The Alpine PhotoCube for Flickr is a jQuery enabled plugin that fetches images from Flickr feeds and displays them in a dynamic and customizable 3D slideshow.
Quick Start Guide
1. After installing and activating the plugin, go to the Widget page of your WordPress admin site.
2. Drag and drop the Alpine PhotoCube widget into the sidebar of your choice.
3. In the left column of the widget, choose whether you want photos to come from a Flickr user, group, or the Flickr community.
4. Enter the necessary ID. See “How do I find my Flickr user ID or group ID?” in the FAQ section below for detailed guidance.
5. Select the photo size from the options listed.
6. In the right column, choose the display style from the options listed.
7. Click save in the bottom corner of the widget and you are ready to go. You can further customize the widget by changing the remaining options to fit your liking.
Options:
– Display style (Slideshow 2D, Cube 3D, and SliceBox 3D).
– Number of Images (1 to 500).
– Crops images to fit PhotoCube or display un-cropped image with background color.
– PhotoCube aspect ratio.
– 6 2D Slideshow animations.
– 5 3D Cube animations with optional shadow effect.
– 5 3D SliceBox animations with optional shadow effect.
The shadow effect is quite intensive for the browser to generate and can be disabled for improved performance.
– Interactive navigation buttons.
– Play/pause button.
– Customizable timing and delay options.
Caching
The plugin includes a simple caching function that will store the results of a Flickr feed for 3 hours. This function offers a significant performance boost as only one visitor an hour will even experience the short load delay caused by fetching and parsing a Flickr feed.
The cache time can be edited by going to the plugin’s settings page, located at Settings->Alpine Cube: Flickr->Plugin Settings.
Compatibility:
The 3D effects are created using HTML5 Canvas elements, which are currently supported by Internet Explorer 9.0+, Mozilla Firefox, Safari (mobile and desktop), Google Chrome, Opera (mobile and desktop), Android, iPod, iPad, and iPhone. The plugin has been tested in each of these web browsers. In the case that a user does not have an HTML5 Canvas supported browser, the plugin automatically reverts to 2D slideshow effects.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How do I find my Flickr user ID or group ID?
To find your Flickr user ID or group ID, use the website http://idgettr.com/.
Once you are on the website, you can find your user ID by replacing the word “username” with the username of your Flickr account..
To find your group ID, you must first replace the word “photos” with “groups”. Then replace the word “username” with the username of your Flickr group.
How do I find my Flickr set ID?
To find the ID of a set, go to the URL of the set you want and copy the numbers at the end of the address. For example, the set ‘Mac and Cheese’ has the URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylinuntitled/sets/72157628958212725/, therefore the Set ID is 72157628958212725.
I’m getting the message “Flickr feed was successfully retrieved, but no photos found”. What does that mean?
This message simply means that while no distinguishable errors occurred, the plugin found your feed to be empty. This might occur if you set the plugin source to Favorites, but you have not actually “favorited” any of your photos.
I’m getting the message “Flickr feed not found. Please recheck your ID”. What does that mean?
This message can mean two things. First, it can indicate that the user ID, group ID, or set ID were input incorrectly, causing the feed to fail. In this case, you should try to correct and re-save your IDs.
Second, this message can also mean that the server your WordPress site is being hosted on has prevented the feed from being retrieved. While it is rare, we have encountered web-hosts that disable the feed fetching functions used in the plugin. If this is the case, there is nothing we can do to override or work around the settings on your host server.
Is there a shortcode function?
Yes, rather than explaining how to setup the shortcode, I’ve created a method of generating the shortcode. Check out the Shortcode Generator on the plugin’s settings page ( Settings->Alpine Cube: Flickr->Generator).
Why doesn’t the widget show my most recent photos?
The plugin caches or stores the Flickr photo feed for three hours or the time set on the Settings->Alpine Cube: Flickr->Plugin Settings page (see Caching above). If the new photos have still not appeared after this time, it is possible that Flickr is responsible for the delay. While Flickr is fairly prompt about updating photo feeds, periods of high traffic (especially on weekdays between 10am and 4pm) can cause a delay in feed updates.