[pmwiki-users] Mini vs Thumblist2

Petko Yotov 5ko at 5ko.fr
Sat Dec 5 17:33:39 CST 2009


On Saturday 05 December 2009 22:05:40 pmwiki at 911networks.com wrote:
> I'm looking for both an image gallery, and displaying of random
> images from the gallery.
>
> What's the difference between mini and thumblist2 except for the
> syntax?

Most differences are mentioned at the following pages and at their *-Talk 
pages:
  http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Cookbook/Mini
  http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Cookbook/ThumbList

Thumblist-2 is older, and has more features, is more complex, allows seemingly 
more control over the display and size of the thumbnails. It is based on the 
even more complex Thumblist-1, which was an evolution of (:attachlist:).

Mini is newer, started mostly from scratch, because I wasn't happy enough with 
Thumblist. Mini is simpler, has fewer features, the code is smaller -- 
sometimes less is more... The syntax is easier to type, and closer to the 
Attach: markup for displaying images in PmWiki.

Thumblist creates thumbnails of the same proportion as the originals. Mini 
creates all thumbnails in a page with the same proportion[1]. If one original 
is 3:4 vertical and another is 16:9 horizontal, Thumblist will produce thumbs 
3:4 and 16:9, and Mini will create 2 same thumbnails (100x100 or other).[2]

Notes:
[1] Admins or authors can configure up to 10 different sizes for Mini 
thumbnails in the same page; Thumblist sizes are unlimited.
[2] Mini can also create proportional thumbnails, like Thumblist. Thumblist 
cannot create fixed-size thumbnails like Mini can.

With Thumblist you can place your thumbnails in a table, or inline; Mini can 
only display them inline -- but a table can be easily emulated and the fixed 
sizes of the thumbnails make it easier -- and IMHO look better.

Both recipes allow to use Lightbox, a javascript slideshow library, and Mini 
comes bundled with it.

Thumblist can use PHP and ImageMagick or other external programs to create the 
thumbnails, Mini is PHP only.

Both galleries are extensible via custom functions -- there are 2 demo sites 
linked from the cookbooks and from the talk pages.

Both recipes are mostly stable and unlikely to change substantially in the 
future, and I'm trying to support them both. (Please use their talk pages if 
you need help -- other new users will see more likely the talk pages, and 
less likely the mailing list archives.)

FWIW, all my sites migrated to Mini and I recommend Mini -- because it is 
simpler and easier to use, and because its features are (more than) enough 
for most wikis I know.

Note that there are other image/gallery recipes in the Cookbook, please check 
them out too.

Petko



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