Thumbnails (and images?) accessible only for registered users

[emmexx]

I was trying to use Phoca Gallery to setup a sort of private repository for images. That means that only users of a certain group can upload and view images after a frontend login.
I made some tests and images seem to be ok as far as images are "hidden" when in joomla images folder.
The direct link to the images is guessable to an experienced joomla user but standard users certainly will use only the download link and that can be enough.
Thumbnails are a little different because a user could view the image thumbnail in the browser and use the link when not logged in.

Is it possible to prevent that and set the gallery so that the files and the thumbnails are accessible only when the users are logged in?

Thank you
maxx

[Jan]

Hi, yes, when using gallery, images on the server can be directly accessible, see this forum post to get more info:

viewtopic.php?p=11028#p11028

There are different options and possible solutions.

In some galleries, e.g. thumbnails are protected by watermarks and original images are deleted so users cannot access the original or images without thumbnails.

In some cases, e.g. when selling images, it is better to use Phoca Cart, etc.


Jan