=== Alpine PhotoTile for Picasa and Google Plus === Contributors: theAlpinePress Donate link: thealpinepress.com Tags: photos, picasa, google, plus, photostream, pictures, images, widget, sidebar, gallery, lightbox, fancybox, colorbox, prettybox Requires at least: 2.8 Tested up to: 3.5 Stable tag: 1.2.3.2 License: GPLv3 or later License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html Stylish and compact plugin for displaying Picasa and Google Plus images in a sidebar, post, or page. == Description == The Alpine PhotoTile for Picasa is capable of retrieving photos from a particular Picasa user or gallery (currently, the plugin can only show public photos). The photos can be linked to the your Picasa page, a specific URL, or to a Lighbox slideshow. Also, the Shortcode Generator makes it easy to insert the widget into posts without learning any of the code. This lightweight but powerful widget takes advantage of WordPress's built in JQuery scripts to create a sleek presentation that I hope you will like. A full description and demonstration is available at [the Alpine Press](http://thealpinepress.com/alpine-phototile-for-picasa-and-google-plus/ "Plugin Demo"). **Features:** * Display Picasa and Google Plus images in a sidebar, post, or page * Multiple styles to allow for customization * Lighbox feature for interactive slideshow (Fancybox, prettyBox, or ColorBox) * Simple instructions * Widget & shortcode options * Feed caching/storage for improved page loading **Quick Start Guide:** 1. After installing the plugin on your WordPress site, make sure it is activated by logging into your admin area and going to Plugins in the left menu. 2. To add the plugin to a sidebar, go to Appearance->Widgets in the left menu. 3. Find the rectangle labeled Alpine PhotoTile for Picasa. Click and drag the rectangle to one of the sidebar containers on the right. 4. Once you drop the rectangle in a sidebar area, it should open to reveal a menu of options. The only required information for the plugin to work is Picasa User ID. Enter this ID and click save in the right bottom corner of the menu. Please note that only public photos can be displayed, so check your privacy settings. 5. Open another page/window in your web browser and navigate to your WordPress site to see how the sidebar looks with the Alpine PhotoTile for Picasa included. 6. Play around with the various styles and options to find what works best for your site. == Installation == 1. Upload `alpine-photo-tile-for-picasa-and-google-plus` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory 2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress 3. Use the widget like any other widget. 4. Customize based on your preference. == Frequently Asked Questions == = How do I find my Picasa User ID or Album ID? = Since Picasa has been combined with Google Plus, Picasa photo albums are also Google Plus photo albums. This also means that there are different ways of finding your ID's depending on whether you start at the Picasa website or your Google Plus page. *Starting at Google Plus:* 1. Log into [Google Plus](http://plus.google.com/ "Google Plus"). 2. In the left sidebar, click "Photos". From the top menu, click "Albums" and then click on one of your albums. 3. The URL address should now be something like: "https://plus.google.com/photos/112515131248168353825/albums/5828938068968925825", where 112515131248168353825 is your User ID and 5828938068968925825 is the Album ID. *Starting at Picasa:* 1. Log into [Picasa](http://picasaweb.google.com/ "Picasa"). 2. From the list of photo albums, click on the one you want to show. 3. The URL address should now be something like: "https://picasaweb.google.com/112515131248168353825/NewMexicoSummer2011", where 112515131248168353825 is your User ID and NewMexicoSummer2011 is the Album ID. 4. (Optional) If you click on the "RSS" link on the right side of the page, you will arrive at a url similar to: "https://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/112515131248168353825/albumid/5828938068968925825?alt=rss&kind=photo&hl=en_US", where 112515131248168353825 is your User ID and 5828938068968925825 is the Album ID. Here the Album ID is shown as a number rather than text, as in the Google Plus example. = How do I set a photo album to public? How do I change my privacy settings? = Since Picasa has been combined with Google Plus, Picasa photo albums are also Google Plus photo albums. This also means that there are different ways of changing your settings depending on whether you start at the Picasa website or your Google Plus page. *Starting at Google Plus:* 1. Log into [Google Plus](http://plus.google.com/ "Google Plus"). 2. In the left sidebar, click "Photos". From the top menu, click "Albums" . 3. Near the top left, there should be a button labeled "Sharing Settings". 4. Make sure the album you want to show is set to Public and is unlocked. *Starting at Picasa:* 1. Log into [Picasa](http://picasaweb.google.com/ "Picasa"). 2. From the menu near the top of the page, select "My Photos". 3. Above the left-most photo album should be a link labeled "Edit Visibility". 4. Make sure the album you want to show is set to Public. = I'm getting the message "Picasa feed was successfully retrieved, but no photos found". What does that mean? = This message simply means that while no distinguishable errors occurred, the plugin found your feed to be empty. = I'm getting the message "Picasa feed not found. Please recheck your ID". What does that mean? = This message can mean two things. First, it can indicate that the username or custom url were input incorrectly, causing the feed to fail. In this case, you should try to correct and re-save your IDs. Second, this message can also mean that the server your WordPress site is being hosted on has prevented the feed from being retrieved. While it is rare, we have encountered web-hosts that disable the feed fetching functions used in the PhotoTile plugin. If this is the case, there is nothing we can do to override or work around the settings on your host server. = Can I insert the plugin in posts or pages? Is there a shortcode function? = Yes, rather than explaining how to setup the shortcode, I've created a method of generating the shortcode. Check out the Shortcode Generator on the plugin's settings page ( Settings->AlpineTile: Picasa & Google Plus->Shortcode Generator). = Why doesn't the widget show my most recent photos? = The plugin caches or stores the Picasa feed for three hours (see Caching above). If the new photos have still not appeared after this time, it is possible that Picasa is responsible for the delay. = How many photos can I show? = As of version 1.2.0, up to 200 photos can be retrieved and displayed. *If you have any more questions, please leave a message at [the Alpine Press](http://thealpinepress.com/alpine-phototile-for-picasa-and-google-plus/ "Plugin Demo"). I am a one-man development team and I distribute these plugins for free, so please be patient with me.* == Changelog == = 1.2.0 = * Rebuilt Alpine Photo series to work with Picasa * Rebuilt plugin structure into OBJECT * Combined all Alpine Photo Tiles scripts and styles into identical files * Improved IE 7 compatibility * Added custom image link options * Added Fancybox jQuery option * Fixed galleryHeight bug * Implemented fetch with wp_remote_get() = 1.2.1 = * Rebuilt admin div structure * Fixed admin css issues = 1.2.2 = * Added aspect ratio options for gallery style * Added key generator function * Added get_image_url() functions * Object oriented id, options, results, and output storage * Object oriented display generation = 1.2.3 = * Added FancyboxForAlpine (Fancybox Safemode) * Added choice between Fancybox, prettyBox, and ColorBox * Added hidden options, including custom rel for lightbox = 1.2.3.1 = * Fixed cache retrieval