Every business has corporate meetings, events and vacations that are posted on a company website to share with clients and employees. With lots of social media channels these days, such content often goes to individual profiles. Too bad, these photos do not show up on a corporate website. Well, there is a way to fix it.

Instead of creating distributed media areas, you can convert a corporate website into a central media hub. Store and organize content structure in one place and share it to a specific social networks or just to personal account, having a corporate watermark on a photo. Besides, you can configure and layout media files presentation to make event report or product portfolio to match your market and audience.

Let's take a look at FW Gallery plugin available for WordPress and Joomla! websites and decide if it is the right choice for your business needs.

Any media hub starts with a category structure. The beauty of FW Gallery is that you can create a structure in text format in a quick way. Let's say we need this structure for our gallery:

Events
- Conference 2021
- Corporate camping 2021
- Expo 2020
Product
- Electronic devices
- Cables & adapters
Press

You can just copy and paste this text to create 8 categories, with 3 top categories and others assigned respectively. That is as easy as you can get. It works for new and for existing categories, which means you can include existing folders in the text list to extend a category tree.

After structure design is ready, it comes to data import. There are 4 way to import data into FW Gallery with FWG Files Import add-on:

• FTP folder
• Google Photos
• Facebook
• Instagram

FTP folder import helps to organize existing photo/video files into category try and define presentation layouts. Google Photos, Facebook and Instagram import helps to gather published media files from remote sources into your website. The most typical web media files formats are allowed:

• JPG, PNG, GIF for images
• MP4, Youtube, Vimeo for videos
• MP3, WAV, ACC for audios.

Speaking of presentation, we have a static gallery structure and dynamic slideshow. For video collections, static layout will work good enough to show a list of files with thumbnails and short description of what is inside. For images, often a slideshow works much better, especially if it is an overview of some business presentation or a meeting.

Gallery design is important and helps to build strong corporate identity. At the same time, it must be responsive and remain intuitive and easy to use on mobile devices.

Apart from design, there is another detail that may affect file presentation online. Depending on a presentation goal, a file can be shown full size or as a thumbnail. If it is a thumbnail it may remain the same, open in a lightbox, open as a slideshow or open in a new page.

FW Gallery comes with exceptional support, and you can count to get your questions answered within the shortest time. A detailed demo website for front-end layouts and back-end admin is also available and is updated every time a new release comes out. FW Gallery has documentation which is integrated into the product and helps to look up parameters or meaning for some configuration fields.

Every plugin has a design and a concept that developers put into it. Most of the time this design and concept match clients needs. In some cases, customization may be required. We offer customization services for WordPress or Joomla! plugins with further support and training, to make sure you got exactly what you looked for.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any question or need a media gallery website. We are always happy to assist.

Instagram is a powerful source of content for a media Joomla gallery website. Now, thanks to FW Gallery Instagram Plugin getting the content into your Joomla website has never been easier. Whether you want to increase your traffic, grow your business online presence, save a ton of time on preparing the content or simply keep a safe backup of your Instagram images and posts, Instagram import will get the job done.

Why importing from Instagram to your Joomla website?

Instagram import gives users the ability to upload their Instagram photos to their gallery website. Now, you can have a copy of your Instagram gallery alongside with other galleries on your website. Let’s consider some of the most common use cases of Instagram - Joomla website import:

1. Business portfolio. Many businesses having Joomla websites use Instagram as a platform for showcasing their works and services - interior studios, architecture companies, beauty salons, etc. Being able to directly import images from Instagram account can help to get more clients on board and, consequently, increase the incoming traffic.

2. Artists and photographers. Assuming you have a good follower base on Instagram if so, importing from Instagram can have a positive and long-lasting effect on your portfolio.

3. Travel bloggers. If you run a travel blog website and like sharing your adventures on the go, why not importing them directly from your Instagram. It will save you a bunch of time.


Importing images from Instagram 

FW Gallery Instagram Import makes it easy to display images from your Instagram account on your Joomla website. It is a reliable Instagram images import tool with many great features like plain installation and integration process, posts importing, ability to stop uploading right in the middle of the process, etc. FW Gallery Instagram Import is the add-on installed on top of FW Gallery. So before getting started with FW Gallery Instagram Plugin you need to have FW Gallery component installed on your Joomla website. Having installed FW Gallery component and FW Gallery Instagram Plugin, you only need to link your Joomla website to your Instagram account.

Documentation reference: Getting started with FW Gallery tutorial.


Once the integration process is completed, choose the gallery you would like to display on your website and click the import button. All images from your Instagram account will get automatically uploaded. You can stop importing right in the middle of the process clicking the stop button. The import operation is not limited just to image importing itself. All data coming along with images get automatically imported to your gallery website as well. The objective of the import process is not only backing up the images but also your posts with hashtags and dates.

