How to make a ZenPhoto Theme!

DarrellD

While waiting for the 1.0.3 release (hopefully before I go to bed), I decided to stop working on my hack (which might change depending on how 1.0.3 is) and finish up my Wiki article on how to make a theme for ZenPhoto.

I tried to make it as easy as possible (while still allowing me to be as lazy as possible =P ).

Anyways, if you're interested, you can view it HERE. (NOTE: This article is very outdated)

EDIT (more theme documentation):
New Theming Tutorial: http://www.zenphoto.org/2008/05/theming-tutorial/
Functions guide (official version): http://www.zenphoto.org/documentation-official/index.html
Functions guide (svn/nightly): http://www.zenphoto.org/documentation/index.html
Forum post with function help: http://www.zenphoto.org/support/topic.php?id=132&replies=13
Upgrading themes to 1.1: http://mitcho.com/blog/2007/11/04/updating-your-zenphoto-theme-for-zenphoto-11/

dspnorman

Just found this... but the link appears dead. Any chance you could re-post, or tell me where to find the tutorial? Thanks!

DarrellD

Sorry, but at one point the files on that link were lost. I stupidly didn't have a backup. I no longer have the time to recreate it. Sorry.

dspnorman

Okay, no worries. I found the wiki stuff about dev tags, and that's a start. Looks like I should be able to hack up one of the exisiting themes pretty well to suit my needs.

tiolon

is this of any use?

http://www.infobulles.ch/syndication/ZenPhoto_Gallery/2006/09/15/How_to_Make_a_ZenPhoto_Theme__updated_

sbillard

Nice description.

On thought. If someone is not using Firefox and does not know any French, the automatic "get Firefox" page might leave them at a loss.

dspnorman

That's what I've been looking for. Thanks for posting.

thinkdreams

I stuck this topic, as it is relevant to a number of questions lately. Anybody want to have a go into moving the explanation into the trac wiki?

acrylian

I made a simple template function reference. It's mostly for myself so that I can take a quick look at the functions. It's inspired by this thread http://www.zenphoto.org/support/topic.php?id=132 and uses info found in the template-functions.php itself.
It certainly needs expansion. If you think it's useful I can move it into the trac the next days so that everyone can help expanding it.

Take a look (it's an rtf-File): zenphoto-template-functions-reference-v0.1b.tgz

cregy

This is a useful start but is there any additional coding I need to ensure sub-albums work please?

Thanks.

acrylian

Just take a look at the source code of the testing-dev theme's album.php which is included with standard zenphoto. It's indicated there pretty clear what you need for subalbums. But you know subalbums are not fully implemented currently. You cannot modify them via the admin-backend.

mitchoyoshitaka

I just wrote an article on how to update custom zenphoto themes to incorporate new zenphoto 1.1 features, for anyone who's interested:

Updating your zenphoto theme for zenphoto 1.1

mitcho

sbillard

You might wish to add this to the WIKI, perhaps on this page: http://www.zenphoto.org/trac/wiki/ZenphotoThemes

aitf311

mitchoyoshitaka: awesome writeup! very detailed

mitchoyoshitaka

sbillard, thanks for the suggestion--I added a link to the wiki page.

trisweb

The new Theme download page is up, refresh zenphoto.org to see it. Thanks Mark (aitf311) for putting it together.

DarrellD

Hey guys. Looks like you guys are doing a great job. And aitf311, I LOVE the new theme page! Great job!

spencerjw

I am loving this and I can't wait to get it installed on my server. I am lucky enough to have DreamHost as a hosting provider and they have just added your software to our one-click install options.

However, before I go and install yet another photo gallery (I've tried them all) I wanted to make sure that it'd fit the "style" of my site.

Both my general site as well as my WP Blog have the same theme I was able to download, I wanted to know if you had it in your list of themes, had it on a list of themes to make, or know someone that has already made it.

http://spencerjw.com/
http://spencerjw.com/blog/

The theme name is: darkned-theme-10

acrylian

All available themes are listed here: http://www.zenphoto.org/zp/theme/
We are not actively making themes, we simply do not have the time for that. But if you want to make a new theme that is welcome.

For tips on including zenphoto in wordpress see here:
http://www.zenphoto.org/2008/01/wordpress-plugins/
http://www.zenphoto.org/2008/01/hacks/#zenphoto-as-plugin

You will of course have to do some adjusting before everything fits.

trisweb

Spencer, it's good to hear Dreamhost has included Zenphoto in their one-click packages. Very cool.

Though I would not say you're "lucky" to have them as a provider ;-) Just wait until they kick you off for using too much processing time or hosting too many images.

The "default-dark" theme may go well enough with your site, but we don't have a large variety of random themes yet like Wordpress does. However, it's not hard to create a theme for Zenphoto if you want it to match your site. See the 'showcase' section for examples of many people who have done this.

macalter

trisweb,
I use Dreamhost and have yet to have a problem with them. Only catch is their zenphoto install is not "Advance". It installs all the files but not into the user's directory so you cannot customize/set options. Dreamhost is extremely generous in their offerings so doubt being kicked off will be a problem.

PS: Is this the forum I ask about adapting one of the existing themes?

Bloomy

I'm building my own ZenPhoto theme, aka Gollum4Zen. My purpose is the integration with my blog theme. But i'm having any problems... I think that creating Zen themes is too complicated

acrylian

What exactly do you find too complicated? Of course you need to know a little about HTML and CSS to build your own custom theme. That is unavoidable...