JoomlaWorks

Following July's v3.10 release where Simple Image Gallery Pro was updated to support PHP up to 8.5 (when used with Joomla 3.x UTD), introduced WebP thumbnails & more, we are happy to announce a major update with v4.0, which lays the ground for v5.0, which will support Joomla 3.x UTD to Joomla 6.

Here's a summary of changes in v4.0:

• New default modal: "SIGPro Modal", a modern, dependency-free modal (no jQuery) with swipe, zoom, grid view and slideshow. THE modal (what we previously called "popup engine") to rull them all!
• Modern frontend: all layouts rebuilt on CSS Grid or vanilla JavaScript, with no layout shift and per-device columns; gallery pages no longer need jQuery.
• Faster, lighter images: three resized copies of every image (300/600/1200px) with srcset, which also serve as the thumbnails, rebuilt only when an image changes. Older galleries will be convered and moved on-the-fly under the /media/jw_sigpro/ directory and only refreshed when an image actually changes!
• New backend workflow: a new uploader and the much requested drag and drop sorting in the gallery editor, plus a gallery list with infinite scrolling by default (with classic pagination still available).
• Security & maintenance: various security issues resolved, combined with the removal of many third-party scripts (and updates to latest versions for anything that is still maintained)
• Look & feel: We got a new logo (1) and the backend is now lighter with SVG icons throughout; fully tested on Joomla 1.5, 2.5, 3.x & 3.x UTD, including the new admin template (Prothero) in Joomla 3.x UTD.
• Fully responsive on all devices! Probably the simplest way to create image galleries on mobile, anywhere in Joomla.

New features:

• Modals:
  • SIGPro Modal: arrows, keyboard and swipe navigation, pinch/double-tap/button zoom, thumbnail strip, in-place grid view, slideshow, light/dark theme, downloads, captions with HTML. It is the default for new installs (existing sites keep their modal). Styled with CSS variables (--sigm-*) and an optional modal.css in your template; JavaScript API SIGProModal.open()/.frame()/.close(). The one modal to rule them all!
  • SIGPro Modal also opens links marked up for the older modals (data-fancybox, data-lightbox, rel="prettyPhoto[...]" etc.), so existing overrides keep working.
  • Lightbox 3 (no jQuery, touch gestures), replaces Lightbox2.

• Layouts:
  • New Carousel layout (swipe/drag/arrows, wrap-around, caption over the slide, page dots), Flickity-like without any library.
  • Galleria and Slickshow (formerly SlickShow1) rewritten without jQuery/Slick: a fixed-shape image stage, thumbnail rows as wide as the stage (Galleria) or a swipeable/draggable slider with a scrolling strip (Slickshow), and no page jumps. Their behaviour is now reusable by other layouts (data-sigpro-ui="stage|slider", media/jw_sigpro/assets/js/frontend.js).
  • All grid layouts on CSS Grid, with new settings for the number of columns on desktops/tablets/phones and the thumbnail aspect ratio. Thumbnails are real, lazy-loaded images and captions are clamped to two lines.
• Images:
  • Three resized copies per image (Settings > Basic, default 300/600/1200px wide, never enlarged) in media/jw_sigpro/resized/{small,medium,large}. Thumbnails are the small one (medium on sharp screens), links and modals use the large one and SIGPro Modal gets all three as srcset; downloads still give the original.
  • "Custom order": the new default order, as arranged in the gallery editor, saved for all languages and used by the galleries.
  • New image orderings added: date modified, newest or oldest first.
  • New "Image processor" option (Auto / ImageMagick / GD).
• Backend:
  • Gallery editor: drag and drop sorting (mouse, touch and keyboard), a built-in uploader that replaces Plupload (drag and drop, checks before uploading, progress per file), previews in SIGPro Modal and a responsive grid.
  • Gallery list: CSS Grid with a preview of each gallery's first image, plus infinite scrolling or pagination (new "Backend" settings tab).
  • Phone-friendly backend: menu button, no sidebar, compact toolbars and footer, Settings sections as a swipeable strip.
  • "Folders to hide" (Settings > Backend): folders that aren't galleries (e.g. JCE's thumbnails) are left out of the gallery list.
  • "Plugin tag name" (Settings > Advanced): e.g. {mygallery} instead of the class `gallery` tag in braces, so you can easily replace other copycats that used similar tags (cause let's not forget it was JoomlaWorks who brought image galleries inside content first, as a plugin tag you could easily position anywhere, while everyone else was busy cloning Coppermine in Joomla...)
  • Editor button: the gallery picker opens in the new SIGPro Modal, the same way in every component (no jQuery/FancyBox, no more VirtueMart/K2 special cases).

