This announcement is for a little pet project of mine I've been thinking of tackling for a while since I believe it will be very useful at work and which I haven't found a good extension for on the Joomla Extensions Directory.
I've seen a number of modules out there which allow you to specify a folder and then get a slideshow out of it, but I haven't seen too many plugins which offer the same thing. What I had been looking for was a content plugin where I could specify my own images folder, some custom parameters if needed, and just have a simple slideshow output on the page.
In my search, I found a module that was pretty close in terms of what I was looking for: Very Simple Image Rotator Module by Jesus Vargas.
I took that module and used it as the basis of the plugin I wanted to build so a lot of credit goes towards the work Jesus put into building the module above.
That has resulted in the Very Simple Image Rotator Content Plugin now available from the Downloads page!
Here's a look at some the features/additions (and below are a few demos of the plugin in action!):
- Fixed issue with the JavaScript performing the image transitions (z-index: 1 needed to be set to prevent a jumpy, awkward looking transition for the upcoming slide)
- Added in image resizing using the GD library and Resize class from: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/image-resizing-made-easy-with-php/
- Added ability to create a custom links.txt file in the same directory as your images which contains a line for each image, along with a custom URL, title, and alt text to use (e.g. 01.jpg|http://www.imperial.edu|Imperial Valley College|Picture of IVC Board Member)
- Added Limit to the Random parameter
- Added per instance customization options for just about everything! (Example Keys that can be used: includeSubfolders, ignoreSubfolders, randomizeImagesYes, randomizeImagesNo, setRandomLimit 5, directImageLinksYes, directImageLinksNo, setLinksFileName some_other_file.txt, setWidth 640, setHeight 480, setDelay 3000, setTransitionDelay 2000, resizeImagesOn, resizeImagesOff, setResizedImageQuality 80, setFolderPermissions 0755)
- Added center images in HTML option (centerImagesOn, centerImagesOff)
- Very simple usage: { vsir setResizedImageQuality 100 directImageLinksYes includeSubfolders setDelay 5000 setTransitionDelay 2000 setWidth 320 setHeight 180 images/resized} (please remove the space between the starting { and vsir when you use this example on your site)
Example 1 with Image Resizing Turned On:
Example 2 with Image Resizing and Center Images Options Turned On:
Example 3 with Custom Width/Height and Image Resizing Turned On (first image has a custom link provided by a simple links.txt file you add into the directory you're pulling images from!):