Orchard is a modular web-based CMS that's designed to be extended by installing additional module packages and by enabling features contained in those modules. A module package consists of a ZIP file in the .nupkg format. In Orchard, a theme is also a module. To facilitate sharing for modules and themes, Orchard lets you search for modules and themes online and install them directly to your site.

To find available modules and themes and download them to your computer, you can browse the Orchard Gallery website. For more information, see Browsing the Gallery Website.

You can also access the Gallery from within your Orchard site in order to download or install modules and themes. To do so, click Themes or Modules on the dashboard and then click the Gallery tab.

Note: The Gallery feature is enabled by default. For more information about working with the Gallery feature, including how to enable or disable it, see Installing Modules and Themes from the Gallery.

If you are a developer who writes modules or themes for Orchard, you are probably interested in sharing your module with others in the gallery. For information about how to do this, see Contributing a Module or Theme to the Gallery.

The Orchard Gallery is just one gallery that you can browse. By default, a single feed is exposed from https://gallery.orchardproject.net/api/FeedService. Orchard allows you to register additional feeds for other galleries. To register a feed, expand the dashboard Settings section and then click Gallery. On the Gallery Feeds page you can add new feeds or delete existing ones. For more information, see Registering Additional Gallery Feeds.

If you want to set up your own gallery, a reference implementation for exposing a gallery feed and website is available on OrchardGallery.CodePlex.com and GalleryServer.CodePlex.com.

Change History

  • Updates for Orchard 1.1
    • 3-22-11: Updated dashboard and UI references in the text.