Photobank¶
Photobank is a module which allows you to create your own purchasable collections of images, that can be automatically downloaded by customers after the order has been paid. It has to be used in connection with the Photoalbum Component (a type of a page). Photobank and the Photoalbum Component are not included in the standard BizBox Account version. They are added to it within the addon named Photobank. The Photobank addon provides a complete solution for images seles (from product creation to the final photo download by the customer who purchased it). In case you want to sell images using Photobank, please contact our support.
At first you need to set the resource for the images you wish to sell. The File Manager or Amazon S3 can be used as this source. It is the place where you upload original photos that will be distributed to customers who have purchased them. These original photos should not be displayed in the Photoalbum Component (used to sell photos). Thumbnails are used instead. Photobank also allows you to generate your own watermark for each thumbnail.
You upload images and then you create a particular album in the Photobank module, define the generation of thumbnails and of the products themselves. Every photo can be bought in various forms (such as digital photo, printed graphics, in the form of a t-shirt and more).
The next step is to code the Photoalbum Component, which is used to sell your images. A default code has been prepared for you, and all you need to do is change the appearance. Only thumbnails should be displayed in this component (independent of your settings) and the original images will be unavailable (customers have to make a purchase first in order to display or download them). Thumbnails represent the products you have created for each image. A customer makes a typical purchase and upon payment can the images become available for download in the order details.
Create Photoalbum¶
To create a new photoalbum you need to have images which you want to sell. All these images have to be uploaded to one of these possibilities:
File Manager - you can upload particular images directly to the File Manager and use this in the Photobank module as a source of images. Create a new folder and upload your images (remember you can use the the drag and drop feature). When you don’t want to let these originals be available to display on your website (recommended), you have to set up a permission for this folder. This should be a permission that is never granted to anyone and is created only for purposes of folders with images you want to sell.
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) - if you want to sell huge quantities of photos, you can use the Amazon S3. In this case we will help you to configure it as, you will need two buckets (one for original images and the second for generated thumbnails). In this case special fees are charged according to Amazon’s current pricing.
Note
File names should contain only characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and _ (underscore). For the Name in URL, other characters will be from the file name removed.
When you have uploaded your images, run the Photobank application and click the New button located in the left upper corner. A new window will appear:
General tab¶
General tab is used to provide the basic info for this album.
Identification¶
The name of this album can be displayed to customers if you not use the Label (below).
Internal Name is never displayed to anyone, it is only unique system identification.
Comment serves for your own notes regarding this album. It is internal.
Name in URL defines how this album will be represented in the URL address (in the detail of this album or in the particular product details).
Configuration¶
Active defines the availability of this album on the website. Inactive albums are not displayed in the Photoalbum Component and products from it cannot be purchased.
Small Image is used to define a small image which represents this album in the Photoalbum Component. It is an optional feature.
Big Image is used to define a big image which represents this album in the Photoalbum Component. It is an optional feature.
Parent Album determines an album that will be in the hierarchy of albums directly above the one you are currently creating.
Customer Labels¶
Label is the name of this album that should be displayed to customers instead of its Name.
Description is a short comment about this album that should be displayed to customers.
Source tab¶
Source tab defines where the images will be taken from:
Folder is a special type of source. Folder does not contain any images, it is used only for hierarchy purposes. The Photobank has a hierarchical structure of albums. In case you need to insert a new node without images, insert the Folder. It can have all settings defined from the General tab and also the SEO settings (below).
File Manager defines a folder from the File Manager. Select the particular folder which contains the images you want to sell.
Amazon S3 needs a path to provided to an external storage. This can be found in your Amazon account.
Source Accessible setting means that the original images (sources) can be used in the Photoalbum Component. If you want to use it, you mustn’t any permission limits for the given folder in File Manager.
In the Automatic Update Until field, you can set the date by which the photos will be updated automatically. It is not possible to set an interval longer than 5 days in advance. Automatic album update means that there is no need to update the album manually in the project and then approve the project. The automation creates the project itself, updates the images and thumbnails, and then approves the project. The change check runs every 15 minutes.
