TTG Highslide Gallery and TTG Highslide Gallery Pro 1.8 are now available.
The general purpose of 1.8 is to fix every known or newly found bug, validation error or sore point that has crept into the Highslide galleries over the course of the last several updates. Refinements galore! With this update, the Highslide galleries are now in the finest shape they’ve ever been.
Regardless of your gallery configuration, all components of the gallery now validate according to W3C XHTML/Strict specifications, except PayPal which validates according to XHTML/Transitional specifications; there is just one string of essential code, amounting to two words, that refuses to validation as XHTML/Strict and for which there is no replacement.
The Gallery Description image border slider now works again, styled Fotomoto buttons are fixed, PayPal drop-lists can no longer overflow their containers, Inline Slideshow modes have received lots more attention and are better than ever, there’s a new Inlines Slideshow West option, the maximum image limit is increased and many other small improvements. The galleries have also been updated to the newly released Highslide JS 4.1.8, which fixes several Highslide bugs and improves script performance.
The improvements mostly sound like minutia, but are the result of many hours and a great deal of tedium. The devil is always in the details, you know. But it’s all been worth it to bring a new level of solidarity to the products. This is an update recommended for all users.
As test and demonstration, I have also refreshed all of the demonstration galleries for TTG Highslide Gallery Pro. These new galleries have all been created using the 1.8 release, and they’re totally shiny.
And finally, a word on the promised manual for TTG Highslide Gallery Pro. Writing takes ages and was detracting from the time I was able to dedicate to improving the web engines. In place of a written manual, I have been in the process of recording thorough tutorial videos for all aspects of the gallery. I’m about half-way through, and hope to begin posting the videos soon. The videos are broken up into very small pieces, making them much more accessible and to-the-point than the previous 30-minute videos. These new ones run between two and ten minutes each, and I think do a better job than any written documentation possibly could. I believe they will make very good training material for new and old users alike.
- v1.8 ( 2009-11-03 )
- Updated to Highslide JS 4.1.8.
- Fixed border for Gallery Description image; was inadvertently broken from 1.6 update.
- Set max-width for shopping cart <select> elements; prevents shopping select lists from overflowing grid.
- More improvements and fixes to Inline Slideshow mode.
- Added an Inline Slideshow, West layout option.
- Added control sliders for Tooltip font-size and width.
- Increased maximum number of images allowed per single gallery; limit now set at 10,000 images (I do not recommend creating galleries so large).
- UI Changes: Swapped location of ID Plate settings with Header/Page Settings; seems to make better sense in regard to workflow.
- Structural optimizations.
- Tested various configurations for XHTML validation. All configurations should now validate XHTML/Strict, except PayPal Shopping Carts, which validate XHTML/Transitional.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi there. Il download to day pages pro 1.8, but I still see in Lightroom 1.7. Why?
regards Paul
The program is great!!
@Paul Sinnema
Did you remove or overwrite the previous version? With the new version installed, it should say 1.8, unless you have duplicates installed and Lightroom is seeing the older version.
@theturninggate
Sorry, I download TTGPages, now it working perfect.
Thank you!
Hi there, is it possible to freeze the header of the page, so you always keep that on screen. When not, perhaps an idee for the next version?
@Paul Sinnema
You could try using CSS “position: fixed;” to set the header, but it’s not supported well by all browsers and may cause inconsistent layout problems.
Hey,
Just want to share some good news, thanks to this wonderful product! I got my first order today, without any advertising
and the “invoice” looked very nice with specification of what they ordered. I used Paypal option. I’m excited what will come next.
Cheers,
Peter
Excellent! I’m glad to hear it. Keep it up.
Very good work on the templates. I am seriously considering rebuilding my web site so that it is based on TTG Pages and Highslide Gallery. There are only a couple of issues that seem major to me:
1. I cannot disable the tooltips shown in Slideshow mode, such as “Click to close image, click and drag to move{…]” My web site is not in English, so I would like to either be able to translate or get rid of them.
2. When using Internet Explorer 8, vertical images may appear on top of control buttons depending on the size of the browser window.
Thank you!
