Quick GuideThis guide really is "quick" because there's so little to say! The best way to learn about Elegance is to experiment. If you've tried other web galleries then you should be up and running with Elegance very quickly. Even if you haven't the learning curve isn't very steep. Finding EleganceOnce you've installed Elegance you can find it like this:
A preview of the gallery will be created using the photos in the film strip. Setting the title and descriptionScroll down to the Site Info panel to set the title for your page. Even if you choose not to display the title or the description on the page, this step is important since it defines the page title that'll be shown in the browser's title bar and the title and description that will be indexed by search engines. XML Auto IndexThe XML Auto Index fields offer Elegance users the ability to integrate their page into a web site create using The Turning Gate's TTG XML Auto Index and TTG Pages galleries. Changing the look and feelThis is where you need to experiment. Work your way down the right hand panels and change the various options to see what effect they have on the page layout. A word about typefaces (fonts)One aspect worth mentioning is that of font choice. Selecting fonts for web pages can be fairly complex since you don't know which fonts will be available on the user's machine. The solution offered to web designers is to supply a list of fonts (or a stack) in order of preference. Nevertheless this doesn't make the choice any easier for the non-expert who isn't well versed in typography.
Michael Tuck recently offered 8 ready made font stacks following his research into the problem. Since these stacks are so well thought out they are offered as presets when choosing typefaces in Elegance. Note that once a preset has been chosen there's nothing to stop experts from altering it by hand or defining their own stack from scratch. Creating your galleryUse the Export button to export the gallery to your hard drive, or use the Upload button to upload the gallery to your site via FTP. Obviously this part requires a certain amount a computer-savvy. If you're not sure we recommend using a web design service to help get you up and running. |