Updates

Details: Created: 22 September 2024

I need to inform you about upcoming changes to the Google Photos APIs that will impact how Event Gallery integrates with Google Photos.

Unfortunately, as of March 31, 2025, Google is removing certain features that Event Gallery currently relies on. This means that directly accessing Google Photos within Event Gallery will no longer be possible. Existing Events/albums will stop working. We know this kind of behavior already from the changes to Picasa back then. Honestly, the Google usage policy forbids creating a clone of Google Photos. Some users notified me about blocked apps in the recent past. So it might be not the worst thing to retire this kind of integration.

Bet let's continue the cat&mouse game!

I'm actively exploring two potential solutions to ensure a smooth transition:

Option 1: Use shared links. This is already available and will support albums with up to 150 images.
Option 2: I integrated the new Google Photos Picker. It allows you to select images from Google Photos and upload them to local webspace or an AWS S3 bucket.
Bonus Option: The Flickr-integration is still working fine!

The time of saving money for hosting images seems to be over. I highly encourage you to use local images or AWS S3 buckets. While this is not free, it also does not break the bank. Since the new Google Photos Picker is available in the file upload for an Event, pulling data from Google Photos is effortless! Using a Flickr Account is also a viable option!

I appreciate your understanding and patience as I work through this. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Sven

PS: the Google Photos Picker API integration is already available in Event Gallery 5.4.2

Update 27.12.2024

If you need to migrate your images from Google Photos this usually involves a lot of work. To shortcut this, I added a "Migrate to local" button to Google Photos images. This button will create a copy of the Event and download all the images from Google Photos to your local webspace. It will not use the large original images, but use smaller versions with only 2400px. Event Gallery 5.4.3 will contain this feature and is in an early version available here: Event Gallery Extended 5.4.3 Dev

This migration feature is very new and only MVP. It works for my Events. If you have any other requirements to make your life easier, please get in touch with me.

Details: Created: 05 March 2024

Exciting news! I've finally launched a brand-new website dedicated solely to showcasing my photography services. For years, my previous website served as a jumbled mix of a review blog, shop, support page, and even a platform for my personal work. It was definitely time for a change!

Head over to https://bitsnlight.de to explore my offerings as a photographer in the Barchfeld, Bad Liebenstein, Bad Salzungen, and Wartburgkreis region. I specialize in capturing precious moments at weddings, events, birthday parties, and more. So, if you're looking for a photographer to preserve your special occasions, don't hesitate to reach out!

Details: Created: 30 January 2023

Joomla 4 is out there since August 2021. It brings some new coding styles with a compatibility layer for the old Joomla 3 way of coding. Event Gallery 4 supports Joomla 3 and Joomla 4, which blows up the code and complexity. There are only several months left where Joomla 3 is officially supported. I'm currently re-coding to support the J4 coding style fully.

With Event Gallery 5, I'll drop any Joomla 3 support. Event Gallery 4 will continue supporting Joomla 3, but will get only bug-fixes in emergency cases.

Do you need to worry? Not really, since all of you already made the jump to Joomla 4, right? ;) For those who have not, it is not that hard. Here is how I did it with several sites:

Update to Joomla 3.10
grab a copy of your Joomla 3 site with https://www.akeeba.com/products/akeeba-backup.html
create a running server
practice the Joomla 4 update and write down all the necessary steps. If you fail, return to step 3
apply your steps to your production server

I had only a few issues. The template needs an update, that is for sure. Maybe you need to uninstall unused components and install all available updates for the rest.

There is an article for the migration: https://docs.joomla.org/Joomla_3.x_to_4.x_Step_by_Step_Migration

Details: Created: 06 December 2021

Event Gallery 4.0 is available. Between version 3.12.10 and the latest version, more than 50 tickets made it into the gallery component. Most of the changes are around the Joomla 4 support. Thanks to some engaged users, I was able to tackle many details to optimize your user experience, especially in the back end. Thanks a lot and keep reporting! The release notes you can find here: Release Notes

One mayor change you noticed: there is version 4.0 now! For about 8 years, I kept the 3 in front of the version number. But this makes it hard for you to notice how severe the changes between different versions are. Now we're back to a common version schema. Changes in the first number indicate that you need to carefully test your site with the new version. There will be no problem if you don't use any template overrides or custom CSS adjustments. If you do, check that your modifications are still working. I'll be careful with breaking changes, but they will happen.

With Joomla 4, the place where you need to enter the download id for Event Gallery Extended changed. If you encounter any update issues, please update the download ID. This page will show your download ID and the process to add it: How to add a Download ID

Details: Created: 26 July 2015

Event Gallery is a gallery component for Joomla. Don't be fooled by the name. It's a great component to present any kind of images on your website. You can substitute the term Event easily with Album. Here are some information about features in the current and in the upcoming release.