Category: Work with Piwigo

One of the most frequently asked questions on Piwigo.com support is “how do I forbid copy on my photos ?”. Here is how Piwigo can help you.

Before listing tips and tricks it is important to understand that no protection against copy is 100% reliable, be it on Piwigo or anywhere else: as soon as a photo is visible on the web, it can be copied, one way or another. It is just “more or less” easy, depending on computer skills of the thief. If anyone says otherwise there is a good chance he is either naive or incompetent or simply a liar.

Which technical protections are available in Piwigo?

1. plugin rightClick prevents from  right click on photos. Please note that it has no impact on administrator users.
2. on screen [Administration > menu Users > sub-menu Manage], say “no” on option “high definition enabled” for all users
3. on screen [Administration > menu Configuration > sub-menu Options > tab Display > section Photo Page], deactivate icon “Download this file”
4. on screen [Administration > menu Configuration > sub-menu Options > tab Watermark], add your own watermark.

Piwigo 2.4 introduced the “watermark” feature. All your photos are automatically watermarked.

These are only “technical” protections, with a limited efficiency. In addition we recommend to highlight that “All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in whole or in part without prior written permission.”, for example. You can choose to display this message in several locations. For example:

• in page banner
• in a PWG Stuffs block, anywhere on the page
• in a personalized menu with plugin Advanced Menu Manager
• in page footer with plugin Perso Footer

Create a custom footer on all your pages with Piwigo plugin Perso Footer

This question is frequently asked on Piwigo.com support: is it possible to transfer an existing Piwigo photo gallery to Piwigo.com? The answer is “yes”. We have done it several times from various hosting providers.

Our goal is not to host all Piwigo galleries on Piwigo.com, because we believe that the Web is and must remain “decentralized” but for some users, Piwigo.com is cheaper than their current hosting provider or simply offers a better quality of service while maintaining the same high level of freedom.

Before we proceed, you have to be aware that Piwigo on Piwigo.com is slightly different than Piwigo downloaded on Piwigo.org. A few features are missing:

1. you can’t install any theme/plugin. There is a list of available extensions. We have tested and validated them all. If you want an extension that is not currently available, ask us and we will see what we can do.
2. no FTP access. You can’t add photos with the synchronization method. If you already use the web form or pLoader to upload photos, you won’t feel the difference. If you current photos have been added with synchronization, we will manage the conversion into “virtual” albums.

Here is what we propose: test Piwigo on Piwigo.com with these differences in mind and if Piwigo.com fits your need then pay your 1-year subscription and we will manage the move to Piwigo.com, with no additional fee. You will keep all your photos and related info such as user comments, descriptions and so on.

Among all features provided by plugin Extended Description, you will find the fine-tuning of the album description.

1. Default display

By default, the description of an album is displayed next to the album thumbnail on the albums page and the same description is displayed on the thumbnails page, above thumbnails.

Piwigo: default display of the album description on the albums page

Piwigo: default display of the album description on the thumbnails page

2. Tag <!--more-->

start of description…<!--more-->… end of description

Only the start of description is displayed outside the album. On the album page, you will see start of description + end of description.

Piwigo with Extended Description, tag "more": display of album "start" description on albums page

Piwigo with Extended Description, tag "more": display of album "start" description + "end" description on thumbnails page

3. Tag <!--complete-->

short description <!--complete--> long description

Only the short description is displayed outside the album. On the album page, you will only see the long description, so you have 2 distinct descriptions.

Piwigo with Extended Description, tag "complete": display of album "short" description on albums page

Piwigo with Extended Description, tag "complete": display of album "long" description on thumbnails page

4. Tag <!--up-down-->

top description <!--up-down--> bottom description

Only the top description is displayed outside the album. On the album page, the top description is displayed above the thumbnails, the bottom description is displayed below the thumbnails.

Piwigo with Extended Description, tag "up-down": display of album "up" description on albums page

Piwigo with Extended Description, tag "up-down": display of album "up" description + "bottom" description on thumbnails page

5. Let’s combine tags

It’s even possible to combine the tags described previously, for example:

short description <!–complete–> top long description <!–up-down–> bottom long description

Piwigo with Extended Description, tags combined: display of album "short" description on albums page

Piwigo with Extended Description, tags combined: display of album "top long" description + "bottom long" description on thumbnails page

In a Piwigo photo gallery, each photo is available in 3 sizes: high definition, web size and thumbnail. Read More