You have a few compound issues, some related to each other, others not. I will go through your comments.
eskimo121 wrote:a) Almost all my galleries are in Slideshow format (autoplay enabled), but it would take a long time ..like 15+ seconds to load (black space in the sliders place until then).
I see there are some strange issues with timing on start, but as long as I open the website, make sure it is in focus, and keep it open without navigating to other windows or tabs, the slideshow runs properly after first slide. Here are some issues that COULD be related though, and you should perhaps deal with:
1. I see you have added lots of
Cloudflare stuff, perhaps without knowing what they do? For example, you are loading one script, seemingly used for some Cloudflare APPS:
<script src="/cdn-cgi/apps/head/0Y8e9jslBXywZjprufBTz8GNdXY.js"></script>
May I ask what cloudflare apps you are using? Google Analytics? That would be strange to add additional cloudflare javascripts for that since X3 already has a built-in tracking for Google analytics.
Furthermore, I see you also have Cloudflare "Rocket loader" enabled.
<script src="https://ajax.cloudflare.com/cdn-cgi/scripts/4f936b58/cloudflare-static/rocket-loader.min.js" data-cf-nonce="68ed9ce8dd529c9454fc690f-">
This is not a good idea, because it may shift the order of how scripts are executed. Disable it please.
Many of these Cloudflare features try to fix BADLY optimized websites. X3 is already optimized perfectly, so Cloudflare should only be used with default features, for caching data on the CDN. Normally, it is harmless to enable additional Cloudflare features, but in the case of X3, one must be careful because X3 is an AJAX HTML5 application, which loads pages dynamically ... It does not load full pages like most websites do, and therefore many javascripts cannot and should not be triggered on traditional "page load".
2. Some browsers may freeze all javascript timers if the window is not focused, or if you focus other tabs or other apps while it is running. Since you have both the TIMER interval AND the transition interval, this may cause some disruption of timing. For instance, if I load your website from scratch, make sure the website is focused (by clicking inside the window), I cannot reproduce any incorrect timing issues.
3. I would question your increase of transition interval. This is really not a satisfying feature for your visitors to have to wait a long time while the transition happens on screen. The user will not be able to FOCUS entirely, until AFTER the transition is complete, and in the mean time, it will often be uncomfortable motion. If you really need a SLOW transition like this, you should consider CROSSFADE, but even then, this transition is simply too long. There is a lot of science behind how long transitions should last for the human eyes. This should of course not affect your slideshow technically, but I would like to note it, because it may be related to "timing" functions as stated in #2.
4. Perhaps you should try disabling "slideshow #history" also? This feature really isn't much use for any visitors, and I am wondering if it could be complimenting to cause some bug.
eskimo121 wrote:Does the loading time increase if there are many images? some of the albums have 700 or 800 pics.
It will obviously increase overall, if the visitor remains on the same page viewing the entire slideshow. But NO, it should not affect slideshow viewing, as the slideshow loads images progressively. It will load a couple of images ahead of the current image.
eskimo121 wrote:Does the loading time increase if the images are order is set to "Shuffle" aka random. ? (currently i changed it back to order "by name")
Not specifically, no. You might see a difference in your browser because when shuffle is disabled, images may be cached in your browser or cloudflare, in which case it might seem faster.
Unless you have some random over-sized images in your gallery somewhere (eg 1MB+), then this should not be any concern.
eskimo121 wrote:Perhaps the solution like the one time we discussed long ago when dealing with X2 is to shuffle only the first 30 images, and then the next 30 and so on as it loads in the viewport?
I don't see why we need a solution to this. X3 does not load all images in a gallery when the slideshow displays (that would be kinda crazy). The only delay involved when using "shuffle", is some additional processing time before startup as Javascript executes the shuffle. This might be noticeable on mobile devices, but not on desktops, and it process occurs BEFORE the slideshow appears anyway.
eskimo121 wrote:b) After slider loads ( I have AutoPlay enabled) , it gets stuck on the first image and doesnt move until I click "play/pause" or sometimes just click something on the screen. During those times i see this error in the chrome console : "User didn't interact with the Document first"
That would be related to your AUDIO player, not the slideshow. Since version 66, Chrome (and probably soon most other browsers) simply don't allow auto play any more. I know many gallery owners want auto play for audio, but it needs to be made clear that in 2018, visitors don't want this. Browsers are helping to enforce this. Ref.:
https://developers.google.com/web/updat ... cy-changes
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/18/googl ... ccounter=1
eskimo121 wrote:c) Having AD Block extension in chrome caused even more errors (forgot taking screenshots at that time) but after goolgling about "blob" errors in console i disabled and uninstalled this extension , so it cut down the some of the errors and the slideshow loading time a bit (not fully)
I saw some errors on page load first time I checked the page. Some issues (for example "blob") should not be related to anything in X3, and I think you would find that error for any web page you visit, caused by some browser extension. I have this error in my own console currently, but haven't taken the time to check what extension is causing it and why.
