Is there a way to speed up gallery creation/population?

uncool

I have a lot of photos in my account - 99% private/unlisted - just for my family
I want to create many sub-galleries; vacations, birthdays, etc
The photos are tagged
I have been successful in creating Smart Galleries within SmugMug but the process is painfully slow
Is there a way to speed up the process? Should I create dumb galleries and use the publish module (or will that upload duplicate photos)?
Also the Smart Galleries are limited to 1000 photos - This is an issue with a couple of my galleries.

rnrjosh

At the moment, there's not really an option within the SmugMug interface to create multiple galleries or folders at one time, sorry. Also, if creating Smart galleries, you'd need to set the rules for each Smart gallery individually. SmugMug does have a rich API that, if you are technically inclined, you may be able to use to do something like do bulk-gallery (or folder) creation. SmugMug's API does allow for gallery and folder creation and uploading.

There are also some existing third-party apps that use the SmugMug API here I *think* there is an app there (picbackman.com) that can automatically create galleries and folders, based on a folder structure on your computer, so that may an option for you.

At the moment, it's not possible for Smart galleries to display more than 1000 photos, sorry.

If your photos are already tagged with keywords, you might also just use SmugMug's automatically generated keyword pages (yourdomain.smugmug.com/keyword). Those keyword URLs will display a 'gallery' of all photos matching the keyword in question, though there's not a lot of control for things like sorting on the keyword pages.

WinsomeWorks

I wish too that it were easier to create smart galleries. I thought I heard though that in New SmugMug, there's an easier way to at least have a gallery appear in more than one folder or sub-folder without having to completely create a new smart gallery as we did in Legacy? I may be wrong. Haven't looked into it yet.

I do understand, however, why there's a 1000-image limit per gallery. A limit needed to be set at some number, and I've seen for myself that more than a 10-page gallery, which typically means 200+ images in SmugMug style, tends to get very unwieldy when you need to use any tools on it (such as arranging)... it can be slow to load all those images, etc. Even if it isn't that way for you (maybe you've got super-fast computer & excellent connections), it's going to be very slow for some of your visitors. Also, I can tell by stats that it's true that few people will get thu all the pages of a huge gallery. You're much better off splitting them up into smaller galleries... call them "Family Reunion 2015 One" & "Family Reunion 2015 Two" or something.

leftquark

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

I do understand, however, why there's a 1000-image limit per gallery. A limit needed to be set at some number, and I've seen for myself that more than a 10-page gallery, which typically means 200+ images in SmugMug style, tends to get very unwieldy when you need to use any tools on it

Thanks for understanding why sometimes limits have to be placed! For Folders and Galleries, the maximum number of items that can be added was increased to 5,000 (this changed a while ago, though I don't know the specific date ... at least more than a year ago).

WinsomeWorks

Does that include Smart Galleries, Aaron? That's mainly what we were talking about, although I'd forgotten that the max number for regular galleries & folders had increased, so I imagine the OP will be glad for that.

leftquark wrote: »

Thanks for understanding why sometimes limits have to be placed! For Folders and Galleries, the maximum number of items that can be added was increased to 5,000 (this changed a while ago, though I don't know the specific date ... at least more than a year ago).

rnrjosh

There is still a 1000 image limit for Smart Galleries at this time.

David Evertsen

rnrjosh wrote: »

There is still a 1000 image limit for Smart Galleries at this time.

Love folks talking about Smart Galleries lets hope the rumors I hear about them being overhauled and integrated into the new UI soon are true.. The easiest way to create a large amount of galleries is through the Lightroom plugin.. However the Smart GAlleries on there are for you machine only not on your SM site..

uncool

Thanks for the information and enjoyed the conversation. Still poking around and rearranging to see what is going to work best.
I understand the technical reasons behind the 1000 photo limit. At least the inquiry yielded some chatter and now I now I need to plan around the rule.