Improvements:

• SIGPro's own JavaScript, both on the site and in the backend, is now plain JavaScript with no library. jQuery is only loaded for the older modals, old SlickShow1 layout overrides and the media manager (elFinder).
• Thumbnails are the small/medium resized copies (srcset) instead of separate files. Generated images live in media/jw_sigpro/resized (Joomla's "Clear Cache" no longer wipes them) and never expire: they're rebuilt only when an image or the width/quality settings change. Image URLs carry a ?v= version, so replaced images aren't served from old caches. The old thumbnail cache (cache/jw_sigpro, removed on upgrade) and the "Smart thumbnail resize" setting are gone.
• Labels files get an image time column (file|title|description|time); older SIGPro versions still read them.
• The backend uses the admin template's font instead of loading Open Sans from Google Fonts.
• Backend icons are Bootstrap Icons SVGs instead of the Fontello icon font, and the PNG logos/icons were replaced by SVGs (header, admin menu, editor button, installer).
• Third-party scripts: elFinder trimmed to what SIGPro uses (5.1 MB → 3.1 MB), and CDN files load from jsDelivr first (with CloudFlare's cdnjs second). FancyBox stays on its last v3 release; Strip, Fresco and Magnific Popup are updated within their versions.
• Media manager on phones: fills the screen, keeps its state when the window resizes, starts without the folder tree and with a compact toolbar.
• Upgrades now remove files SIGPro no longer ships, and the settings of removed modals/layouts are switched automatically.
• Default image quality is bumped to 85% for all resized copies. Ideal for crisp WebP thumbnails.
• PHP code follows PSR-12 and still runs on PHP 5.6 to 8.5.

Security fixes:

• Various security issues resolved (all low severity though).
• Media manager: restrict reading of server-side files and no SVG uploads. Uploads with double extensions are rejected and ImageMagick decodes strictly by file type.
• elFinder 2.1.70 (fixes three CVEs) and Magnific Popup 1.2.0 (CVE-2024-5647). The abandoned modals were removed (Colorbox, Highslide, Lightview, Nivo Lightbox, prettyPhoto, Slimbox, Swipebox, SimpleBox); sites that used them switch to SIGPro Modal automatically.
• Privacy: the awesome wsrv.nl image resizing service is no longer needed and as such was removed.

Bug fixes:

• Images: fatal error with older ImageMagick setups (Imagick::autoOrient()); ImageMagick errors on PHP 7+ now fall back to GD; missing GD functions show a notice instead of a fatal error.
• Galleries: Flickr gallery captions on PHP 7.4+; folder names with special characters in tags; a missing or mistyped layout/modal now falls back to Classic/SIGPro Modal.
• Backend: galleries in subfolders (e.g. Culture/Dance) couldn't be deleted, while SIGPro reported them deleted (it now also says when a folder couldn't be removed); saving K2/user galleries or other languages returned to the wrong gallery; system messages hidden with some admin templates (e.g. Prothero).

Upgrade notes:

• Template overrides of the grid, Galleria or Slickshow layouts made for older versions may need updating, because the markup and CSS classes changed (see CHANGELOG). Sites with an old default.php override of Galleria/GalleriaWhite keep working without jQuery, those of SlickShow1 with jQuery.
• ResponsiveBlue was removed (it renders as Classic). GalleriaWhite and Seamless_CSS_Grid are aliases of Galleria and Seamless.

If you have any custom gallery layouts, you may have to slightly modify them to play nice with PHP 8.x.

As always, send a ticket in our helpdesk system for assistance with such matters...

MORE SCREENSHOTS

COMING UP NEXT...

Version 4.0 is the last release to support Joomla 1.5, 2.5 & 3.x (and 3.x UTD).

The upcoming version 5.0 (which is currently being tested & finalized in the coming days) supports Joomla 3.x, Joomla 3.x UTD, Joomla 4, Joomla 5 & Joomla 6.

SIGPro v5.0 builds on the foundation of v4.0 and besides supporting the latest Joomla releases:

• It "cleans up house", meaning all "popup engines" are now replaced by our new super-modal!
• It introduces new & awesome galleries layouts, including new sliders/carousels for immersive photo presentations!
• Dynamic image filters (e.g. grayscale, mix with background colors or gradients etc.)
• Backend gallery search
• A new media manager (this is slated for v5.1 or v5.2)
• TinyMCE integration (and by extension JCE) for real gallery previews inside the editor window! (also slated for v5.1 or v5.2)
• ...and many other smaller refinements, that keep SIGPro's crown as THE best image gallery for Joomla!

DEMO

The JoomlaWorks demo site has been updated to the latest Simple Image Gallery Pro release. Have a look here: https://demo.joomlaworks.net/simple-image-gallery-pro

DOWNLOAD

If you have an active Simple Image Gallery Pro membership, just head over to the Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/members and grab your copy from your "Subscriptions" page.

Or purchase this latest release from just 19.90 EUR. More info at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/extensions/commercial/simple-image-gallery-pro

UPGRADING

Just upload the new version and it will overwrite the old one.

For more help, please visit the updated documentation page for the extension at: https://www.joomlaworks.net/support/docs/simple-image-gallery-pro

For support questions please use our Helpdesk system included in your Member Dashboard at https://www.joomlaworks.net/dashboard (active product membership required).