I don't/didn't see any errors that are related to the slideshow. Most of the errors I saw were related to things I mentioned above, and/or external cloudflare javascripts being loaded ... but seem harmless.
Disabling adblock should not have any effect on X3 functionality. If it cuts down on some errors in console, that could be, but these errors should not be related to the X3 application at all.
---
eskimo121 wrote:1. A rating system like others have requested . Perhaps a start rating or a thumbs up or +1 etc ?
Open to this, but I remain skeptical of the functional benefits of such a plugin:
- Most of your images will be unrated of course, as most visitors are not bothered rating images. Should all your images then display 0-star rating at first? Most of your images will remain at 0-star forever.
- There will have to be a "4.5 stars from 45 votes" numeration. Surely amount of votes would need to display ... Else you might have an awesome image with 4.8 score and 2000 votes, and a 5 score image with a single vote. It's not balanced, in which case it would be illogical to the visitor.
Personally I don't like it, I don't see visitors having any benefit or joy from this.
eskimo121 wrote:2. Global search if possible ( I know you have talked about search related to pics loaded on screen in grid format). As you talked about a possible Json/database solution for this, u mean a code along the lines of this right? ( just a reference)
https://codecanyon.net/item/jsearch-con ... ?s_rank=86
Yes, we have come to the conclusion that search should eventually find it's way into X3. There are two TYPES of search, both which we would like to implement:
1. Page "filtering". This is a way to search in real-time from images in the current gallery. Basically, a search would "filter" the results as you type. This would be combined with pre-defined search filters (as buttons), for example "flowers" or "landscape".
2. Global search. This would be able to search all images in the X3 website. It would require pre-indexing ALL images into a database (or possible a json file), because it would be to slow to expect your server to search "real-time" through all images (captions, exif, IPTC) on the server. All images and image data (captions, exif, iptc) would need to be pre-index into a database-like structure. It will require some "create images search index" button in the panel. Yes we would like to add this.
eskimo121 wrote:3. Perhaps more features/plugins so as not to limit X3 only to Photographers but to a wider industry.
X3 already has tons of content plugins and layout plugins, many non-photo related. I would say more than most average website CMS's or templates. We are definitely looking to improve X3 as a website cms/template though, so definitely would like to add more plugins. This can be counter-productive of course, because many users add plugins just because they exist, and it makes X3 more complicated for users who need basic features. In wordpress, users often like to add tons of plugins, all created by different developers (incompatible), while it is making the website more buggy, less secure and slower.
eskimo121 wrote:On a side note... I tried using the FotoMoto "ecard" feature, but as the whole Fotomoto popup loads scripts from their offical website, we cant edit anything in the popup and the sending "ecard" button isnt obvious. (i understand fotomoto is primarily for selling pics)
The point of Fotomoto is that the entire interface is maintained by Fotomoto. If you have suggestions about the popup interface, you would need to contact Fotomoto. We simply offer this as a plugin to X3.
eskimo121 wrote:Looked at integrating this with X3, seemed pretty straightforward .. load a few js and css files and then use javascript on some button in X3 to open the editor but then the image editor itself didn't seem to have much functionality other than draw some lines which is easier to do it on MsPaint locally. ---- Many of these scripts which can be used to extend X3 or customize need javascript to be executed when a button is clicked etc, is it possible to include such a feature? Nevermind if it doesnt fit in with your plans but just saying.
I am not quite sure what the question is here and why there is mention of "use javascript" or "draw some lines". Fotomoto, when enabled in X3, loads all scripts and CSS automatically, and you should NOT be trying to load your own javascripts. It is a PLUGIN in X3
https://d.pr/i/d9NRDp.
It seems from the above that you are trying to integrate it yourself.
eskimo121 wrote:I remember in the flash X2 when the pic was zoomed in to more than full screen, one could move the mouse cursor and the image would according to it revealing the corners. Something i noticed here when not using flash:
http://www.rs-photography.eu/gallery/
When you zoom into a pic in the gallery it acts exactly the same way X2 would in flash. Can this behaviour be replicated in X3 when the pic is opened in popup/fullscreen? Looking at the source code its unclear whether it is the open source Hero slider code or not.
The link above does not work from here
https://d.pr/i/I47dyL. Anyway, yes it would definitely be possible and I agree it might be cool. I am not convinced it's functionally beneficial to the user instead of allowing them to simply drag (as now). It's also a technical challenge, since we have mobile devices, animations, aspects and screen sizes. I will add it to my list.