Customizing theme

[mduke]

Please check out http://fish.washington.edu/research/alaska/gallery/index.php

As you can see, I've deleted some of the standard stats and info about albums, etc., as I experiment with a restricted gallery (only staff of research program will change this).

My question pertains to categorization and whether I should do this using  categories or albums: Our photo subject matter will include 5-6 categories (research, scenic, wildlife, facilities, etc.). Is the best way to organize CPG along these category lines to establish different albums or one album with different categories. And either way, can one search across all albums or categories?

And do I assume correctly that if I want to go the category route, I just have to put back in the code I deleted?

[kegobeer]

I see no need to use multiple categories.  Just make the albums you need and put the appropriate pictures in them.

[mduke]

Okay, thanks. But, would you care to elaborate as to why you recommend albums over categories? And please confirm: users can search across multiple albums simultaneously?

[kegobeer]

I don't know if you understand how Coppermine works, so let me explain.  Categories contain albums, and albums hold pictures.  Pictures can't be assigned to categories.  If you want to use multiple categories, it would look like this:

Wildlife
|- Album

Research
|- Album

etc

That's unnecessary navigation.  I only use categories if I have multiple albums that have a common thread.  Using albums is more efficient:

Wildlife album
Research album
etc

The search function encompasses the entire gallery, unless a particular album is restricted from the user performing the search.