CHAPTER 7 - MANAGING ALBUMS

Chapter Summary: In this chapter we will examine one of EnterMedia's newest features, albums. Albums provide users with the ability to easily organize, edit, and share their photos. Albums also allow the viewers to easily comment on their friends photos, helping them feel more connected.

• Creating a New Album

When you logon to a fresh EnterMedia installation you will be presented with a home page. On the home page, under the heading, there is a list of your current albums which looks like so:

In this case I have two albums, one called "Album for Documentation" and another called "Video Album." Each album has a thumbnail which represents the entire album, currently it is the thumbnail of the first item added to the album, in the future the user will be able to select a thumbnail image to represent the album. Let's pretend that you just went on a camping trip and you would like to create a new album to hold your camping pictures. Creating a new album is an easy two step process in EnterMedia.


1. Click on the "Create New Album" link - which is located on the home page or the albums tab
   
    
2. Give your album a name and description - After you click on the new album link you will be taken to the album creation page.
   
   On the album creation page you must enter a name for your new album, I named mine "Camping Trip." Then you can give your album a description which will be displayed when you are on the album's home page. You are also given the option of making the album hidden so it will only be visible you and the people you share your albums with.

If you already have all of the photos uploaded in to EnterMedia, it is even easier to create a new album containing all of the photos.


1. Craft a search that only displays pictures you want in your new album
2. Select "Create Album" from the Results menu
You now have a new album that is loaded with the desired pictures.



• Adding Items to an Album

Now that we have an album, it would be nice to add photos to the album. Adding items to an album is very flexible, you have at least four different ways to add items at your disposal.

• Adding One Item

  This method is useful when you have an item already in EnterMedia and it is the only one you would like to add to the album at this time.
  1. Navigate to the item you would like to add to the album, see the chapter on searching for records for more details on the search features.
  2. Select "Add To Album" from the options menu under the thumbnail
     
  3. Select the album you would like to add the image to.
     

• Adding a Selection

  This method is useful if you would like to add a handful of items that already exist in Entermedia.
  1. Navigate to each of the items you would like to add to the album, see the chapter on searching for records for details. Add each of the items to one of the selection groups, in this case I added them all to group three.
     
  2. Go to the homepage of the album you would like to add the items to, and from the album menu select the option that adds the selection to the album.
     

• Adding a Page of Items

  This method is handy when you want to add existing items to your album in bulk.
  1. Navigate to a page of items you would like to add to your album, see the chapter on searching for records for details.
  2. From the results menu select "Add Page to Album"
     
     All items on the page will be added to the album, that includes items of different types.
  3. Select the album you would like the items to be added to.

• Uploading Directly

  This method is useful when the item you want to add is not already in EnterMedia. To upload a photo directly in to your album:
  1. Go to the Album's home page, which is accessible by clicking on the album from the homepage or going to the "Album" tab and clicking on the album there. Here is a screenshot of the homepage of an empty album:
     
  2. Select "Upload Into Album" from the album menu.
     
  3. Select the type of asset you want to upload in to your album. Albums don't have to be composed of only pictures, they can contain many types of media.
     
  4. Upload the item, for more information on uploading files in to EnterMedia see the Creating New Assets chapter. One thing of note, you can upload many photos at the same time using the advanced upload tool, for this demonstration I am only uploading one photo.
  5. When the upload finishes you will be taken to a page which shows all of the uploaded images, use the "Back to Album" link to return to your album.




• Removing Items from an Album

Sometimes a mistake is made and an item needs to be removed from the album. EnterMedia gives you two options for removing items from an album.

• Removing One Item

  There are a few ways to remove one item from an album.
  1. You can click on the 'X' icon under the thumbnail when you are on the album homepage.
     
     Note: The item still exists in EnterMedia, it just doesn't belong in the album anymore.
  2. You can remove an album at any point by using the options menu under the thumbnail. Select "Remove From Album" from the options menu, then select the album you would like to remove the item from.
     

• Removing a Page of Items

  This is handy if you need to remove items in bulk from your album. All you need to do is navigate to the album's home page and from the album menu select "Delete Page."
  
  Note: The items still exist in EnterMedia, they just don't belong in the album anymore.




• Sharing an Album

1. To share an album with your friends and family navigate to the album's homepage and from the album menu select "Share."
   
2. You will then be given the opportunity to enter the email addresses of the people you would like to share your album with and personalize the text of the notification email.
   
   1. If anonymous browsing is enabled they will be taken directly directly to album homepage
   2. If anonymous browsing disabled(default) they will be taken to the login screen where they can:
      • Create a login if they don't already have one
      • Or log on using their existing login id
When your friends follow the link, one of two things will happen:




• Deleting an Album

To delete an album navigate to the album's homepage and from the album menu select "Delete Album."

You will be asked to confirm that you want the album deleted. Note: The items in the album still exist in EnterMedia, the album just doesn't exist anymore.



• The Album Viewer



The album viewer provides an easy to user interface for the user to easily view and comment on items in an album. From this view the user can:
• Page through the items in the album using the previous and next links
• Return to the album homepage using the return link
• View a slideshow of the items in the album by using the slideshow link
• From the actions menu you can download the original image, send a link to a friend, edit the metadata associated with the image, add the item to another album, and remove the item from an album
• Comment on an item in the album

Last Updated: Fri Oct 23 10:04:30 EDT 2009