Using Your Client-Viewing Photo Cart
Last Updated on June 26th, 2020
The Sunshine Photo Cart is an excellent plugin and because we have configured the main settings for you, it’s very easy to set up a password-protected client-viewing gallery with an expiration date.
The only settings you’ll need to configure is your watermark.
1. Upload a transparent PNG image to your Media Library (Media → Add New).
2. Go to Sunshine → Settings. Select the Galleries tab and then scroll down to the watermark section.
3. Set the image as required.
Follow these seven steps but make sure you read the notes below on image specs and file names before starting.
Using the Sunshine Photo Cart
Using the Sunshine Photo CartI’m excited to show you how to use this fantastic plugin. Ready?
In your WordPress Dashboard, go to Sunshine → Galleries → Add New. The following page will open for you.
1. Add a title to your gallery. eg. Your client’s name. (The permalink will be automatically generated.)
2. Add an instruction script in the Visual Editor. Something like: “Select your images by image number and email me your choices. Click to enlarge (highly recommended for portrait images).”
(Scroll down to the “Photos” panel)
3.Upload your images from your computer. Once uploaded, you can drag your images to order.
(Scroll down to “Gallery Options)
4.Select Gallery Type: Password Protected and choose a password.
5. Select an expiration date for the gallery by clicking on End Date.
All the other settings can remain as they are, as we’ve configured the default settings in Sunshine Settings for you.
(Scroll up to the top of the page)
6. Select Publish.
7. Send the permalink and password to your client.
***
Notes:
To keep things simple, we’ve only activated a limited amount of what the Sunshine Photo Cart plugin can do. To master this powerful little plugin, the creators of Sunshine have a dedicated website where you can find all the documentation, FAQs and support you need. See all that’s possible at Sunshine Support.
When saving your images in preparation for upload to Sunshine, please bear the following in mind:
Image Specs
Images in the gallery must be saved in JPEG format.
Image Dimensions should be 900px by 600px. (And reverse for portrait.)
Image Sizes should be around 400KB.
The gallery is ideally suited for landscape images as portrait images are also cropped into a thumbnail. That said, portrait images are clearly visible when individually selected in the gallery. Suggestion: position all the portrait images at the bottom of the gallery in step 3 above.
File Names
As clients will order the images based on the File Name, make sure they are labelled clearly with a UNIQUE label. Eg. Jones001, Jones 002 (Client Name + Image Number)
Don’t use, for instance, Image001, as there may be overlay conflict should you label a second client’s image by the same label.
Also, don’t use any special characters in your image file name. For example, do NOT use the following:
’ (apostrophe)
& (ampersand)
“ ” (space)
? (question)
% (percent)
In other words, do NOT create an image file name like this:
Jack & Jill Hill’s Wedding 001.jpg
Instead, aim at the following:
Jack-Jill-Hill-Wedding-001.jpg
Hill-Wedding-001.jpg
HillWedding001.jpg
Remember!
Once you’ve finished with a client gallery, delete the gallery from Sunshine → Galleries. These are typically large files. If you don’t delete them, they’ll accumulate and cause your site to become heavy and sluggish.
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