12.1. The Web Module Revealed
Web galleries are created in Lightroom's Web module, which is stating the obvious, right? OK, let's break the Web module down to its specific components and describe it that way. Then, in subsequent sections, we'll see how to put the Web module to practical use.
Here is the Web module, in full, with left and right panels, workspace, toolbar, and filmstrip visible. As is true with all the Lightroom modules, you can customize the work area by closing or resizing panels and expanding or shrinking the filmstrip. Figure 12-1
Figure 12-1. Figure 12-1
NOTE
If you create a Lightroom Web Gallery using HTML, it will be viewable on all web browsers. Preview images will be viewed at the size you set in the Lightroom Web module. If you create the gallery using Flash, the viewer will require a widely available browser plug-in for Flash. Flash Web galleries produce online slideshows with smooth transitions and auto resizing based on the size of the viewer's browser window.
Web Preview Pane
In the preview window, you can view template page layouts from the Template Browser. Just hold your cursor over a template name and it will appear in the preview window. Figure 12-2 You can tell if you are creating a HTML- or a Flash-based gallery by looking at the icon in the lower left corner of the Preview window (circled).
Figure 12-2. Figure 12-2
Web Module Template Browser
Here in the Template Browser, you can either select a gallery style, or, as I mentioned earlier, preview a style in the preview window. When you select a template, Lightroom immediately begins generating the new style, which can take some time, depending how many images are selected and the template style in use. You can also save custom templates by clicking the Add button at the bottom of the left panel (circled). Figure 12-3 To remove a custom template, select the template name and click Remove. (To remove a template from the Lightroom Templates folder, you'll need to find the actual file on your hard drive and trash it from there.)
Figure 12-3. Figure 12-3
If you right-click on one of the templates in the user folder, you'll have the option via the contextual menu to "Update with Current Settings," which basically means, "Change template from here on out to reflect the adjustments I just made." Figure 12-4 This is not an option with templates in the Lightroom Templates folder. To achieve basically the same thing, customize the template, then select Web→New Template from the menu bar, and give the template a name. The new template with the updated settings will then appear in the User Templates folder or a new folder of your choice.
Figure 12-4. Figure 12-4
Display Work Area
The display work area displays the Web gallery pages almost exactly as they will appear in a browser. Figure 12-5 The gallery is fully operable and you can click on thumbnails and active links and preview the effect. You can also view the slideshow (Flash only). Operability of the gallery might take some time while Lightroom generates all the necessary thumbnails, large images, and code. A status bar at the upper left corner of the Lightroom window indicates the progress. You can stop the progress at any time by clicking on the X at the end of the progress bar (circled). Figure 12-6
Figure 12-5. Figure 12-5
Figure 12-6. Figure 12-6
Web Module Right Panel
The right panel is where you can add descriptive text, customize colors, and set image sizes. It's also where you go to export your gallery files or upload your finished gallery directly to a server. Figure 12-7
Figure 12-7. Figure 12-7
In the right panel, starting at the top, is the Gallery pane, which indicates what type of gallery you are working with. If you choose a template using HTML, Lightroom HTML Gallery will show (left). Figure 12-8 If you choose a gallery using Flash, Lightroom Flash Gallery will show (right). Because Flash and HTML Galleries are fundamentally different, the customizing choices you will see in subsequent panes may differ substantially.
Figure 12-8. Figure 12-8
In the Site Info pane, you can add fixed titles and a description, your contact information, and email address. Figure 12-9 Type size, font style, and location are set by the template. HTML and Flash panes are basically the same, except in the HTML pane you also have the option to add an Identity Plate. (For Flash Gallery styles, the Identity Plate option is found in the Appearance pane.)
Figure 12-9. Figure 12-9
In the Color Palette pane, you set the text, background, and other web component colors. Just click on a color swatch box to bring up a color picker. As you can see, there are different choices in the HTML (left) and Flash (right) Color Palette panes. Figure 12-10
Figure 12-10. Figure 12-10
In the HTML Appearance pane, you can choose to include a drop shadow, add section borders, choose a color for them, and add photo borders with a specified width and size. Figure 12-11 You can set how many thumbnails appear on each page by clicking on the grid. You can control the size of the full-sized image pages—from 300 to 2071 pixels—but not the size of the index pages. If an index page is showing in the display window, a warning [ ! ] (circled) instructs you to click on an index thumbnail to open a page with a large images, and see the effects of moving the Size slider. More pixels means a larger page and a larger image, which is fine if you know your viewers have a large screen. However, it also means a large file size (which you can reduce somewhat by setting a higher JPEG compression in the Output Settings pane).
