Correlation between users, albums and categories?

[AuGuR]

Maybe it's just me and that I'm new to Coppermine and galleries in general...

Currently (as with v1.4.9), it seems the user has to create an album within each category in order to upload to the gallery and have the upload categorized according to the category list.  When the user uploads to that category other than "* My Gallery *", there is no mention of who uploaded the image in the category navigational text as you would see in "User Galleries" without the use of a plugin.  Even then the user's name is put over the image, but there's no way to directly see images uploaded by a single user then.

It seems to me that the correlation between user albums and categories are backwards.  The user *should* automatically be assigned a Public and Private album upon registration, then inside the album the user can categorize their uploads according to a global category list set by an admin.  When uploading the image, the user then sets the category and selects whether the image is public or private so when a viewer is browsing the gallery they could see who's image it is via the navigational text without having to use a plugin.

Otherwise you end up with a user with a multitude of albums depending on how many categories there are when just two (public & private) would suffice.  The "User Galleries" category *should* have been set up to be the way to browse uploaded images by User no matter which categories the images were uploaded to.

Any of this make sense?

Note : This pertains more to a multi-user gallery than a single user gallery. In a single-user gallery, this would be moot as viewers would know that the images were uploaded by a single individual.

[nims]

Strangely I dont find that users have an option to select category to create album in. The default option is Users Gallery and it cannot be changed. Is there anything wrong with my installation ??

[AuGuR]

This kinda goes along with my question of admin vs. user mode but...

You're right about not being able to upload to a category as I just tried.  Apparently the user doesn't have the ability to create an album in a category in order to categorize their uploads.  So basically saying, the categories are available to admins only and "regular" members are only allowed to post to their personal galleries.

Will see if after I upload to personal gallery in user mode if I can actually kick it to a category.  Otherwise they'll have to be moved by an admin to the proper category afterwords, losing any definitive "ownership" by the uploader without the use of a plugin.

[nims]

I am surprised why anyone has not spoken about this MAJOR flaw. If a user cannot select a category to create his album in then the whole concept of an image gallery becomes useless.

I think the admin and dev team shud look into this matter otherwise the popularity of coppermine wud be seriously damaged.

Maky

[AuGuR]

heh found the problem...

You have to create albums for the category to be able to upload pictures to those categories.

Either way, it still is kinda screwy how it works this way.  Not knocking Coppermine at all, just an observation if anything.  More to the point of saying that when the category is created, it should immediately be available for uploading images to without the second step of creating the album inside it.

Also, images inside your "personal" gallery can't be categorized without moving it out of your personal gallery.  Think that's one of the things the developers should rethink, even if some of the plugins/contributions are to be included in the next or subsequent releases.

[Joachim Müller]

I am surprised why anyone has not spoken about this MAJOR flaw. If a user cannot select a category to create his album in then the whole concept of an image gallery becomes useless.

nims has split his rants on various threads. I chose to answer one of them. Locking this one, as you're asking for support on a sub-board that is clearly labelled being "no-support".