@Leonardo
1. If you open the .lrwebengine package, you will find a file therein named hs_lang.html. Open this file in a text editor, and you can change the language strings to say whatever you want. By default, the language file in translated to German. To make use of these translated strings, enable the option “Use External Language File” in the Color Palette control pane, under Highslide Options.
2. The images should scale to accommodate the browser viewport. If this is not working properly in IE8, then it’s a Highslide bug and you should post in the Highslide forums. The Highslide author regularly updates his script with bug fixes and improvements as they are discovered.
@theturninggate
Thank you for the suggestions. Unfortunately, the only string on the external language file that is working is restoreTitle. All other strings seem to be ignored when previewing or exporting the gallery.
How can I make this work with IE6? I lose a column at the moment! I know IE6 is a pain but it is still well used.
TTG makes no concessions for IE6. We’re now at IE6+2 and people should be expected to update at some point. For my full stance on this, see the FAQ.
Comment to Steve Townsend.
Like you I need to support IE6 but I still use Matt’s amazing templates. The fix I use for this is two fold. I amend the CSS file prior to uploading to increase the width for \.highslide-gallery\. The actual width will depend on the setting that you have for the \box\ divs (the ones that hold the image thumbnails in place in the columns). This is trial and error. In my case LR says that the gallery width is 564 pixels. I’ve found that 600pixel works for me. The second fix is to download the ie6 fix from the highslide site. It’s part of the complete download. Copy this to the folder of your choice and add an extra CSS ref to it in the relevant index file at the top with the others. This fixes a couple of things which are outside of Matt’s control and part of Highslide itself. You’ll notice that Matt’s demo site breaks in IE6 because as he has repeatedly said he doesn’t support it.
Hope this helps. It’s an extra step or two but tt seems to work for me as far as I can tell. Trust me I’m not a hardened coder or developer and struggled at first but if I can do it …
Steve H
@Leonardo
FYI, I have found the problem with the external languange file when using Highslide in slideshow mode. I have disabled the code in lines 51 through 87 of head_slideshow_south.html. It gets my translations, but disable the custom labels set in the Lightroom web module. I am satified as I have a workaround, but I thought you may want to know.
@Leonardo
Thanks, Leonardo. I see where the problem is arising; I just need to figure out how to fix it. I’m going to work on this.
@Leonardo
I believe I have this issue fixed for version 1.9.
@Steve H
Hi Steve
Really appreciate your help. I too think Matt’s work is brilliant. The unfortunate reality is that too many still use IE6 and it would be an over sight on any web site that is serious to not bother considering these users. I accept the comment that they should upgrade. But the reason that most users I think remain with IE6 is the big corporates can’t be bothered and their staff browse (in their own time of course!) with the very crappy IE6.
I can’t seem to get Fotomoto going with the inline slideshow mode. Is this integration only available in normal slideshow mode?
Thanks for all your hard work. With absolutely ZERO web building experience I’ve created a site I am very happy with in two evenings. Fantastic products!!!
Oh, and one more question . . . is it possible to disable right-click saves in the various slideshow modes? Can’t seem to find that option. Thanks again!
@Bob
Figured out the answer to this one. Still stumped by Fotomoto with inline slide shows though . . .
@Bob
Quoted from the TTG Highslide Gallery Pro product page, “Please note that Fotomoto integration is only supported when the gallery is set to Slideshow mode.” You probably overlooked it, which I reckon is easy to do; one sentence on a lengthy page …
And just in case you haven’t seen it, the right-click issue is addressed here.
Hi again Matt,
I have given up on Slideshow Gallery after your response over there. I spent a bit of time looking into Highslide Gallery PRO and found everything i want over here. I worked around the text in the header and am ok with the results. The one thing that I would like to see in Highslide is the js to disable right click saves.
Thanks for keeping us moving forward. I am about to update all my galleries using Highslide. I will go back to pages and autoindex after this is done.
Best regards,
Paul
@Paul Eggermann
I’m not going to build the right-click disabling into the template, but you can find the code and how to implement it via the F.A.Q. That will lead you to an article with the code and instructions, and you can then save a template to the Template Browser with it.