After the import operation is completed, Instagram gallery then can be customized like any other gallery and inserted into your posts and pages or displayed in the attractive FW Gallery Slideshow or Carousel Module. Configure the gallery to your taste - set a gallery grid, design, pagination, sizing, number of images to be displayed on a single page, and many more. 

With FW Gallery Instagram Import you get lots of benefits. Easily synchronize your Instagram content with your Joomla website content, grow your brand, save your time, backup your Instagram images and posts, increase your traffic, present your Instagram images in different ways.

Get familiar with FW Gallery Instagram Import tutorial to find more information about our product. Please use the comments section at the bottom of each documentation page to comment and suggest improvements that will make the product experience better.

FW Gallery 5.0.0 is a major release focused on the new component architecture. It serves as a basic model for all subsequent FW Gallery releases and works as a single platform with a set of add-ons that are allocated into two packages corresponding to the former Light and Grand versions. Add-ons are FW Gallery specific Joomla extensions (modules, plugins, data type, and design).

The first package (former Light version) includes the component with a  limited number of add-ons and second package (former Grand) includes the component with all available add-ons. Earlier there were separate structures and databases for Light and Grand versions, now FW Gallery has the same structure and database and comes in two packages.

FW Gallery v5.0.0 represents a transition point to the main platform (main component) with independent add-ons. Soon, all add-ons will be independent of the platform. Consequently, you will be able to choose as many add-ons as you like to create a gallery with a desired set of functionalities.

Critical Steps to upgrade

As a result of the structural change, make sure to follow the recommendations below:

• Upgrade to the latest major v4.x.x version before upgrading to v5.0.0.

Feel free to ask for installation file using General question form of your Client section on fastw3b.com.

• Note that when a basic package (former Light) is updated, it is NOT installed over the previous Light version. For that reason, along with FW Gallery Light, you will see FW Gallery component next to it in the Components dropdown. When an extended package (former Grand) is updated, it is installed over the previous Grand version. For that reason, you will see a familiar FW Gallery menu item within Components dropdown. This comes as a result of the structural change outlined above.
• Make sure to import your gallery data to the new FW Gallery.

Go to your Dashboard in Admin panel and find green Import data on top. Import functionality allows importing all galleries and files to a new FW Gallery.

• Revise your layouts on front-end for both Grand and Light versions.

Make sure you select correct layouts for all FW Gallery menu items after the extension is installed.

• Revise gallery settings on the front-end for both Grand and Light versions.

As now gallery settings moved from Menu item parameters to gallery settings (Admin Panel -> Galleries -> Edit), you will need to set all settings again to have it all working if you had any specific settings on particular menu items. Global settings will get imported though.

• Please note that downgrade from version 5.x.x to 4.x.x is NOT possible.

Please use our Documentation section and Ticket Support on fastw3b.com if you need more information on upgrade and a new release.

Changes in FW Gallery that may affect current layouts and settings

Along with the component structure, we have implemented a lot of valuable and helpful changes. Let’s take a look at them below:

• Add-ons section.


All add-ons are displayed and managed via this section. Make sure they are activated to ensure that all needed functionalities are up and running. 

Reference materials: New FW Gallery concept: platform with add-ons article.

• Gallery display settings moved to gallery level.


Now gallery settings are available at the gallery level, not menu item level. Just locate your gallery settings and switch to the Design tab to configure multiple display settings for galleries, gallery listing, and files/file listing. 

• Gallery settings priority.


Gallery settings priority has been changed. Now local gallery settings have priority over parent settings while parent settings have priority over global configuration.

• Configuration section. 


We have redesigned Configuration section. There are 4 tabs available:

• General. You can set image sizes, watermark, gallery designs, date format, and comments via this section.

• Galleries. All settings associated with galleries are set via this section.

• Files. All settings associated with files are set via this section.

• Add-ons. All settings of the activated add-ons hit this section.


• FW Gallery plugin instead of FW Gallery Content Plugin.

FW Gallery Content Plugin was limited to articles only. A new FW Gallery module allows inserting galleries and files anywhere on your website via different module positions or within the articles as well. The gallery within the module can be customized just like any other gallery. Thus, you can set design, grids, files rows, etc.  

Reference materials: How do you put a module inside an article 

• Data Management section.

Use this section for backing up and restoring your gallery data before every update or as a tool to prevent data loss. This section is also used for all import procedures. Thus, Facebook, Instagram, and Google import settings are located in this section.

Need more information on the topic?

Get familiar with How to migrate to FW Gallery 5.0.0 tutorial to find more information about upgrading procedure.

Please use the comments section at the bottom of each documentation page to comment and suggest improvements that will make the product experience better.

If you need more information on the topic, use Support page in Client section on fastw3b.com. Feel free to submit your feedback on our new concept and architecture using Suggest an Idea form. Use General Question or other forms to get more information on the topic.