Manage Media

Manage Media

To organize your images log in as an administrator and select 'MyGedview Portal'->'Manage MultiMedia'.

This is step two in managing uploaded media files if you have directory levels configured below the default media directory.

As an admin user you can create the directory structure you require to keep your media files organized. Creating directories from this page ensures that the thumbnail directories are created as well as creating a suitable index.php in each directory.

You can move files up and down the directory structure using the Move To --> link. The thumbnail is also moved, thus keeping the file structure consistent.

If you did not upload thumbnail files or forgot to check the Create thumbnail checkbox during the upload you have the option to generate thumbnails from here. Check the Show thumbnails box; if a thumbnail is not found you can click the Create thumbnail link to create one.

Filter

The filter limits which media files will be displayed. The filter option has three components.

• Data Entry:- It is this area where data is entered for the filter to work upon. The filter is NOT case dependant.
• Filter Button:- This puts the filter into action
• Restet Button:- This will remove any filters that are currently inplace

Show Thumbnails

Thumbnails will be shown if you check this box. The two images below show the different ways the media item will be displayed

The examples also show a number of other menu items/links that can be followed:-

• Move To
• Edit
• Delete File
• Set Link
• Image Link
• View Person

These will be dealt with later on this page

Upload Media Files

This option allows you to upload multiple files (maximum of five) at one time. These files will be uploaded with a minmum amount of information in relation to them and links to individuals, families and other locations will have to be made after the upload process is completed.

Click to show full size image

Note: The selection window indicates the maximum file size that can be uploaded . In this case it indicates 100M - most times it will be much smaller.

The use of folder names will depend upon your settings in the Multimedia section for your GEDCOM file. If this depth is set to 0 then folder names should not be used. The folder names you specify will be appended to media/. For example, media/myfamily. These folders should exist before attempting to upload files to them.

If a thumbnail has been created for the file you can also indicate the location of that file. This file will be placed in the appropriate thumbnail directory. The system can also create thumbnails on uploading if your computer system has had appropriate software installed to do this.

Clicking on Browse will open a window where the file you which to upload can be identified.

Click to show full size image

Once the files have been selected clicking on the UPLOAD button will commence the proceedings.

An update of the upload process will be shown on the left of the screen. An example is shown below.

Add a new Media item

Adding multimedia files (MM) to the GEDCOM is a very nice feature. Although this program already has a great look without media, if you add pictures or other MM to your relatives, it will only get better.

What you should understand about Multimedia Files

There are many formats of Multimedia. Although PhpGedView can handle most of them, there some things to consider.

Formats

Pictures can be edited and saved in many formats. For example, .jpg, .png, .bmp, .gif, etc. If the same original picture was used to create each of the formats, the viewed image will appear to be the same size no matter which format is used. However, the image files stored in the database will vary considerably in size. Generally, .jpg images are considered to be the most efficient in terms of storage space.

Image Size

The larger the original image, the larger will be the resultant file's size. The picture should fit on the screen without scrolling; the maximum width or height should not be more than the width or height of the screen. PhpGedView is designed for screens of 1024x768 pixels but not all of this space is available for viewing pictures; the picture's size should be set accordingly. To reduce file sizes, smaller pictures are more desirable.

Resolution

The resolution of a picture is usually measured in "dpi" (dots/inch), but this is valid only for printed pictures. When considering pictures shown on screen, the only correct way is to use total dots or pixels. When printed, the picture could have a resolution of 150 - 300 dpi or more depending on the printer. Screen resolutions are rarely better than 50 pixels per inch. If your picture will never be printed, you can safely lower its resolution (and consequently its file size) without affecting picture quality. If a low-resolution picture is printed with too great a magnification, its quality will suffer; it will have a grainy appearance.

Color Depth

Another way to keep a file small is to decrease the number of colors that you use. The number of colors can differ from pure black and white (two colors) to true colors (millions of colors) and anything in between. You can see that the more colors are used, the bigger the size of the files.

Why is it important to keep the file size small?

• First of all, usually your webspace is limited. The more large files there are, the more web space you need on the server. The more space you need, the higher your costs.

• Bandwidth. The more data your server has to send to the remote location, the more you may have to pay to you ISP. Data throughput is a key area where ISPs and cost is normally apportioned according to the amount of data your server sends and receives.

• Download time. If you have large files, the user (also you) will have to wait for a long time for the page to download from the server.

How to upload your MM

There are two ways to upload media to the site. If you have a lot of media items to upload you should contact the site administrator to discuss the best ways. If it has been enabled by your site administrator, you can use the Upload Media form under your MyGedView menu. You can also use the Upload option on the Multimedia form to upload media items.

Generate Thumbnails

We have detected that your system has the ability to automatically generate thumbnails for certain types of images. There may be support for JPG, GIF, and PNG files. The types that your system supports are listed beside the checkbox.

By clicking this checkbox, you signal the system that you are uploading images of this type and that you want it to try to generate thumbnails for them. Leave the box unchecked if you want to provide your own thumbnails.