once it finished. Everyone know what happened, no need to go into details. Purchasing a product that you wouldn't use right away could seem like a waste but @Chris Deeming has proven himself as a reliable person. I use like 10 of his free add-ons and nearly as much paid ones.
But not commenting what @sonnb has achieved with his Gallery add-on wouldn’t be fair either. Looking at the features like importing threads to gallery and the grid view (which looks awesome) I’m tempted to purchase.
A good competition makes good products and helps customers.
But not commenting what @sonnb has achieved with his Gallery add-on wouldn’t be fair either. Looking at the features like importing threads to gallery and the grid view (which looks awesome) I’m tempted to purchase.
A good competition makes good products and helps customers.
electrogypsy
Well-known member
i bought xengallery since it had the importer from xfr user albums. also, the masonry look is pretty amazing. XG seems like a product that's really concentrating on being all about photography, and not blanketing itself into a little bit of everything.
CivilWarTalk
Active member
I'm also pulling my hair out trying to decide which gallery best suits my forums needs. We run monthly and annual photo contests, and we use Pinterest as our current gallery, but I hate sending my users off to a different site to see the photos posted on my site.
What I really am surprised at is that neither gallery supports a XenPortal Block, and that really surprises me!
What I really am surprised at is that neither gallery supports a XenPortal Block, and that really surprises me!
Just take your time and trial the solutions and feel free to ask questions and use and abuse our sites where you can demo each product. Even send some of your members to us so they can have a play around. Hopefully you can afford a bit of time if you have an existing solution and that way you can be sure you make the right decision 
I thought sonnb's did support Xen Porta blocks? Not sure. Certainly does Widget Framework, I think. My gallery will never support either, but that's only because Xen Media Gallery 1.3 has a much more elegant solution which will work universally.
I thought sonnb's did support Xen Porta blocks? Not sure. Certainly does Widget Framework, I think. My gallery will never support either, but that's only because Xen Media Gallery 1.3 has a much more elegant solution which will work universally.
Shelley
Well-known member
There both outstanding galleries so as chris said, take your time and pick one you prefer and fits your needs. More importantly the one that will benefit your site but both are outstanding galleries and both developed by two respectable developers. Like I mentioned above I prefer the sonnb gallery and will be purchasing this when it supports video so it's really down to preference and the layout of sonnb is what pips it for me. I'm just waiting on video support to be introduced.
Kintaro
Well-known member
Me too... but afaik XG it will support only uploaded videos and not "bbcode videos" like XMG.
tajhay
Well-known member
Me too... but afaik XG it will support only uploaded videos and not "bbcode videos" like XMG.
sinucello
Well-known member
Hi,
I`m currently using vB with Photopost and started migrating to XF. There are about 21K pictures in the gallery so it`s important to have categories. What I`m missing in both galleries is a category-tree like the one in PhotoPost. I really like the more modern look of the new products but if you have a lot of pictures it would be nice to have a more structured overview in addition to just a nice presentation of new pictures.
The biggest problem with my current gallery is the process of adding images and connect those images to forum posts. A lot of my users are unable to open more than one browser window and copy links. So it would be great if they could either upload media and have a "create new thread with this media" and "add this media to an existing thread" option. Or the other way round: If they create a new thread/post, they can either browse their already uploaded media and connect it to the thread or upload media to the galery right in the create thread dialogue . This is what I would call real integration and it is missing in Photopost for ages.
Someone created a custom add-on for me that allows users to post the link to a thread in the description field of the images. The script then extracts the picture ID and the thread ID and links them together in a database-table. If someone opens a thread in my forum, the script will look up the thread-ID and check if there are any images connected to it. The connected pictures will then be displayed on top of the thread. This way postings don`t get cluttered with images which is a good thing but it`s way too complicated for some users to copy the link of a thread and paste it in the photo description.
I hope that the new products here will some day have this kind of seamless integration and user-friendliness. If I`d have to make a choice now, I`d choose the product that has a PhotoPost importer.
all the best,
Sacha
I`m currently using vB with Photopost and started migrating to XF. There are about 21K pictures in the gallery so it`s important to have categories. What I`m missing in both galleries is a category-tree like the one in PhotoPost. I really like the more modern look of the new products but if you have a lot of pictures it would be nice to have a more structured overview in addition to just a nice presentation of new pictures.
The biggest problem with my current gallery is the process of adding images and connect those images to forum posts. A lot of my users are unable to open more than one browser window and copy links. So it would be great if they could either upload media and have a "create new thread with this media" and "add this media to an existing thread" option. Or the other way round: If they create a new thread/post, they can either browse their already uploaded media and connect it to the thread or upload media to the galery right in the create thread dialogue . This is what I would call real integration and it is missing in Photopost for ages.
Someone created a custom add-on for me that allows users to post the link to a thread in the description field of the images. The script then extracts the picture ID and the thread ID and links them together in a database-table. If someone opens a thread in my forum, the script will look up the thread-ID and check if there are any images connected to it. The connected pictures will then be displayed on top of the thread. This way postings don`t get cluttered with images which is a good thing but it`s way too complicated for some users to copy the link of a thread and paste it in the photo description.
I hope that the new products here will some day have this kind of seamless integration and user-friendliness. If I`d have to make a choice now, I`d choose the product that has a PhotoPost importer.
all the best,
Sacha
Last edited:
jo8jo
Member
@sinucello - Have you seen the editor button in xenmediagallery 2.1?
Insert media into forum post (editor button). Insert from forum post to gallery.
Insert media into forum post (editor button). Insert from forum post to gallery.
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