Image galleries in Site Manager use images that already exist in your Media Library. For this reason, organizing your images into directories before creating galleries will make the process much easier and keep your media library clean and manageable.
A well-organized image structure allows you to quickly create galleries, reuse images when needed, and keep event photos grouped together.
How Image Galleries Use Directories
When creating a gallery, you select one or more image directories. The gallery will then allow you to choose images from those directories.
This means that the organization of your directories directly affects how easy it is to build and maintain your galleries.
Recommended Directory Structure
We recommend organizing images by year first, and then by event within that year. For example:
- /photos/2025/pascha/
- /photos/2025/church-picnic/
- /photos/2025/nativity/
- /photos/2024/pascha/
- /photos/2024/parish-life/
This structure keeps photos grouped chronologically and prevents a single directory from becoming too large over time.
Uploading Images
Images should be uploaded through:
Media → Images
When uploading images:
- Create a directory for the year if it does not already exist
- Create a subdirectory for the event
- Upload all images for that event into the same folder
- Use descriptive filenames when possible
Creating a Gallery from a Directory
Once your images are organized:
- Navigate to Components → Image Galleries
- Create a new gallery
- Select the directory that contains your event photos
- Continue to the image selection screen
- Select the images you want included in the gallery
Using Multiple Directories
Galleries can also include images from multiple directories. This can be useful for:
- Annual event collections
- Historical photo archives
- Highlight galleries combining images from several events
Best Practices
- Organize photos by year and event
- Create a new directory for each major event
- Avoid placing all images into a single large folder
- Upload images before creating the gallery
- Use captions to describe important photos
Keeping your images organized will make it much easier to build galleries and maintain your website over time.