Website software recommendation s

Paul Ozzello · Dec 20, 2019

What webhosting software would you recommend for displaying panoramic images ? I want something compatible with iPads and iPhones that would ideally “force” the user to rotate their device into landscape mode. I used to be a programmer and my current website was “custom” made with php but I would rather use a customizable package - maybe even wordpress with a template for creating galleries. What are my options ?

thanks

jeffreyg · Dec 21, 2019

I am very far from being a computer wiz. I used RapidWeaver to make my two sites. They have a bunch of templates. I kept it as simple as I could. My host is FatCow. One of these days I will update my sites. Hopefully I will remember how to do it.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

http://www.sculptureandphotography.com/

Ian Grant · Dec 21, 2019

It's not as simple as it was before the need for responsive websites. My own website desperately needs updating and I've started to learn Bootstrap 4, I looked at Joomla and Wordpress but decided against using either.

nmp · Dec 21, 2019

fatso said:
What webhosting software would you recommend for displaying panoramic images ? I want something compatible with iPads and iPhones that would ideally “force” the user to rotate their device into landscape mode. I used to be a programmer and my current website was “custom” made with php but I would rather use a customizable package - maybe even wordpress with a template for creating galleries. What are my options ?

thanks

Why do anything yourself. You can use subscription services like Zenfolio (what I use) or Smugmug that will do all that for you. I pay $30/year for 32GB which is more than enough for me.

adelorenzo · Dec 21, 2019

If you are using Creative Cloud I recommend going with Adobe Portfolio. Otherwise Squarespace is the best stand alone integrated solution IMHO but it's not cheap.

If you want to roll your own Koken is a good CMS you can install and configure yourself.

Forcing users to rotate their device is not good practice. If you want your site to look good on a variety of devices it needs to be responsive.

Paul Ozzello · Dec 21, 2019

nmp said:
Why do anything yourself. You can use subscription services like Zenfolio (what I use) or Smugmug that will do all that for you. I pay $30/year for 32GB which is more than enough for me.

I like doing things myself. Developing my own film, coating my own paper, printing... I made my old website before responsive webdesign became a thing. It looks good on a PC but it's absolute crap on smartphones and tablets and needs a redesign. My new work is all panoramic and only looks acceptable with a device in landscape mode.

I'd like the website and navigation to be viewable in any mode, but in portrait mode I want panoramic images displayed from top to bottom to encourage the viewer to rotate their device.

Paul Ozzello · Dec 21, 2019

adelorenzo said:
Forcing users to rotate their device is not good practice. If you want your site to look good on a variety of devices it needs to be responsive.

I agree, but panoramic images looks so bad in portrait mode I'd rather the user not even see them. Ideally i'd keep the navigation the same in both modes but display my panoramic images in landscape mode regardless of how the device is held.

Paul Ozzello · Dec 21, 2019

jeffreyg said:
I am very far from being a computer wiz. I used RapidWeaver to make my two sites. They have a bunch of templates. I kept it as simple as I could. My host is FatCow. One of these days I will update my sites. Hopefully I will remember how to do it.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

http://www.sculptureandphotography.com/

Thank Jeff. Beautiful images by the way. By any chance did you have a studio in NYC some 15 years ago ?

esearing · Dec 21, 2019

You can alert the user with Javascript/JQuery to use landscape mode.
if( window.innerHeight > window.innerWidth ){
alert("Please use Landscape!");
}

Paul Ozzello · Dec 21, 2019

esearing said:
You can alert the user with Javascript/JQuery to use landscape mode.
if( window.innerHeight > window.innerWidth ){
alert("Please use Landscape!");
}

Nice. So for jQuery I would have to use a framework like Bootstrap right ?If I go with Koken it seems I'm locked into their templates and layouts. Are there other frameworks like Bootstrap but that offer some of the CMS features of Koken or WP but that also allow you to write custom code ?

Patrick Robert James · Dec 21, 2019

You can do your own custom CSS with Koken if you don't like their themes. I've been using it for maybe close to a decade now, although what I use it for isn't public.

Tom Kershaw · Dec 22, 2019

Eventually I decided to use WordPress when rebuilding my site last summer. It can be a bit clunky, but I looked at some of the pre-built 'photography' platforms and the more custom approach and found that WordPress could do what I needed once I'd figured out the interface at least.

jeffreyg · Dec 22, 2019

Thanks for the compliment. I never had a studio in New York or anywhere else. Almost all of my photographs are with available light. We have a room with a skylight so that is my light source for the indoor shots.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

Nodda Duma · Dec 22, 2019

I use Weebly for my website, as it supports an online store. Nice templates and easy to set up...even for someone like me who could code a page but don’t have that kind of time.

www.pictoriographica.com

While the pages are great, I’m considering switching to shopify for the better shopping platform.

jtk · Dec 26, 2019

Photrio being related to the forgotten APUG it's surprising that some of us don't make their own massive attempts at chips.

Ian Grant · Feb 24, 2021

Ian Grant said:
It's not as simple as it was before the need for responsive websites. My own website desperately needs updating and I've started to learn Bootstrap 4, I looked at Joomla and Wordpress but decided against using either.

