Introduction
The -metadata hint is part of SiteGrinder Pro's powerful automatic image gallery creation system.
Click here for a complete overview of this system and its many options.
The -metadata hint tells SiteGrinder Pro that the text contents of the type layer using this hint contains one or more references to jpeg or SiteGrinder metadata in a special format. These references will be replaced in the built pages with the actual metadata values from each image or metadata values provided by SiteGrinder.
What is Metadata?
A JPEG file can contain, in addition to the image, textual information called "metadata." Most digital cameras, for example, automatically record the date and time the photo was taken along with the make and model of the camera, whether or not a flash was used, the exposure, f-stop, etc.
You can also add metadata to JPEG photos after you load them into your computer. Comments, authorship credits, copyright statements, even entire news stories can be added. The big advantage to metadata is that it travels along with the image file. You don't need to keep a separate database, so you don't have to worry about the data getting out of synch with your image files. Each metadata comment needs a label to identify it. The label for the exposure at which a photo is taken, for example, is "Exposure", and its value will be something like "1/60 at f/2 ".
Key aspects of using metadata with SiteGrinder Pro:
- References to metadata are in the format [[metadata name]] where metadata name is some specific metadata field name such as "date".
- Metadata can be freely mixed with normal text in these layers. Example: A type layer containing the text "I took this on [[date]]" will be converted to "I took this on 11/24/05" on the actual page SiteGrinder builds for that image.
- Many references to different metadata can appear in a single type layer
- Multiple type layers with the metadata hint can appear on a single gallery page layout, each with different meatdata
- Metadata takes on the text style of the text which refers to it. If the text "[[date]]" is green and underlined in the type layer, the actual date SiteGrinder inserts when building the page will be too.
- SiteGrinder provides additional metadata for certain helpful properties such as the file name of the image and the gallery page number (see below)
- Thumbnails made from layer sets/groups also support metadata
- You can also type metadata codes into certain fields in the SiteGrinder Window (see below)
Using Metadata Codes in the SiteGrinder 2 Pro Window
You can use metadata in relevant text entry fields in the SiteGrinder window:
- The "Page Title" field of the Pages panel
- The "Alt tag" field of the Gallery panel
- The "Page Title" field of the Gallery panel
- the "Alt tag" field of the Xmedia panel
- the "Link URL" of the Slideshow panel
As an example, if you want each image in a Flash slideshow to have a different URL to go to when people click the image you could place those URLs in the "description" metadata field for each jpeg file.
You would then tell SiteGrinder to use that field as the link by entering "[[description]]" (without the quotes) into the "Link URL" field for your slideshow.
Finding What Metadata Your Image Files Contain
There are many tools for browsing jpeg metadata, but they sometimes alter the true name of metadata fields as they appear in the document. The best way to view the actual name of metadata fields and their values for use with the -metadata hint is to open images using the metadata browser that is part of the SiteGrinder Tools plugin also found in Photoshop's automate menu. This tool simply displays the name and values of metadata accessible to SiteGrinder. If you match the names as they appear in this browser you should have no problem.
If you are using this browser to verify metadata field names you probably only need to open one file of a group created with the same camera to verify the presence and name of some particular piece of data.
Editing Metadata
Not all metadata is editable.
You can edit certain metadata fields in your files using Photoshop's "File->File Info" menu, but you must open each file and save it again once the data is changed. It is far quicker to use Adobe Bridge or another tool that allows you to select multiple files for editing without having to open each one.
The most reliable place to edit data is in the IPTC section. SiteGrinder Pro reads all of these fields and they are editable in Adobe Bridge and many other tools.
Troubleshooting metadata
If you have added a metadata layer to your page and it isn't working properly, here are some things to check:
Correct Bracketing
Be sure the metadata name is enclosed in double brackets, ie [[aperturevalue]]
Correct Metadata Name
Be sure the metadata name exactly matches what SiteGrinder can find in the file. Open one of the gallery source images in Photoshop and then open SiteGrinder Tools from Photoshop's File-->Automate menu to check the names and values available to SiteGrinder in the file.
Lost Metadata
If some gallery pages have the data and some do not, then some of your images may have had their metadata stripped by, for example, using Photoshop's Save For Web command to change their compression.
Type Layers
Make sure your -metadata type layer has not been converted to an image layer at some point.
What is SiteGrinder Metadata
SiteGrinder provides additional metadata codes for use with galleries. These codes relate to SiteGrinder's build process and are not in the jpeg image files.
- pagename
- The html pagename of the current gallery page being shown
- pagenumber
- The page number of this gallery or set of thumbnails
- filename
- The name of the image file
- foldername
- The name of the folder in which the image file resides