A Stock / Art section is where you can upload photos for sale or display that are not in galleries ... like stock photos. This type of section is not for client or event galleries. This is for photos for the public to view and purchase. You can offer just downloads, just prints or both. (Note: this option became available in Sytist version 2.3)
Photos uploaded to this type of section can be searched and everything is based on keywords. If you tag your photos with keywords before uploading (and EXIF is enabled in the PHP configuration on your hosting), Sytist will read and store those tags on upload. You can also add tags & titles to your photos after they are uploaded. To edit those individually, click the thumbnail to view the photo. To add tags in batch, check the checkbox under each thumbnail and the option to add tags will show at the bottom of the screen.
View a example of this in the demo.
Settings
Once you have created this type of section, click the Section Settings tab or select a price list and other options. Some of those options are:
Price List
Select a price list to use that you create in the Photo Products -> Price List area. (Note you also have the option to select a different price list for individual photos by checking the checkbox under the thumbnail and select change price list in the tray that opens at the bottom of the screen.)
Photo Display Order
Set how you want to display the photos.
- Upload Date / Time
- Assigned Display Order: There is a display order value under each thumbnail you can adjust. When adjusting the display order value, it is automatically saved.
- File Name: Will display photos by their file names.
- Ascending / Descending
Add link to show list of keywords under search
Selecting this option will show a link under the search bar that when clicked, will show all the keywords assigned to photos in this section which can be clicked to search by.
Do not show photo popup when clicked from thumbnail and link directly to photo on page view
If this option is checked, then when someone clicks a thumbnail, it will take them right to the view photo page instead of showing a popup of the photo and products on the same page.
Make virtual pages instead of dynamic URLs for photos.
By default, when an individual photo is viewed, it will use a dynamic link.
Example: /photos/?photo=123456-some-cool-photo
Using this option, it will create what appears to be a standard static link.
Example: /photos/123456-some-cool-photo.
To use this option, you must make changes to the .htaccess file for this to work. When selecting this option, it will show you the code that has to be added to the .htaccess file to work. Copy that code and add it to your .htaccess file. There is a link located in this section to edit your .htaccess file in your Sytist folder.
Photo Meta Title, Meta Description & Meta Keywords
This is the configuration of the meta data for when individual photos are view. This information is pulled from the photos, but you have the option to add additional text by editing these options. Click the more details links under each to view the bracket codes used to pull the information from the photos.
Search Placeholder Text
This is the default text that shows in the search bar.
Pop up photo view layout & Page photo view layout
These are the layout files from the Design -> Page Display & Content Listing Layouts. There is really no reason to change these unless you are not selling photos in this section, then you can select the 2 other available layouts for that.
Watermarking Settings
Here you can select your default watermarking options when uploading photos to this section.
Shipping Group
If you have created additional shipping groups, you can select a different one here.
Creating Categories
You can create categories in this section by clicking the Add Category tab.
When creating categories, you will need to select the keywords from photos uploaded to this section to be displayed in the categories.
Note, you will not be uploading photos into these categories. The categories will display the photos with the keywords selected for the categories.
You can also create sub categories under categories.
Here is an example of how the categories can work with the keywords.
Let's say you have photos of flowers. Those photos you have tagged with the keyword flowers; then colors for each of the photos: yellow, red, blue, etc ....
You can create a category named Flowers, select the keyword flowers, and it will display all the photos with flowers tag.
Then you can create a category under flowers with the keyword tags flowers & yellow selected, and it will show all photos that have the keywords flowers & yellow (all the yellow flowers).
Photo URLs
Each photo uploaded to this section will have its own link/page. The URL is constructed by starting with the unique image ID number then appended with either a) the title of the photo and if there is no title, then b) the first 5 keywords from the photo, then if no keywords, c) the file name.
Examples:
- a) /123456-title-of-this-photo
- b) /123456-flowers-yellow-bloom
- c) /123456-dsc_1234
Sytist is only looking for the unique ID, so if the title or keywords change, the URL will change, but it will still show the same page.
Saving Photos
When someone is viewing photos, they have the option to "Save" photos. This works much like favorites in client/event galleries, but is separate from those. Their saves can be found by a link under the search bar and in their My Account section.
Layout Tweaks
To edit some of the things that are shown on the view photo page, go to Design -> Page Display & Content Listing Layouts. Look for the "Stock Photo Page" and "Stock Photo Popup Display" layouts. Those are the ones that control how the view photo pages are displayed.
To remove the File ID, remove this line:
<?php print _file_id_;?> <a href="<?php print stockphotolink($pic,$cat_folder,$virturallinks);?>"><?php print $pic['pic_id'];?></a>
To remove the file name, remove this line:
<?php print _filename_;?> <a href="<?php print stockphotolink($pic,$cat_folder,$virturallinks);?>"><?php print stockfilename($pic);?></a>
To remove social sharing, remove this line:
<div class="share"><?php print _share_;?>: <?php stocksharephoto($pic,$cat_folder,$virturallinks); ?></div>
To remove saving, remove this line:
<div class="share"><?php print _share_;?>: <?php stocksharephoto($pic,$cat_folder,$virturallinks); ?></div>
If you want to remove the search bar to search for photos, you will need to edit your theme (Design -> Edit My Theme), click "additional CSS" in the left menu and add this code:
.stockphotosearchcontainer { display: none; }