I tried various offerings Xara web designer, I kind of didn't take to basic Bootstrap and bought Bootstrap Studio, played with it and stopped. Then paid it another visit October/November last year and upgraded it to the then later version and realiased I'd been expecting too much too quickly and just played around with it and quickly realised it's a very simple but pwerful program.

My mistake was to think just use and adapt a template rather than actually just creating my own components which is actually much easier. So I'm now in full swing re-writing my website the harder part is re-digitising all the images.

Ian

Tom Kershaw · Feb 24, 2021

Ian Grant said:
My mistake was to think just use and adapt a template rather than actually just creating my own components which is actually much easier. So I'm now in full swing re-writing my website the harder part is re-digitising all the images.

Two or three years ago I decided to re-learn HTML / CSS / Javascript from scratch in order to build a new website. At the start of the process I hadn't fully comprehended the extra challenges of some of the newer technologies, especially responsive design, which is how I eventually came to realise using some kind of framework or CMS is probably a good idea in most instances.

Tom

radiant · Feb 24, 2021

Regarding to original question: there is no common standard to force mobile browsers to landscape mode. Maybe the idea is a bit wrong; trying to represent panoramic images on tiny non-landscape media

Wordpress has plenty of themes. I know some HTML/CSS/JS but idea of making own template that works on multiple platforms is too big. To make it really compatible on all browsers and platforms is a really big job and you have to somewhat almost prosessional to succeed in that.

Once you realize everything is being watched on tiny mobile screens, you might get depressed Try to portray your photographs on a matchbox in two second life-span..

I have solved this by using wordpress+free theme, see here: http://kuvau.tuu.fi/ .. but probably not going to post my panoramas in that format .

BTW: First time I got a bit larger audience outside instagram on my personal website. The latest photo has been watched 350 times, thanks to mastodon network. I think we can officially say there is an instagram alternative? :O

Ian Grant · Feb 24, 2021

@vedostuu there are some standardss used by many programs or web building sites and Bootstrap is one of them. This Forum software uses Bootstrap, essentially each page is based on columns and rows which can re-order and resize to suit the screen size and also orientation. Google have an alternative to Bootstrap

Actually it's not a big job it's remarkably easy, the main issue is deciding what program or online site builder to use, and cost plus ease of use comes into it as well.

Ian

radiant · Feb 24, 2021

Ian Grant said:
@vedostuu there are some standardss used by many programs or web building sites and Bootstrap is one of them. This Forum software uses Bootstrap, essentially each page is based on columns and rows which can re-order and resize to suit the screen size and also orientation. Google have an alternative to Bootstrap

Actually it's not a big job it's remarkably easy, the main issue is deciding what program or online site builder to use, and cost plus ease of use comes into it as well.

Ian

I know bootstrap and I have been using it. It helps to some extended and of course should be used.

runswithsizzers · Feb 24, 2021

I use SmugMug because I like the relatively clean interface and no advertising. SmugMug offers a fair number of templates and customization. But it does work best on a desktop monitor (like all online platforms, I expect). Sample panorama on SmugMug <here>

SmugMug's mobile presentation of my website is not great when viewed on my iPhone 6S (a small phone), because a panorama viewed in landscape mode does not fill the full width of my phone screen, due to some web tools positioned on one side. When I view the same landscape panorama via the SmugMug iOS app it does fill the width of my phone screen. But usually, we can't expect our viewers to install an app just to get optimum viewing of our photos.

My wife has autorotate locked on her iPhone - drives me nuts, but that's the way she likes it. Personally, I think viewing photos on a smaller phone is next to worthless except for snapshots. Tablets (iPad, etc.) are much better, but I still prefer to view photos a desktop sized monitor. Any photo worth looking at deserves to be seen at a decent size, and I don't worry too much about phone viewers who are not motivated to seek out a better photo viewing experience.

Ian Grant · Feb 24, 2021

SmugMug is one of the many Web hosting/Builder sites using Bootstrap. I shoot Panoramas as wewll with a 6x17 camera and unfortuantely they will always be an issue on some screens.

Ian

henpe · Feb 24, 2021

The software Piwigo might be of interest? It is open source and based on php. It is quite easy to configure with basic programming knowledge (basics configs can be made without any programming skills)
https://piwigo.org/

My personal portfolio happens to be running Piwigo:
https://www.portfolio.henpe.se/

(I have no affiliation or other connection with the developers/organisation behind the software)

Regards
Henrik

DMJ · Jun 24, 2021

henpe said:
The software Piwigo might be of interest? It is open source and based on php. It is quite easy to configure with basic programming knowledge (basics configs can be made without any programming skills)
https://piwigo.org/

I wrote my website in plain html and css and update it with version control. Now I want to add an image gallery that can also display my 9x12 images. Will Pigwigo allow me to embed their code in my website or will I have to run a pigwigo site? Originally I was thinking on using plain css:

https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_image_gallery.asp

As for the original question: the css @media will recognized the screen size of the device used (HTML5 webapp manifest). For example:

@media screen and (orientation:landscape){
}

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