Thumbnails tab¶
Thumbnails tab defines how particular thumbnails of the source images will be generated. Click the Add button and create a new one. You can create more thumbnails per one album, its usage is defined within the Photoalbum Component. This setting cannot be defined for the Folder source.
Identification¶
Internal Name unequivocally defines these thumbnails. This name is required in the Photoalbum component if you want to work with thumbnails. Example: <img alt=”{{ album.label }}” src=”{{ getFileLink( event.firstImage.thumbnails[‘internal-name’].url ) }}” />
Source Path – In this field you can fill in the full path to the already created thumbnails. Therefore, BizBox will not generate thumbnails and will use the specified path. The title of the thumbnail must match the title of the photo in the album.
Use Original setting will (option yes) generate thumbnails like the original images. There will be no changes or editing. If you want to add a watermark or change the dimensions, use the option no.
Size¶
Width defines the width of the generated thumbnail. In case you leave the Height option blank, it will be automatically counted according to the image proportions.
Height defines the height of the generated thumbnail. In case you leave the Width option blank, it will be automatically counted according to the image proportions.
Watermark¶
Watermark defines a particular image from the File Manager that will be placed on images as a watermark.
Horizontal Alignment defines the horizontal placement of the watermark selected above.
Vertical Alignment defines the vertical placement of the watermark selected above.
Sale tab¶
Sale tab is used to define (create) products from the assigned images when you want to make them purchasable.
Settings¶
Purchasable is used when you want to sell the images from this album. All Sale settings below are usable only for purchasable images.
Name Pattern of a concrete product. This name will be displayed in the cart, on the e-shop documents and in the order details. It can consisted of a string of characters and special parameters:
{album.name} inserts the name of this album
{product.name} inserts the name of the product selected below
{image.name} inserts the name of the particular image
Products¶
Here you define the products which you want to sell. You have defined images, and now you need to define the form in which it will be delivered to customers - a digital photo? Printed on a t-shirt? Printed image? A canvas? First of all you have to define all these products in the Product module. Treat it like it is a typical product and define at least all of the required fields. And don’t forget to price these products in the Pricelists application.
Note
If you want to distribute your digital photos to customers automatically, create a standard product for which you need to define the Delivery Service on as BizBox Electronical and the Delivery Type as Electronic. You will also need to change the order detail to allow customers to download the images they have purchased.
When you have prepared your products in the Products application, click the Add button and assign them to this album. A new window will appear.
Product field is used to search for a particular product you want to add. Use its name or code.
Purchasable defines if the product can be currently purchased. You can temporarily restrict its availability. If you change this setting in the future, don’t forget to update this album.
Collection is used when you want to allow your customers to buy more images (different images of this concrete product) for a special price. It is used in combination with keywords (keywords are defined directly on source images) and customers will be able to buy as many images marked with the same keyword of this product per one price (the single price is set in the Pricing module). For example the keywords can define people on your images. If a person know a keyword with which all photos with him/her are marked, he/she will be able to filter them in the Photoalbum component and purchase them for special price.
Add all the products (form in which images are purchased) you want to sell on your online store. All images from this album will be available to buy in the form of these products.
SEO tab¶
SEO settings are connected to this album. These metadata are displayed (used) for the detail of a particular album (Album View of the Photoalbum component page).
Default will be taken from used website template
None option turns SEO options off (no SEO metatags will be added into the website code)
Specific Value allows you to define your own title, description or keywords for each album
When you are done with setting up your album, you need to click the Add button and your album will be created. Now click the Update Album button located in the toolbar of the album detail.
Note
If you will change some album settings in the future, you have to click the Update Album button located in the toolbar. Otherwise the changes cannot be applied on the website.
Update Photoalbum¶
You can simply change, add or delete some images from the source (File Manager or Amazon S3). If this occurs, you need to update your album in BizBox. Just run the Photobank application, click a particular album you want to update and click the Update Album button. For changed images will new thumbnails be generated, for newly added ones thumbnails will be generated as well as products according to settings and deleted images will be completely removed (including both products and thumbnails).
If you change some album settings (you will add or delete some product or thumbnail settings), you have to click the Update Album button as well.
For every change you make with an album, you need to update the album.