Figure 12-11. Figure 12-11
In the Flash Appearance pane, Figure 12-12 you can determine where the thumbnails appear on the page with the Layout pop-up menu (circled). You can select an Identity Plate. You can also control the size of the large images and thumbnail images via the size pop-up menus. There are four options: Extra Large, Large, Medium, and Small. Lightroom actually creates three versions of each photo to accommodate different sized browser windows.
Figure 12-12. Figure 12-12
The Image Info pane is the same for HTML and Flash. This is where you choose a subtitle and captions based on EXIF metadata. Figure 12-13 I'll get into this in more detail later in the chapter.
Figure 12-13. Figure 12-13
The Output Settings pane for both HTML and Flash styles are basically the same. Figure 12-14 The Quality slider controls JPEG compression for large images. Larger numbers indicate higher quality, lower compression, and a larger file size. Smaller numbers indicate higher compression, less quality, and a smaller file size. A metadata option lets you embed either only the copyright information or all the informational metadata associated with an image. There is also a Copyright Watermark check box. When you select it, a name based on the copyright EXIF field appears in the lower left corner of each image (circled). You can't change the position or size of the text.
Figure 12-14. Figure 12-14
The Upload Settings pane is the same for both HTML and Flash. Figure 12-15 Start by selecting Edit from the Custom Settings pop-up menu (circled). In the Configure FTP File Transfer dialog box that appears, enter the appropriate settings and password for your server so Lightroom can automatically upload your gallery.
Figure 12-15. Figure 12-15
NOTE
It is possible, if you are knowledgeable, to go under the hood and do even more customizing of the Lightroom Web gallery. You need to know something about HTML or Flash coding and you also need to know exactly what parameters you can change or alter. Adobe is in the process of preparing documents specific to working with the Lightroom Web Gallery. Check out the O'Reilly Inside Lightroom site for updates on this.
Export and Upload buttons
Click the Export button in order to save your files to another location. Figure 12-16 You can load them onto a server or open the files and further customize the code. Click the Upload button, and Lightroom automatically places your gallery on a server, based on the information entered in the Output pane. You need to be online and have an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for this to work, obviously!
Figure 12-16. Figure 12-16
Web Module Toolbar
Just a few controls: the square icon (circled) will bring you to the first image in the filmstrip, and the arrows take you back and forth between images in the filmstrip. Figure 12-17 Click the Preview in Browser button to open your gallery in an actual Web browser. (This can take time depending on your choices; Lightroom generates all the necessary information and saves it before the preview can occur.) The box to the far right of the toolbar shows you at-a-glance which style you are working with, HTML or Flash.
Figure 12-17. Figure 12-17
The Filmstrip in the Web Module
In the filmstrip, you can apply develop presets without leaving the Web module by right-clicking on an image and selecting a preset from the contextual menu. Figure 12-18 To switch to another collection or folder, use the pop-up menu (circled) which displays your entire library of images or a previously viewed collection. You can directly select or deselect individual images for the Web gallery from the filmstrip. Do this, and then select Web→Which Photos→Use Selected Photos from the menu bar.
Figure 12-18. Figure 12-18
Michael Reichmann
At one point, Michael's lovely shot of Bill Atkinson was our cover shot. Well, actually, before that there was another shot taken by Melissa Gaul of Bill (at the same time) that was first in line. But in that shot, Melissa caught Bill leaning over, as if to pick up a dropped lens. (He was really checking the adjustments on this tripod, but once George Jardine said it looked like he'd just dropped his favorite lens in the lake, we couldn't look at the shot any other way.) Michael's shot depicted Bill commanding the heavens, but then someone said it looked like he was being held up by Icelandic bandits, and from that moment on no one could get that caption out of their mind. So the next choice was a horse by Martin Sundberg (you can see it in Chapter 3), but that is another story.