Can I integrate an online gallery and online store?

December 25, 2007 7:04 AM

What's the best way to integrate an online photo gallery with an online shop?

I am helping my brother-in-law set up a site for his photography. Putting together a site with both a gallery and a shop is no problem, but we'd like to integrate the two, so that when you click on a picture in the gallery, you get a nice lightbox effect with an enlarged image. Below that would be info about the photo with the sizes available and the pricing. One more click and you could add the size print you'd like to your cart. Is there any software out there that does this or are there two that would work together to achieve this?

The core of the site right now is in Wordpress, but I'll try another CMS if it makes achieving this easier.

posted by Biblio to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Have you checked the web for e-commerce support for Wordpress? I just googled wordpress e-commerce and got promising results. Seriously, If your e-commerce needs aren't that complex, start by beefing up Wordpress instead of integrating WP with another application or, worse, ditching it completly for an e-commerce management system.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:01 AM on December 25, 2007

I do believe that zen-cart has a plug-in to work with Gallery. I keep meaning to try it out, but haven't gotten to it yet.
posted by likesuchasand at 11:56 AM on December 25, 2007

When I run into this kind of thing, I use GetAFreelancer.com....I can post exactly what I need and get several bids literally within minutes and usually something like this is dirt cheap. I have a good relationship with several freelancers through GetAFreelancer. One is in Tulsa, one in Palo Alto and two others in India. They have all done excellent work - and fast. The key is one of the freelancers knowing exactly how to do it and it being something they can do in their sleep. Some are that good. Just check the feedback on anybody you use. Anyway, it's just a thought if you want to look at some options. It wouldn't hurt to post a job and see what kind of responses you get. To give you an idea, I needed a custom database integrated with a search inside a website. I was lost due to the complexities. A local design shop quoted me $500-$750. A guy from a suburb of Bangalore, India - sharp as a tack - bid $35 on GetAFreelancer -- and the job was completed in 24 hours.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 12:55 PM on December 25, 2007

Zen-cart and Gallery 2nded. OpenSource FTW.
posted by lundman at 5:46 PM on December 25, 2007

Thanks. I am installing the zencart/gallery integration module even as I type this.
posted by Biblio at 6:16 PM on December 25, 2007

As a person who has built sites based on osCommerce, Zen Cart, Gallery, Wordpress, and Drupal (with Ecommerce or Ubercart modules), I would strongly recommend the latter. Drupal integrates with numerous galleries and has many methods for handling images, but Ubercart itself does exactly what you're talking about out of the box, with slick lightbox previews of multiple product images, add to cart with various attributes, like size. Heck of a lot easier to wrangle than Zen or Gallery.
posted by stephthegeek at 7:35 PM on December 25, 2007