Provided two examples so that I hopefully make sense. The first is how I want my gallery (although ignore the Art Gallery part, that's just to show that there's more than one parent category. Also, the Art Gallery is also how it is on my site's gallery already, and I like it the way it is. It's the other category what I'd like to do hendered, the Photo Album).
However Coppermine seems severely limited in not allowing an album inside an album. In other words, 2005 wouldn't be able to have pictures in it and two more albums. The closest I would be able to get would be to have 2003 as an album, and 2004 as a category (automatically pictureless) with the two albums in it (pictures inside them).
That's how it is currently in my gallery and it looks really odd, since categories and albums have a different layout. I currently like the way the layout is with categories and albums, since my Art Gallery is how I want it, but with the Photo Album, having mixed subcategories and albums gives it an odd look.
Is there something I'm maybe missing, that I didn't realize Coppermine could do, or is this it's limitation, that's that?
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How I'd like it:
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Category: Photo Album (no pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2000 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2001 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2002 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2003 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2004 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2005 (pictures inside)
| |_ Album: Christmas (pictures inside)
| |_ Album: Birthday (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2006 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: New Years (pictures inside)
|_ Album: Birthday (pictures inside)
Category: Art Gallery (no pictures inside)
|_ Category: Main (no pictures inside)
| |_ Album: Landscapes (pictures inside)
| |_ Album: Portraits (pictures inside)
| |_ Still Life (pictures inside)
|_ Category: Other (no pictures inside)
|_ Album: Doodles (pictures inside)
|_ Album: Other (pictures inside)
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How it is:
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Category: Photo Album (no pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2000 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2001 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2002 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2003 (pictures inside)
|_ Album: 2004 (pictures inside)
|_ Category: 2005 (no pictures inside (but I want 'em!))
| |_ Album: Christmas (pictures inside)
| |_ Album: Birthday (pictures inside)
|_ Category: 2006 (no pictures inside (but I want 'em!))
|_ Album: New Years (pictures inside)
|_ Album: Birthday (pictures inside)
(and then Art Gallery from above example is the same)