=== Albumize ===
Contributors: klitscher
Donate link: http://www.litschers.com/about-us/donate/
Tags: image, gallery, album, page
Requires at least: 2.5
Tested up to: 2.7-beta2
Stable tag: 1.1

This plugin organizes different WordPress 2.5+ galleries into albums for easy display and navigation by using parent/child pages and custom fields.

== Description ==

I wanted to take the convenience and ease of use of the built-in WordPress `[gallery]` shortcode and add a little more functionality to it.  By organizing your galleries as multiple child pages of one parent page, you can use this plugin to see a preview thumbnail and description of each gallery.

== Installation ==

1. Upload the `albumize` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
1. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
1. Create a page that will function as your album and place the `[albumize]` shortcode in it.
1. Create child pages of your album page and place your galleries in them.
1. (Optional) Create a brief description of your gallery by using an "alb_blurb" custom field key and the description in the value.
1. (Optional) Select the gallery cover for the album by using an "alb_cover" custom field key and the number of the picture in the gallery (e.g. 5, 13, etc) for the value. The first picture in the gallery will be used by default.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Does this plgin work for posts? =

Nope.  Currently this plugin only works for pages because it relies on the parent/child page relationship.

= Do I need to use the custom fields for the plugin to work? =

Nope.  The plugin will use the first image in the gallery by default.  If you don't put in a blurb to describe your gallery, the plugin will just display the title of the gallery and nothing else.

= How many levels of child pages will this work for? =

Unfortunately (or fortunately, I suppose), the plugin displays all levels of child pages underneath the parent page.  There is currently no way to restrict it to only one level.  A page hierarchy like the following:

* Album Page (Parent)
  - Gallery 1 (Child of Album)
  - Gallery 2 (Child of Album)
  - Gallery 3 (Child of Album)
  - - Gallery 3, Day 1 (Child of Gallery 3)
  - - Gallery 3, Day 2 (Child of Gallery 3)

Would be displayed as the following on the album page:

* Gallery 1
* Gallery 2
* Gallery 3
* Gallery 3, Day 1
* Gallery 3, Day 2

= How would you recommend setting up your page hierarchy for Albumize and WordPress' Gallery function? =

This is what works for me.  I have a parent **Photos** page.  I have my **Album** pages as child pages of the **Photos** page.  I just manually link to the **Album** pages on the **Photos** page.  Then I have my **Gallery** pages as child pages of each **Album** page.

I'm sure you can figure out your own way of doing it.  But this type of hierarchy was what I had in mind when I designed this plugin.

= I don't like how the album is displayed on the page. =

That's not a question.  

But if you're that upset about it you can edit the `albumize.css` file in the albumize directory to make it look however you want.  Just be sure you save a copy locally, as that file will be overwritten on upgrade.

If you have any other questions, feel free to visit the plugin homepage at [http://www.litschers.com/wordpress/albumize/](http://www.litschers.com/wordpress/albumize/)

== Screenshots ==

1. Demonstrating how to add the shortcode to your page.
2. Note the two custom fields added to the page to designate the blurb and the thumbnail cover.  Also note that "2006" was selected as the parent page.
3. Sample display of the album including the blurb and thumbnail cover as added in screenshot-2.png.