Thanks for finding MLA and for your questions. I can give you some general guidance regarding your application.
You wrote “I just need to create some simple extra fields so that when an image is uploaded, it can have…“. These “extra fields” are usually defined as WordPress custom fields; MLA has many features that work with custom fields. You can also use taxonomies, e.g., Att. Categories and Att. Tags, to organize values like Photographer, Source or Location. MLA adds taxonomy support to Media Library items and this is a very popular use for the plugin.
The first decision is how to upload the images, e.g., will your users access the site “front end” or log in to the admin part of the site. If you want to use the front end you can install a plugin like this one:
WordPress File Upload
This plugin lets you define a page for uploading the image(s) and assigning custom field values to the image.
If you want to use the admin area, MLA can make it easier to assign custom field values on the Media/Upload New Media page. MLA adds a Bulk Edit Area to that page where you can enter the values for your custom fields and assign them to one or more images as they are uploaded.
By the way, it is also possible to embed these values in the image file itself, using a tool like Photoshop to add “File Info…” using the IPTC, EXIF and/or XMP metadata standards. Some values, like “Date taken” are often embedded in the file by the camera. If the data you want is in the metadata, MLA can extract the values and add them to custom fields using mapping rules. I am guessing that most of your images don’t have the values embedded in this way.
If you know how you want to upload the images I can give you more specific guidance on adding custom fields to the process.
You wrote “It needs to be searchable by key words.” MLA has several features for keyword searching in custom fields or taxonomy terms as well as displaying taxonomy terms in list or “cloud” formats. Users can compose filtered galleries by selecting terms from these formats. The usual approach is to define a page with shortcodes for some sort of search form and filtered gallery display; you’ve already found some examples here in the forum. There are also a few simple examples in the Settings/Media Library Assistant Documentation tab.
I hope that gets you started on a solution for your application. I will leave this topic unresolved for now in case you have more details to share or questions about the above suggestions. Thanks for your interest in the plugin.
