How do I change the size of the thumbnails displayed in the gallery?

The thumbnail display size is tied directly to the width of the imageflow container. The only way to affect the display size of the thumbnails is to increase/decrease the width specified in the imageflow.css cascading stylesheet.

Changing thumbnail size percent  doesn't work.  The thumbnail size doesn't change.  What gives?

The Thumbnail size percent parameter controls the size of the thumbnail image that is created and cached on disk.  It has no bearing on the size of the thumbnail displayed in the gallery.  The display size of the thumbnail is controlled by the width of the imageflow container (see above).

Where do the thumbnails come from?

Imageflow automatically creates the  thumbnail images based upon the Thumbnail size percent module parameter. The thumbnails are saved in the same directory as the original image with a file name beginining with 'refl_' followed by the name of the original image along with an alphanumeric key that is generated from the module options used to create the thumbnail.

When I activate Imageflow, all I get is a blank page (or I see a Fatal error).

If you get a blank page or see an error similar to the one shown, this is usually an indication that thumbnail generation has failed.  This is most likely caused by an insufficient amount of memory being allotted to PHP for the size of images that you are trying to use.

There are several things you can do.  You can either reduce the size of the images you are using or increase the amount of memory that PHP has to work with.

If your images are quite large, they will not display very well on the web anyway.  Try reducing their size to something more suitable for the web.

If the memory_limit parameter in your PHP configuration is small, 8M for example, try increasing that to alleviate the error.  You can use Imageflow's PHP memory limit advanced parameter  to try to temporarily override PHP's configured memory limit.

So am I stuck with that black background and yellow border?

No. The Imageflow module is installed with a default cascading stylesheet that sets the appearance of the gallery.

You can modify the CSS any way you choose to get the look that you desire.

Additional CSS rules controlling the caption, navigation images, etc. are defined that allow you to change their appearance as well.

How do you get captions with images loaded from a directory?

Imageflow can extract IPTC Photo Metadata from photo images to be used as caption information.  As well, for JPG images, EXIF data can also be used.  A default template is provided that defines the format of the caption and which meta data elements are extracted.  Windows/XP and Vista both provide easy access to the most common meta data elements for display/update purposes.

The EXIF caption capability can be used only if you are using JPG images and if the PHP EXIF library is included in the PHP configuration of your web server.

In the absence of meta data the image filename, with or without the file extension, will be used as the caption for images loaded from a directory.

How can I tell if my server has EXIF support?

Logon to your administrative backend.  Click on the Help | System Info menu item.  From the Information page, click on the PHP Information tab. Scroll down the page. If your server has EXIF support you should find a section in the Configuration similar to the one pictured below.

I can't get PHP EXIF support on my server.  Does that mean I can't have captions?

No.  IPTC Photo meta data does not require that you have EXIF support on your server.  Windows Vista as well as many popular image processing programs support the addition/editing of IPTC meta data.

Can Imageflow only be used with Highslide popups?

Loading images

No. The HTML that is output for an image is defined in an output template file.  You can create your own output templates to suit almost any requirement.  Several sample templates are provided with the module.  The imageflow gallery shown on the left, for example, is using the lightbox template for the lknlightbox - Slimbox plugin.  By default, an internal equivelant of the highslide template is assumed if an output template is not provided in the module parameters.

How do I add the ImageFlow gallery to my article?

To activate Imageflow in your article place a loadposition xxx specification (where xxx is the module position that you assigned to the Imagflow module) at the point in your article where you wish the gallery to appear. That's all there is to it.

NOTE: The loadposition statement must be specified within braces as shown and the Content - Load Module plugin must be enabled.

Can I use Imageflow more than once on the same page?

Yes.  You can have as many instances of Imageflow on a page as you wish.  To create a new copy of Imageflow perform the following:

• Logon to your administrative backend and bring up the module manager (Extensions | Module Manager menu item).
• Select  the Imageflow module by locating it in the module list and clicking the checkbox next to the  name.
• Click on the 'Copy' icon at the top of the page. This will immediately create a new module with the name "Copy of " followed by the name of the Imageflow instance that you copied.
• Edit the new copy by clicking on the "Copy of " name. This will bring up the Module edit screen.
• Change the module name to whatever you wish to call this instance of the module.
• Assign a new Position and Module id.  Change any of the other parameters to suit your purpose.
• Include this instance of the module on your page in the same manner as described above. (How do I add the ImageFlow gallery to my article?).

Does my site need to have anything else to use this module?

Strictly speaking, no.  However, Imageflow simply loads the gallery onto the page.  To produce popups of the images you will need additional software such as:

• Highslide JS for Joomla
• lknlightbox - Slimbox plugin
• Ninja Shadowbox plugin
• Greybox Show

Use the 'Output template' parameter to tailor Imageflow's HTML output for a particular image display extension.

Do I have to pay anything to use Imageflow?

No. Imageflow is released under the GNU/GPL V2 license and can be used on any website free of charge.

What if I can't get this thing to work?

Hopefully you will not have any problems using Imageflow. Should a problem arise or if you have any questions, comments or criticisms you can go to the forums here at JoomlaNook for help (registration required).

Ok, where can I get a copy of Imageflow?

Imageflow can be downloaded from the JoomlaNook download section, here.

End FAQ