3rd party solutions to managing an image gallery (?)

Report · Jan 25, 2020

Hello Everyone,

Hoping someone can recommend a plugin or template for managing a large photo gallery, wherein readers can click on a thumbnail to see the image full-scale, preferably without completely obscuring the gallery, and then "re-click" to return to the thumbnail preview page, allowing one to then select another image to view in full-scale, etc.. I need it to be PDF functional.

InDesign's built-in function for this seems quite labor intensive. As I currently understand it, each image must be tailored individually to indicate what should be shown / not shown vis-a-vis the other images in the gallery. There doesn't seem to be a universal rule one can apply to the entire gallery - i.e., click on image H, view in full-size, click again to return to gallery, click on image N, view full-size, click again to return to gallery, click on image R, etc, etc.

There has to be an easier way. In terms of a 3rd-party solution I cannot figure out if should be looking for a plugin or a template (?) In any case - I've had no luck finding something that looks suitable and user-friendly.

The gallery I'm working on has about 30 images, but will be the first of many galleries. It seems to me worthwhile to buy a plug-in / template that will streamline the work involved rather than tailoring every single solitary image individually (selecting de-selecting the other 29, repeating all this 30 times). As I said, there has to be a better way.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions. My skill-level is fairly low, but improving every day.

Thank you.

Best wishes, Joe

Report · Jan 26, 2020

Have a look at SmugMug; https://www.smugmug.com/professionals

Report · Jan 26, 2020

Hi Derek,

Thanks for the suggestion. I've looked at it, but it's not clear to me - is SmugMug something that can be used, or incorporated, into an InDesign document to better manage an image gallery?

Best wishes, Joe

Report · Jan 26, 2020

Hi Joe

I wouldn't think the app incorprates into InDesign, it's more of a Photoshop thing.

As you hadn't received any suggestions to your question, I thought this app might take you forward a bit. Ignore it if it's no use to your requirements.

Cheers, Derek