Slide show

[Winterchase]

I've pretty well gotten the hang of FrontPage and PowerPoint and/but would like the site to automatically display a better slide show of the photographs. It will be a shared thing inasmuch as the members of the photo club we're forming will all more or less use the same format - which means it has to be real simple.

Is there a simple and better, easy to use slide-show plug-in available to use on FrontPage? Or maybe just a better one?

The slide-show I (finally) made on PowerPoint looks good, but loads way too slow once up on the site, plus some of the pictures are so slow in loading that it's moved on by the time they come up. They're all 600 X 800 pixels at 72 resolution, in JPEG.

You can see what (some of) the problems are at:

http://www.myemc.com/enigma/index_files/frame.html

Any suggestions/advice will be more than welcomed.

[StephanieCordray]

Why do a slide show? Why not use a photo gallery? Each member can have his/her own section, upload their photographs allowing them to add new ones at will, and arrange how they are displayed.

[zkiller]

personally i really dislike the fact that i am not in control while viewing the slide show. why not let the user decide when they are ready to view the next picture? also a link to the previous picture would be nice.

as per loading times, try lowering the quality of the jpeg. 800x600 jpeg's shouldn't take that long to load. also, dither is an option for those that take a bit longer to load. this would allow the image to display faster (blurry at first) and then progessively get better in quality until it is fully loaded.

i agree with stephanie, a photogallery script might be an alternative option for you to look into.

[Wingnut]

i would agree with the other two. the fact that it is slow and uncontrolled by the user is a major ditraction. a gallery is much more preferable when viewing only photos on a page. slideshows are much more preferable when they are on a page but may be the secondary item to other content. pls in my experience having the images be so large is not required. maybe try going with half the size with the option to click a spot and have a large version pop up in a separate window if requested.

[Winterchase]

Originally Posted by StephanieCordray

Why do a slide show? Why not use a photo gallery? Each member can have his/her own section, upload their photographs allowing them to add new ones at will, and arrange how they are displayed.

I'm not clear of the difference between a photo gallery and slide show.

In the final version of the club's web page, there will be a (teaser) slide show that is secondary to the other content including links to member's home pages, which will display their pictures. "Photo Essays" (group projects) will be slide shows that the viewer can click on to see what all we've done in the past.

It's there that we need to develop a "standard" so we can help each other with technical problems and new members who don't know about web pages, slide shows and the like. e.g. - KISS must be the operating rule of thumb.

The "biggie" we're looking at is a special club slide show that will be on display on a huge(!) flat panel at a luxury resort (who kind of subsidies the club). A smaller screen will be at the CofC building and will be moved to the fair grounds for two weeks, three times a year when they have major events going on.

Turning these various slide shows into screensavers as a way of raising money for the Humane Society is a possibility we're also considering.

There's no one around here that does web-pages so we're sort of feeling our way along in the dark.

[StephanieCordray]

A photo gallery gives the visitor more control over what images they want to see and how long they wish to look at a particular image.

I can see your issue with needing a slideshow but unless there's a way of slowing down the powerpoint slides, it's going to be a waste of your time. The images load too slowly and move along too quickly.

You can do both, one for website usage and a slideshow as a feed to that big screen you're talking about, but I'd have to have a little more information before I point you in any directions... I've not worked with Power Point since 1996.

[Winterchase]

Originally Posted by StephanieCordray

A photo gallery gives the visitor more control over what images they want to see and how long they wish to look at a particular image.

I can see your issue with needing a slideshow but unless there's a way of slowing down the powerpoint slides, it's going to be a waste of your time. The images load too slowly and move along too quickly.

You can do both, one for website usage and a slideshow as a feed to that big screen you're talking about, but I'd have to have a little more information before I point you in any directions... I've not worked with Power Point since 1996.

I don't intend to sound like an arrogrant or spoiled control freak, but, like National Geographic did with their recent slide show, I want viewers to see what I want them to see. Besides, on PowerPoint, the viewer is given the option of pausing on a pic, go back or move on to the next one, plus it loads very quickly (an introduction/credit page - five seconds - comes first, then the show), and, has music (by John Lennon - I wonder what that nice little addition cost).

I wish I could send you the URL, but it was an attachment sent to me. If you want to see it, PM me and I'll forward a copy to you. It's worth seeing what the best of the best photographers in the world do.

Not withstanding my lacking photography skills, I need now to figure out how to get what I have uploaded. .pps looks to be the way to save the index.

[StephanieCordray]

Originally Posted by Winterchase

I don't intend to sound like an arrogrant or spoiled control freak...

Bill, you always sound like an arrogant or spoiled brat but I like ya anyways...

I'm not really the best one to tell you about Power Point and all that. Like I said, I haven't used it since 1996... that's a decade ago. Have you any idea how much the software has probably changed in that amount of time? It may be a lot less awkward for one thing. I never cared for it when I was forced to use it then.

When you showed us the power point thing the first time, I had no choice to do anything and some of the images took forever to load. If there was a way to slow it down the fade into a new pic, I couldn't see it because the bottoms of the pics were cut off and no scroll bar available. That's why I suggest a photo gallery of some type.

[Winterchase]

Just a note; I gave up on putting a slide show using PowerPoint because it loads too slow for my taste and patience, or lack thereof. The photography club, however, plans on using it for public display purposes. Loading there won't be a problem.

So, a business oriented web page proved "unwise" and was taken down and now the slide show is about to be history. The other slide show programs (2) I've looked at just don't cut it, artistically. Drat!