Suggestions of WordPress gallery plug-in

[dpd1]

It looks like I'll finally have to dive into WP. One site I have to work on is sort of a Historic Society Archive thing. One of the most time consuming parts, is creating thumbnail pages with in-depth captions. each page is usually focused on one person's photos, or one subject. What I would love to do is just be able to grab a group of processed photos, and have that turn into a page, with links to full size images. But I'd like more than just a thumbnail. I'd like text fields to be open next to each thumb going down the page. So rather than people having to open each one for caption info... all the info will just show on the thumb page. The text can be added after the page is constructed. Anyone know of a plug-in that can do that. Preferably cheap. Thanks. And if anybody knows of a good free or cheap theme that would work well for a simple historic archive site, feel free to suggest that as well.

[TorontoBoy]

Daughter uses WP Photo Album Plus, but check it out. It seems secure. I have not had security issues with it in the past. I don't know if its looks, capability or fit are for you. Daughter uses it to show custom Jewellery. It has a caption under the image, with left/right arrows, and a film strip on the bottom for direct access to an image. It has some automatic movie timing as well. It looks nice.

I recommend two Factor Authentication (TFA) [codex.wordpress.org...] with all WP sites. There are so many bots trying to crack WP sites, so be very careful and batten down on everything. If you do not need a plugin, then move it outside of WP completely. Even deactivated plugins are a risk. I have had a couple of WP sites hacked, including my main one.

[dpd1]

Thanks. Yeah, I've worried about that. That was the beauty of having a tired old boring html based site. Nobody bothered with it. I do see the php and other bots coming in by the droves though. I don't know, I just want the most simple, least time consuming way of managing a few sites I run, that are basically just an archive of imagery and docs. Doesn't have to be anything super flashy or trendy. But I make no money from them, so it can't be a paid monthly service.

[TorontoBoy]

If you want easy to use for the non-tech end user then WP is great. But time savings it is not. I spend much time defending. If you like defending, and I do, then WP is also great for that. I'd recommend trying Grav instead. It is a CMS, but a flat file CMS, meaning that you store your stuff in a database, but then when you press a button it generates all the html for your site. Of course it has its own quirks.

A Grav site is flat file, just like the old days, so hacking probability is low. If the site gets hacked you simply regenerate the site and upload. Easy peasy. For low interactivity Gravis a pretty good compromize.

[dpd1]

I'll check it out, thanks.

[not2easy]

There are a lot of image gallery plugins free at WP plugins: [wordpress.org...] and some have been around for years with millions of users, such as the NexGen plugin. I use a paid plugin for some of the special features but if I needed to cut costs, NexGen is not a bad choice. Many paid plugins offer lifetime updates for the fee in case you don't find what you need in a free version.

Some tips on plugins in general - they all interact with your core WP files so you want to be selective in the plugins you use. I have found most good plugins to have an established user base, so one thing I look for is the number of current installs. Another important thing is - is it current? If the last compatibilty version is old, it is not being kept up to date. Then I'll check to see if it has known issues - plugin (and theme and WP versions) vulnerabilities are on file at [wpvulndb.com...] - that is the WP Vulnerability database.

If you're not familiar with WP it can be a challenge, but well worth the trouble to read of various ways you can set up WP to avoid being an easy target. The WP Security page offers some basic suggestions: [wordpress.org...]

Some WP security is common sense such as chmod the permissions of certain files. One of the oldest tips I started using was to replace the default .sql table prefix of "wp-" with something else because it limits exposure to automated scripted vulnerabilities. I put a captcha on the login page so it's not quite so easy to run through a password guessing script. Another place for security learning is the wordpress.org page about "Hardening WordPress": [codex.wordpress.org...]

[dpd1]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, after learning more... I'm starting to consider Concrete5 as well.