Tips
Tips and hints to help you become a happier jAlbum user.
If you are reading this you might have had trouble finding the information you were looking for on the FAQ page or here in the wiki. If so and the topic is not listed below try using ‘Search’ link to the left instead of just entering a word in the search box and pressing the search button. The resulting search page has details on the use of wildcards to make your search moe productive.
Album of albums
An album can be made up of files at the root level, subfolders each containing files and/or further subfolders or a master album that contains other albums. Read more about this subject using web locations and for older (prior to v14) versions of jAlbum in the tips forum Master Album / Subordinate Albums
Default Settings: restoring
To restore jAlbum to the factory default settings you just need to delete the file called defaults.jap from the configuration directory. To do so select Menu/Tools/Open directories/Config directory (SHIFT + Cmd/Ctrl + C), locate the file and either move or delete it then restart jAlbum.
Forum: pointing to a particular post
When posting in a forum thread you may want to point to another post within another forum's thread. To link to a specific post find the next subsequent post that has the name of the poster in the field 'in response to'. Now click on either the blue 'up' arrow or the user's name and copy the link, then paste the link into your forum post e.g.
see [this post|http://jalbum.net/forum/message.jspa?messageID=302499#302499]
As an example the link shown above goes to the indicated post on the first page of this thread.
If you want to link to a post that has not had a reply then you need to do a two step process. First, in the post you want to reference click and hold the blue up arrow or the name of the earlier poster and copy the url. Now click and hold on the reply button, note the number at the end of the url. Finally, paste the url you copied earlier but replace the numbers at the end with the number you just noted.
Example, blue up arrow/earlier poster url:
http://jalbum.net/forum/message.jspa?messageID=311979#311979
Repy to url http://jalbum.net/forum/post!reply.jspa?messageID=311980
Link to the post without a reply http://jalbum.net/forum/message.jspa?messageID=311980#311980
Essentialy, the url to a message always starts with http://jalbum.net/forum/message.jspa?messageID=
And the reply to button always has the message ID.
Jalbum critical updates
If you are advised to update jAlbum by installing critical updates you will need to run the ' jAlbum core update' external tool. Such updates are not available from the normal software download page. Having installed the update you will need to quit and, using 'Administrator' privileges (that is you may need to enter the password of your machines administrator account), restart jAlbum for the update to take effect.
Histogram
There are hidden settings to the histogram which are revealed by double clicking anywhere above the base of the histogram display area.
Default ViewMode, set the data to be displayed that you use the most.
Default undocked, if selected the histogram will open in its own window each time you start. If you want to undock it as required, just click and drag the histogram outside of the jAlbum window.
Remember location of undocked window, check this setting if you want the histogram to reopen in the same place on your screen as when you close jAlbum.
Visual style, the default is photoshop style, the other option is iPhoto style. Note this option only affects how the RGB Overlay looks.
Foreground color, sets the luminance and RGB displays to either black or white. It does not affect the RGB overlay mode, that is controlled by the visual style option.
Keyboard shortcuts and modifiers
You can find all the keyboard shortcuts and modifiers listed here
Making Album & Previewing
During a 'Make' operation you cannot close the progress window without cancelling the make process. If you want to preview the album, as the build continues, but have selected 'use jAlbum's integrated browser' in Preferences/General then hold the Alt/Opt key down while clicking on the preview button. The album will be opened in your default browser which you can refresh as the build progresses.
Moving jAlbum projects to another computer
Information on what and where jAlbum files your projects, skins and othe files can be found here.
A quick summary of moving your jAlbum files to another computer can be found here
Multiple Albums from a single set of images
See the linked post and the one before it for details Ignore the topic title of the post, the answers posted show how multiple albums can be made with one set of images.
Plugins - downloaded/bundled
When new plugins are developed they are installed in the 'ext' folder within the configuration directory (SHIFT+CMD/Cntrl+C). Should the plugin then be bundled with jAlbum you should remove the old file from that folder, otherwise you may end up running an older version without being aware of it.
Installing jAlbum on Windows
When you have problems installing jAlbum, or any other application, check Microsoft fix problems that block programs from being installed or removed
Also ensure jAlbum is being installed to the default install location and not to another drive as problems with updates have been reported by some users.
You can also try using jAlbum’s own installer, from a command line type
jAlbum-install.exe /L*V "jalbum-install.log"
It will produce a detailed log file of the installation which may indicate the root cause. Copy the log file and post it in the forum along with details of your Windows system and jAlbum version.
Reinstalling jAlbum on Windows OS
You can find detailed instruction in the tips forum, Reinstalling jAlbum under Windows
Skins
Some skins have their own help pages for settings specific to them, see Skin Manuals for a list of skins with user manuals.
Updates
Updating skins on Windows OS can be problematic due to Windows locking open files. To prevent problems save the project and select another project that uses a different skin (or select the 'new' project and another skin). Then click the Notification icon and then update the skin, once the update has been completed you can reselect your project and continue.
Loading other skins
If you have an open project and decide to install or load another skin to see how it looks then if you have made any setting changes then save the project before switching skin. If having loaded another skin you then decide you want to revert to your previous skin then close the project without saving it and then reload the project. This will ensure all of your project settings are preserved.
Review
In review (formally 'Slide show") mode you can use the number keys 1 to 5 to give star ratings to your images, the 0 key removes the star rating. Numbers 6 to 9 sets the flags select, second, review and approve, the F key rotates between those values. The H key toggles the visibility of the star rating and flags. The T key selects/deselects the current image as the representing thumbnail image for the folder in which it resides.
The escape key exits the slide show.
Uploading to multiple locations
Should you ever want to upload an album to more than one location then this forum tip is for you!
Using The website to gain insight
Unsure about something not covered here, want to know a bit more about how skins work or looking to see if that idea you have is possible? If so then try looking through the Developer_center, there is information there that will at least help you understand how skins are organised.
Videos: Include original to offer for downloading
If you want to include an original video file as well as a converted MP4 file, maybe to let visitors download the original file, then follow these steps:
- Make sure you have set linking to include original files and video support is turned on.
- Make the album as normal.
- In explore mode select a video that you want to include the original file and right/Control click its icon.
- From the contextual menu select 'Do not re-encode'.
- Make the album again.
When you view the video in your browser you will see the MP4 video but clicking on download/show original will now offer the original video instead of the MP4 version.
Watermarks on more than one line
You can add a watermark to your images using the text effects settings, but that only works for a single block of text. To add two or more lines use two or more User Variables, each calling the standard watermark filter, and varying only in the offset and voffset settings. Read more about image filters here
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