Multiple images per product listing?

What are some good modules to use that will allow me to have multiple images per listing that will be compatible with addons that allow me to stock inventory by attribute (sizes)?

Are there any good basic overhauls that make the whole control panel more efficient?

The two biggest challenges is listing by attributes and offering multiple images instead of just 1 per item.....shouldnt this be default?

1. Answered in your other post.

2. No.

3. It is, in the product info page - it's called 'additional images'.

For some reason I am not subscribed to another thread with the answer to that question. Do you have a link to either the thread or the module?

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173350

You can click on your username in a post and "Find more posts by you".

That was asking if there was a module to 'List by attribute', which is DIFFERENT from 'multiple IMAGES per listing'. I know it sounded kind of similar, but totally different.

Any idea's for adding more IMAGES to the same listing? I do appreciate helping me with ability to stock by inventory, but thats something different.

Have you read https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=58?

So it requires web design skill just to add multiple images per listing?

That is extremely impractical, since the admin is not necessarily the designer and is not going to have the designer make all the listings necessarily.

The ability to show multiple stock photos should really be standard. This solution is unsatisfactory. Are there any mods anywhere that make this as easy as uploading an additional image with a graphical uploader?

What web design skills? Do you mean using an FTP program? If you are really opposed to having the admin use or learn to use something like Filezilla, it is possible to upload all of the images through the product editing page. Select each additional file you want to show, preview and save each time, and finish by selecting the base/thumbnail image. The last image selected in this way will be treated as the base image.

You may want to look at Image Handler 2, which automates resizing images and I understand simplifies uploading additional images (I haven't used it). If the admin can't be burdened with using FTP, surely they won't want to use Photoshop to make correctly-sized small, medium and large versions of the images.

I can use Filezilla.....Im the admin, not anything close to a web desinger. This is my shop and I dont even know much HTML or any stylesheets.

However, I can use photoshop and Gimp fairly well, but I would rather not have to make each image an exact number of pixils.....that is a real pain in the ######. Yes, I can do it, but its cumbersome. Its not an efficient way to add a second or third stock photo, which should be a standard option, like almost any other shopping cart or even craigslist.

I have in the past loaded images with filezilla, but this is sounding a little complex for me.....Im not a web designer, so something obvious to you might not be. I have a degree in Health Sciences/Human Physiology, and stuff that is obvious to me might not be to you......Im not lazy or unintelligent if I dont care for these difficult workarounds.......Sure, it sounds possible, but when you are listings HUNDREDS of items and its already taking at least a month to upload and customize everything, little things like this can be a real pain in the ######.

Is it possible to enable HTML, and I could just use to add addition photos from a hosted image gallery? That sounds a whole lot easier than logging into my account with filezilla and trying to search for or hand type out the location to upload an image, tricking it into thinking its part of the same image or something.....yikes.

That should be a future module. In fact, multiple images should really be standard, not an addon, imo.

Deep breath.....

I appreciate that you create this free software. You saved me a lot of money, though sometimes I wonder if I should have spent a little extra for something more efficient and equally powerful.....but I do appreciate it, and its totally decent for free software.

Is it possible to enable HTML in the items description to provide an easy way to embed images?

The product description is HTML by default, so you can add references to as many images as you want. The HTMLArea editor even gives you a browse function when you select to insert an image, as I understand (never used it myself). And multiple images are a core feature, not an addon.

If you don't even want to create the image files to size, you really need to install Image Handler 2 to take care of everything for you.

I can probably eyeball and guesstimate an appropriate size if I can just use HTML. At least I wont be confined to a specific size or it will break. At worst, it wont look right on all browsers/screens, but only if the images are too large.

Some of my items are collections, so its just not possible to use a single photo only, and I make so many listings for variations on items that I am dreading any additional work, even if I can figure out how to do it in theory.

I was looking at PrestaCart, and the stock images are so much more advanced than Zencarts. They even jump out at you, which is awesome. Being able to upload multiple stock photos (craigslist quality) is really the bare minimum, but this looks really cool.

http://www.siteground.com/template-preview/prestashop/siteground-13

I think it might be Joomla though, and I kind of just wanted a stand alone product, and Im worried about security holes in Joomla since money is involved.

I dont just want multiple images to be theoretically possible, I want it to be as fast an convenient as adding a single stock photo when you create the listing. I dont want to have to rename files or make them the right size, even if I am smart enough to figure out how.

Then you want IH2, as I said. Lots of people rave about its abilities, and if you want the kind of features it has, you should install it.

"Being able to upload multiple stock photos (craigslist quality) is really the bare minimum"
You can do that, as I also described above. You can't do them all at the same time, but you can do as many as you want for a product.

Nick_Djinn:

They even jump out at you, which is awesome.

Many of us spell that 'annoying'.

Its not annoying because its not blocking anything. I only find it annoying when it blocks what I am trying to read. The way it works on PrestaCart is pretty awesome looking. Im almost tempted to switch.

OK....Im going to look into this option that was mentioned above and see how user friendly it is. Saving time is as important as ease of use. Im not a developer, Im just a merchant hiring a web designer who has never used these carts.

This option seems like a lot of extra work. I really dont want to have to break out the FTP client and download to the right directory/folder and rename my images every time I want to change the order. It sounds like it works but its a pain in the ######.

I think I might need to bite the bullet and go with something that charges for modules.

Hmm...FTP is a hassle to use for image uploading.
Once it is set up for the right access, addresses saved, etc,
-Open Start menu, click on Filezilla.
-If FTP is mostly used for image uploads, the left pane will already be open to your local images folder.
-Click the Site Manager dropdown icon and select the website address.
-When the remote site loads, click through to its correct images folder (you can even set an FTP account to open directly to the images folder if that is all you want to use it for).
-Right-click the local file and select "upload"... or any other method of selecting and uploading as desired. Repeat for more images.
-Wait a few seconds depending on your connection speed, and you're done.

Yes, that was tricky and time-consuming:)

If I need one image to be on top, I also have to rename the image or images, which adds time to each listing.

Next, I have to figure out different size images and name them accordingly.

Yes, it seems doable, but this is pretty far away from being polished. This is an extremely basic function, more basic than the snowstorm of bloat that crowds out the admin panel. You should not have to use a single web design tool just to make a listing from the control panel. The software should do 100% of the work itself, and it should be easy and quick.

Web designers are going to feel differently about this than non web designers, and this might be a shock to some of you, but as a non-designer who has played with web design, I have put things in the wrong folder before or struggled to find the directory or folder I was looking for. Its not a smooth process for somebody who isnt familiar with the layout of websites, who sees the directories in an FTP client as something alien, compared to somebody who does this for a living. Generally speaking, the merchant hires the web designer but does the listings themselves. This feels like a hack job of a solution..... a workable solution, but a hack job, and its significantly more cumbersome than just uploading the images from inside the listing like you would do on craigslist or sending an email.

I could potentially get the hang of this, but Im tempted to spend a bunch of extra money on PrestaShop modules instead, just to avoid little headaches like this.