Hi All,
I have been scratching my head over this problem for a while, and I'm
hoping someone might be able to think of a bright idea, as the
solutions I have at the moment all have some downsides.
The software is a Joomla photo gallery extension, but the CMS part
isn't that relevant to the problem.
At the moment, when a gallery is made, lets call it animals, this file
structure is made:
animals(folder).
-original(folder)
-dogs.jpg (1200 X 800)
-cats.jpg (1600 X 1000)
-fish.jpg (1024 x 800)
-thumbs(folder)
-dogs.jpg (100 x 75)
-cats.jpg (100 x 60)
-fish.jpg (90 x 75)
-main(folder)
-dogs.jpg (600 x 400)
-cats.jpg (600 x 350)
-fish.jpg (550 x 400)
-lightbox(folder)
-dogs.jpg (800 x 600)
-cats.jpg (800 x 500)
-fish.jpg (750 x 600)
So essentially the images are copied into the animals/original folder.
The thumbs are made (in this case with a max height of 100 and max
width of 75)
The main images are made (max height of 600 and max width of 400)
The lightbox images are made (max height of 800 and max width of 600)
The administrator can choose the max width/height when making a
gallery.
If you want to see an example of the gallery, there is one here:
http://www.ignitejoomlaextensions.com/
This works fine as long as the user wants to display the gallery as
is.
What I would like the user to be able to do is display the gallery as
is one page 1, but on page 2 display the same gallery at a different
size. (so for example the user might want to do a random animal images
gallery, where the images are smaller/bigger size, on a different
page).
So the problem is, how do I have different instances (in terms of
size) of the same gallery.
So far, the ideas I have are:
1.) Just download the original image, and let the browser do the
resizing.
Problem, some users upload 2000px wide images, and I don't know what
widths they are going to use, (or are going to use in the future) so I
have to download 30 2000px wide images, and this uses up to much
bandwidth.
2.) Make the images on the fly, and try some kind of caching method.
Problem, even with some kind of caching, the gallery images are still
going to be have to remade quite regularly (the gallery will run on
other customers servers, so only php caching is an option). Ideally I
want the user to make a gallery, have the images made, then have the
images downloaded for a month. Not have the gallery made, then have
the images remade 5,000 times over the next month (slowing down the
server).
3.)Do a
if( ! file_exists('gallery_images/dogs_600_400.jpg')
{
//go and make the dogs_600_400.jpg (from the original image which is
stored on the server)
//then make a html link for dogs_600_400.jpg
}
else
{
//make a html link for dogs_600_400.jpg
}
That way if someone wants a instance of the gallery at max 300 x 200,
the gallery will make the dogs_300_200.jpg image, and next time round
just check that they exist.
This seems the best way to me, but there is a minor problem. Users
will create a 300 x 200 module, then change it to 350 x 200, then 355
x 200.... and extra images get made on the server that are not used.
Trying to detect what is used and what is not is next to impossible,
as users will also be able to put text within Joomla articles going
{gallery gallery="animals" width="300" height ="200"}, (this will put
a gallery into the article), and it is not practical to try and scan
all Joomla content and work out what images are actually needed.
Ideally I'd like a smart way that doesn't leave a lot of trash that
builds up on the server. If anyone has any smart ideas, they are much
appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt.
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