// $Id: README.txt, 2008/10/03 ncy

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IMPORTANT!!!

Please fully DISABLE and UNINSTALL any previous versions of Fast Gallery. I
did not write any update code because this is not an official release.  This
version uses a slightly different database schema and a few different
variables. Please make backup copies of any important files, and try out the
module first on a test site if you are able to. I consider this code to be in
alpha stage. It's functional but not fully tested.

If you need to edit EXIF data in JPG files, I have been using and highly
recommend EXIFManager (http://phgiraud.free.fr/exifmanager).

Enjoy!

-nick
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FAST GALLERY MODULE
-------------------
Fast Gallery allows you to build galleries based on your file system with
folders and subfolders.

Original module by Raphael Schr - www.schaerwebdesign.ch.
Rewrite of 6.x code by Nicholas C. Yang - www.nyanginator.com.

This module is sponsored by Schr Webdesign.
Visit www.schaerwebdesign.ch or the Drupal-related blog www.rapsli.ch.


OVERVIEW
--------
Fast Gallery is a simple, lightweight, and fast image gallery. Making albums
is as easy as putting images into folders and uploading them to the gallery
directory. It is fast because it is not based on nodes and doesn't implement
some of the more complex features of larger image gallery systems.

Uses Thickbox or Lightbox as the Javascript image display interface. Lightbox
slideshows are also supported. You may also turn off the Javascript display
framework, in which case thumbnails are linked to the original image with no
extra frills. Imagecache is supported as well, for improved thumbnail
generation. If you do not have the Imagecache module installed, Fast Gallery
will generate the thumbnails cache internally through PHP functions.


FEATURES
--------
  * Build albums using folder hierarchy. Supports nested folders.
  * Captions through JPEG EXIF data.
  * Selectable Javascript framework: Thickbox, Lightbox, or none.
  * Supports Lightbox slideshows.
  * Supports Imagecache thumbnail generation.
  * Supports JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP (EXIF data requires JPG, and BMP requires
    Imagecache and ImageMagick in ImageAPI).
  * Works with Clean URLs on or off.
  * Paged output where you can specify number of images per page.
  * Specify number of images per row.
  * Set custom teaser length for captions and folder labels.
  * Customizable caption field selection.
  * Display folders with thumbnail images or as text links.
  * Display albums in folder hierarchy or as one large album.
  * Specify custom title.
  * Specify custom path alias.
  * Breadcrumbs for folder navigation.
  * Sorting options for images and folders.
  * Update galleries with cron job.
  * Includes a random image Block that you can add through the Blocks admin
    page.

QUICKSTART
----------
  1. Upload images in their folders to your webserver.
  2. Type in the gallery path, title, and alias on the General settings page.
     The alias may contain slashes.
  3. Specify in the caption display dropdowns what you want to show as
     captions underneath images. There are up to 3 fields.
  4. Click Save Settings at the bottom of the page.
  5. Click on Clear DB and then Rescan at the bottom of the page.
  6. If you are using Imagecache, go to the Advanced settings page. Select
     the Imagecache preset for thumbnails and for full-size display. Use
     <none> if you don't want to use Imagecache to resize the image. If you
     want custom pre-made presets, click on Install IC Presets and reload the
     Advanced settings page. You should now be able to select the new presets
     in the dropdowns.
  7. Make sure that the width of "#fast_gallery .single-image" in the
     fast_gallery.css file is equal to or slightly wider than your
     thumbnails. If you aren't using Imagecache, the default dimension of a
     thumbnail generated by the internal cache is 150x100px.
  8. Now go to the gallery, as set by the alias you used above. There should
     be a link in the Navigation menu. If you prefer not to have this in the
     Navigation menu, go to the Menus administration page and disable it
     there.
  9. Make note of how many thumbnails fit across the page. Go back to the
     general settings page and type that number info "Number of images per
     row".  Click Save Settings at the bottom.

Everything else from this point on is customizing the gallery to your own
likes and tastes. You can:
  * Set number of images per page
  * Set teaser length of captions and folder labels
  * Set format of caption display with caption dropdowns
  * Toggle display of folder hierarchy
  * Toggle display of folder thumbnails
  * Choose a different Javascript framework (i.e. Thickbox, Lightbox)
  * Set sorting options for images
  * Set sorting options for folders
  * Toggle updating of gallery with cron jobs


NOTES
-----
  * Updating with cron is disabled by default. Manual updating is done by
    clicking on Rescan on the General settings page.
  * You should set the "Number of images per row" to no more than the maximum
    number of thumbnails that will fit across the page in order to prevent
    images overlapping captions.
  * Random sorting will not perform well on large databases as it uses ORDER
    BY RAND() in the SQL database call.
  * Random sorting for albums that have multiple pages will differ on every
    page, so some images may repeat when you navigate through the pages.
  * Teaser length is set by counting the number of words separated by a
    space. If a word is wider than the width of the thumb, it will overlap
    neighboring thumbs. You should either add spaces to the filename or
    change to a shorter filename.
  * Nested folders will use the first image it finds as a thumbnail and for
    sorting purposes.
  * Different folders cannot have the same name, regardless of where they are
    in the hierarchy.
  * Filenames are treated with no regard to case, so don't give files the
    same name.
  * Uninstalling Fast Gallery will leave Imagecache presets intact.
  * When sorting by Date Taken or File Created, files with no EXIF data
    (includes all non-JPG files) or blank EXIF data cannot be sorted and are
    thus appended to the end of albums sorted by path.
