ImageRat doesn't need a database to operate. Instead, it searches for image files and directories within a specific folder and allows users to navigate and browse them accordingly. By default, ImageRat will search for its contents within the
gallery folder (located in ImageRat's base directory).
If you want ImageRat to automatically generate thumbnails for images and folders (this is highly recommended in order to cut down on bandwidth usage), you must ensure the following:
- Your webserver has the GD graphics library installed.
- Your gallery folder (and any subsequent folders contained within it) is/are writable (a simple CHMOD should do the trick).
After that, it's just a case of sitting back and letting ImageRat do it's stuff! By default, ImageRat will take an image and append _t onto it's filename ( for example:
image.jpg becomes
image_t.jpg). For directories, ImageRat will do the following during thumbnail generation:
- Open the directory and search for the default thumbnail filename you specified during install (by default:
preview.jpg). If an image wtih the default thumbnail filename is found, ImageRat will use it as a thumbnail for that particular directory. - If an image wtih the default thumbnail filename is not found, ImageRat will search for and use the first valid image file it finds.
- If no images are found, the folder will be hidden!
You may have also noticed during the
installation process, there was an option to specify thumbnail behaviour:
- Resize thumbnails to a specific width (maintaining aspect ratio) - This causes the thumbnail's width to match the default thumbnail width you specified during installation, while altering the thumbnails height to maintain the original images aspect ratio.
- Resize thumbnails to an absolute size (not maintaining aspect ratio) - This causes the thumbnail to take on the default width and height you specified during installation!
Pretty URLs is just a name given to URLs that utilise mod_rewrite (for example:
browse/folder/folder2). These are generally prettier than standard URLs (for example:
index.php?dir=folder/folder2). If your webserver doesn't allow for the use of mod_rewrite, simply change these settings in your
config.php file, and delete the
.htaccess file in ImageRat's root directory.
