features gallery

The scrolly thing is actually called the features gallery, which is very cool but unfortunately there’s a conflict with the javascript for lightbox, so for the time being the lightbox feature has been deactivated.

Remember how not so long ago we had to do custom fields in order to show thumbnail images on the first page?

The features gallery chooses images from a set category or tag (so fill in those relevant tags guys!) And we choose which category or tag will be featured– so you have to be ready and do a custom field so that your image (and post) will show up in all it’s glory on the home page of MMM.

Go to your post in edit mode, open your gallery (by clicking on the “Add an image” button next to the words “Upload/Insert”, and going to the gallery tab.) Choose the photo most representative of your post, copy the file path, and close the gallery box (no need to save your changes yet.)

Scroll down to where we add our custom field and choose “Feature Image” from the drop down menu, in the value field paste your file path, and then click the “Add custom field” button, save the changes to your post (”update post” button to the right of the text editor.)

And that is all you need to do.

Remember, all this may seem a little confusing to you now, but after a few posts it’ll be second nature.

Bios and authors pages are now automatically created. If you do not have a gravatar (aka Globally Recognized Avatar) one will be provided for you automatically (in the form of a silly cartoon monster.) If you’d like to maintain your dignity go get a gravatar and use your own image or logo, don’t worry, it’s free and relatively painless. Be sure to use the same email address as your account at MMM.

You’ll also need to log in at MMM, go to your user profile and fill in your bio. Write in the 3rd person, brag shamelessly and revel in the glory of your fans.

Another change is that you no longer need to use the custom field in order for your images to have a thumbnail display on the front page (or elsewhere.) However, remember that only jpg files are converted to all sizes, if you are using any other file format you’ll still need to make your thumbnails manually and then upload them.

Video posts can now be featured on the front page (without significant drama) as well as in the sidebars.

Don’t forget to set the alignment (your choices are none, left, center, right) make sure to “link to image”, save changes, and then insert the image into the post.

When readers click your image it will open up in lightbox (the background of the page will appear shaded and your image will open up full sized over the center of the page.)

The advantage (or drawback) is that images opened in the lightbox are more difficult to right click and save. Please note, more difficult, slightly more difficult. Very slightly.

Consider yourself warned.** Edit: 01/03/2009 Lightbox is disabled

Now gallery does not have a light box feature. Please do not complain to me that the light box is not working when you use the gallery feature, a lot of thought and consideration has gone into this arrangement and it’s a good functional compromise. If it’s really important to you that your gallery images open in a light box, then it should be important enough for you to take the time to add each image into the editor and arrange them as you like.

To use gallery click the “add an image” button (top of the text box), upload your images, and go to the gallery tab– it’s pretty intuitive from there.

**01/01/2009 ETA: All it takes to bypass the javascript for the light box speed clicking (refreshing and right-clicking the page before js has a chance to load in the browser) or simply using a browser that has javascript disabled.

If you’re confused by any of the features or can’t find your way around the new layout please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.