Can pixelpost Do This?

[iacas]

I wrote a post on my blog that I'll link to here (http://nslog.com/2008/01/06/365_project_with_a_twist_need_suggestions) which describes my idea a bit more fully, but I'll summarize it here and see if anyone thinks pixelpost can do this pretty easily.

I'd like to do a "365" photoblog (one picture every day), but I'd like to add a twist or two.

First, I want two pictures every day: one from me, one from a friend. I'd like them automatically created, if possible, based on photos named "yyyymmdd.jpg" or something (yyyy being year, etc.) from two directories on the server - that way we'd just have to upload images to keep the project going. Finally, I'd like people to be able to vote for the image they like the most of the two each day.

I saw some "ratings" plugins for pixelpost, but I don't really want ratings: I want binary voting. I suppose I could probably get by with a "thumb up/down" for each photo (so long as users could vote only once), but even that would be a slight compromise on true binary voting (for the "better" image).

My friend and I want to photoblog, but we want to have a little competition while we're at it just for fun. We think it might prompt us to continually try to one-up each other.

Can pixelpost do as I've outlined in the blog entry (see link above) and discussed here pretty easily, or should I look elsewhere for a solution?

[austriaka]

there is an older Addon called "Today Images" which lets you post all images of the same day on the image page: http://www.pixelpost.org/extend/addons/today-images-multiple-photo-in-the-front-page/
It was written for 1.4 but I guess you could easily transfer that to 1.6 or 1.7

To upload all photos in a bunch you can use the copy folder Addon which comes with Pixelpost installation. For your needs you will want to change the default publishing date (actual date or EXIF date) and add the option to publish it on a defined date given by file name.
You can check out this addon: http://www.pixelpost.org/extend/addons/copy-folder-with-titles-descriptions/ to see how to use a simple text file for bringing image title and description into the automatic upload.
You can prepare your blog for showing the photos automatically every day by setting the publishing date in the future, only you logged in as Admin will see those "draft posts", all others will see only the photos published until the current datetime.

The voting thing is more complicated: you will need an IP check for preventing double votes, a database entry for the voting on image pairs based on publishing date and need some output (how many people have voted, how many votes each image has gained and some icon for the photo voted best).
This will need a new Addon which you should write yourself, based on the "Today Images" Addon.
Or you skip the whole idea of rating and use simple comments for that, asking people to write down their opinion, perhaps adding two buttons for selecting the "favorite photo" to the comment form and showing different colours for the different opinions in the comments list.

So I would say yes, you could do this using pixelpost, but it needs quite a lot of coding for realizing it. Depending on your PHP abilities this won't be too complicated.

[iacas]

So I would say yes, you could do this using pixelpost, but it needs quite a lot of coding for realizing it. Depending on your PHP abilities this won't be too complicated.

In other words, it's not something I can cobble together from existing tools. It sounds like a lot of work must be done up front as well as on an ongoing (daily or weekly) basis beyond simply uploading the images to some folders.

Thank you for the help. I appreciate it. I'm somewhat disappointed pixelpost can't do this. I'll have to look at WordPress, ExpressionEngine, etc.

P.S. It just occurred to me that I could generate all the daily entries with a simple MySQL script. Oh well - that still wouldn't solve the voting issue. Again, "ratings" aren't the same as binary voting.

[Dkozikowski]

In other words, it's not something I can cobble together from existing tools. It sounds like a lot of work must be done up front as well as on an ongoing (daily or weekly) basis beyond simply uploading the images to some folders.
Correct. And this will hold true to any other "out-of-the-box" CMS.


I'm somewhat disappointed pixelpost can't do this. I'll have to look at WordPress, ExpressionEngine, etc.
Don't be, we're not. Pixelpost was made to post a photo a day and does a hell of a job doing it. What you're looking for will not be found in Wordpress or EE either. Good luck though.

[iacas]

Don't be, we're not. Pixelpost was made to post a photo a day and does a hell of a job doing it. What you're looking for will not be found in Wordpress or EE either. Good luck though.

I understand what you're saying about pixelpost's purpose, but this isn't really that far off in my opinion. Essentially my query comes down to "does a polling plugin exist?"

Regardless of the blogging platform, I could do things like generate the polls and posts with an SQL script or two (run one time or run nightly in a cron job). WordPress and EE both have several polling plugins available.

I get the whole "KISS" and "stay on task" thing. I admire that pp tries to do that. Personally, I don't think the addition of a polling plugin pushes the "task" too far off-track, especially given the existence of ratings plugins, but I respect that you disagree.

Nothing will do this "out of the box," but the other platforms, seemingly, can do this and pp cannot. They can do it with minimal fuss: an SQL script or two and a single plugin, plus some time finding a good theme. If pp had a poll plugin, the same would be true as well. It's not "out of the box," but it's a whole lot less work than writing my own poll plugin as I'd have to do with pp.

Perhaps we vary on what we call "a lot of work," but to me the line falls between "write your own plugin" and "use an existing plugin."

[jaywilliams]

This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but you mind find it helpful:
http://www.pixelpost.org/extend/addons/backwards-photo-dater/

[dakwegmo]

You could also use the POP3 Addon (http://www.pixelpost.org/extend/addons/pop3-post/) to allow both of you to post pictures on a daily basis.

As for the voting issue, I can't say that I've ever seen a Wordpress Plugin that would allow visitors to vote on the post they prefer. It may exist, but if not you're going to end up either writing a new addon or hacking one to achieve the desired result.

With any blogging software you used you're going to run into issues of which image shows up first. Even if you have two photos posted on a page, one photo will be in a traditionally superior position while the other will be relegated to an inferior position. Whether one image is posted above the other, or they are posted side by side, the placement of the image is will effect the way people vote. The image that appears on top, or further to the left (in western countries) will be preferred over the images that appear below the other or to the right.

[austriaka]

I understand what you're saying about pixelpost's purpose, but this isn't really that far off in my opinion. Essentially my query comes down to "does a polling plugin exist?"
Your demand for a poll is based on the fact of publishing two photos on one sinlge page (or for what else do you want to have a poll?)

And showing two photos on one page is quite far away from a photoblog purpose, based on the "one photo a day" idea