[pmwiki-users] Free thoughts on images

kirpi at kirpi.it kirpi at kirpi.it
Fri Dec 8 07:52:47 CST 2006


I'm doing my homework and try to come up with a basic, practical and
flexible structure for my site, which is used both for personal and
business ends.
After having read (and re-read) pages like
http://pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/Uploads
http://pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/UploadsAdmin
http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Cookbook/SecureAttachments
I decided to write here some thoughts (and questions).
Many questions arised due of my own sheer ignorance, but I hope it
will be of some use even to others if share them.
In effort to optimize for usability, search engines, and pmwiki, I'm
trying to face these points:

* 1) I have a lot of images, batches of which I would easily load on
the server with an ftp program like Filezilla. At the same time I find
extremely useful to be able and use the action=upload feature.
So one of the first things is: to choose and set up a single directory
(and subdirectories, if needed) where all the uploaded files go.
** 1a) My (cheap, shared hosting) server is set in a way that I can
have directory listing shown only on the /listing/ directory and the
directories below that. Please see http://www.kirpi.it/listing/
Having files (images, but not only) easily listed and browseable in
such a way is (to my eyes) quite useful and practical under many
circumstances, so that I feel inclined to store all the uploaded files
somewhere under /listing/ as opposed to any other, not
listing-enabled, directory.
** 1b) Uploaded files (let's say images, for sake of simplicity) are
reasonably to be divided into three main groups: some are strictly
personal, others are for a limited group (let's say family and
friends), and the rest is free for anyone to see.
Example: my holidays pictures might include
 - flowers and landscapes images (open to all)
 - my children's videos (open to family and friends)
 - private shots taken for work (aimed only to me)
I tried and set a quick live example, where:
http://www.kirpi.it/listing/ is the general directory open to anyone
http://www.kirpi.it/listing/friends/ is the "friends" folder (id=kirpi
pass=kirpi)
http://www.kirpi.it/listing/personal is my own, closed folder
Here the issue is: would that be a sound setting? And, in case it
would, how do I let the action=upload store files in the right
directory?
** 1c) The directories under /listing/ are now (as a test) protected
with apache. How would I integrate it with pmwiki handling of things?
A wiki test page is now set at
http://www.kirpi.it/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.ImagesTest

* 2) By browsing the internet I gathered the feeling that Google (and
possibly others) rank and classify images due to some criteria; one of
them is the file name, which I try and cover at point 3) here below.
Other criteria might probably be directory name, sourrounding text,
alt text, and more.
** 2a) If really directory names make sense to Google in some way,
then why not use them properly? Let's add that they also make sense to
humans: it would be a nightmare to have a single folder where hundreds
and hundreds of files are stored together.
So, as a quick example, I could have a picture stored in
http://www.kirpi.it/listing/folder2/subfolder/bauli.jpg
** 2b) How to handle this from the pmwiki point of view? How to let
action=upload work, in this case? I'm a bit puzzled, and ask myself if
my point is completely wrong, and maybe should follow another path to
(about) the same goal... Would there be an easier way to handle such
kind of things?

* 3) Image names like 4578.jpg are too bleak and anonymous. Something
like janeeyre.jpg would be friendlier (to Google, as well), but as one
would most probably have many photographs with about the same subject,
maybe the best choice would be to go for something like
rolling-stones-london-1977-Dsc00808.jpg which leaves the file name
from the camera and add a description in front of it. This way I can
pick single images and name them, or also bunch rename an entire
folder just by adding a prefix like "christmas-2006-party-"
** 3a) Would that be a good idea? Better ideas?
** 3b) Would rolling-stones-london-1977-Dsc00808.jpg or
rolling_stones_london_1977_Dsc00808.jpg be the most suitable choice?
In other words, dashes or underscores? I've read that dashes are
better for Google, in that they are treated as separate words, and
then allow for flexible searches; would there be any issue there for
pmwiki?

4) I read here http://www.ragepank.com/articles/38/optimise-for-google-image-search/
that: "Google will only index files that look like images. [...] As
far as the Google Image bot is concerned, "image.php?file=example.jpg"
is a php file, not a jpeg."
4a) How does this have an influence (if any) on pages that adopt
pmwiki.php?n=Some Group.Some Page?&action=download&upname=filename.ext
?

Ok, I'll keep on reading the documentation. In case anybody has any
contribute, I'll appreciate it.
Would such an approach be safe, or perhaps I missed something?
Thank you
Luigi




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