PHP Memory Limit Woes

If you have tried using the NextGen Gallery Plugin (and mind you it is one of the best image gallery plugins out there for WordPress) then chances are you might have run into the php memory limit problem.

What this means is that unless you increase the memory limit, you might have problems with automatic thumbnail creation.

There are a few options here:

1. Change the setting at server level if you have access (this will make the change global). The change will have to be made in your php.ini file. Just search for memory_limit and change its value.
2. Increase the limit using your .htaccess file by adding this line:

   php_value memory_limit 32M

3. And the best method is in WP itself:
   Open wp-settings.php and find this code:

   define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '32M');

   Change 32M to whatever you need. I personally needed to change it to 40M and that did the trick.

Another little quirk of this gallery is that it strictly follows a PHP setting called Safe Mode. If it is on, you will have to create the image gallery directories manually. Which kind of beats the purpose of having it all automated. You might also have problems with thumbnail creation.

The options are:

1. Try turning it off for the website in question first using .htacess. Add this line to your .htacess file:

   php_flag safe_mode off

2. A more complicated but apparently a better way is to do this is to add the following to you vhost.conf or httpd.conf files.

   <Directory "/path/to/webroot/for/domain" >
   php_admin_value safe_mode off
   </Directory>

   (Sorry I lost the link where I got this code from or I would have given credit)

Once you get past these two barriers, it is a really great option to showcase your photos.

Want to see how the gallery look? View my Portfolio

Get the NextGen Gallery plugin