What part of shrine-building drives you nuts?

[Sarah]

I'd also like to know about that, dubs! I plan on adding screenshot galleries to a couple sites, so that would be really useful. :)

[nyxmidnight]

Me too! I want to make a gallery of fanarts for Nyx's Lounge but UGH THUMBNAILS.

[Larissa]

Two words: photoshop actions. Google is your friend here, there are countless tutorials for this; this is the very first one I found and it's got all of the basics.

I'm sure there are free programs out there that can build thumbnails, too, but Photoshop gives you the most control with it, since you can build an action to do anything you want. You can also use Adobe Bridge to automatically create an entire gallery. I don't do that very often, since the gallery it creates won't look anything like the rest of your site -- here's an example -- but if you've got thousands of caps it's easier than doing it manually.

Personally, I make a Photoshop action for the thumbnail size I want, then use Automate > Batch to pick the action I want, the folder where they're stored, my destination folder, and voila.

(I honestly just linked the first tutorials I found; use Google, there are more than enough tutorials out there to tell you everything you need to know. If you don't have Photoshop, like I said, I'm sure there are websites out there that do this for you. Using Photoshop simply gives you control over the entire process.)

Of course, if you then have trouble coding your gallery, I have a tool for that ;)

[Robin]

Oh wow! I had forgotten all about the batch processing function of Photoshop! That's a good idea--I haven't used that in ages.

(One reason: back on a wayyyyy olddddd version of Photoshop Elements--because I'm too cheap to buy actual Photoshop--I tried using the Batch Process thing and it completely screwed up all the screencaps I was trying to make thumbnails out of. I tried it 3 separate times and it actually changed the original file into a thumbnail rather than making a copy and putting it in a separate folder like I had specified. There was much ARGH, and frantic Undoing, and frustrated throwing of small objects.)

I might need to try this again since I've upgraded my Elements install twice since then, lol~~

[dubiousdisc]

Okay Larissa said everything basically. 8) Since I don't use Photoshop, though, I use a free utility that makes thumbnails for me that works basically in the same way as the batch processing in PS. There's many around the internet, so just look around for "thumbnail maker" or something like that if you'd rather not use Photoshop. This sort of stuff just makes life so much easier.

[Larissa]

Sorry for jumping in, btw! I just happen to know a lot about this, haha. I am kind of a nerd when it comes to making galleries.

[dubiousdisc]

No, don't be sorry! You know your onions, you said it better than I could have, and you spared me from having to type a long comment :P

[Robin]

Definitely don't be sorry--I had either forgotten or not known about most of what you mentioned. I've been doing things "the hard way" for years, apparently, LOLOLOL! Maybe I can save myself a few gray hairs with these tools :D