SlideShowPro News

07.02.08 | SSP for Flash 1.8.9 / SSP for Lightroom 1.3.2 released

Small update to the component itself (no Lightroom-specific changes) that addresses a couple of issues related to audio playback, plus a slight re-working of image alignment in navigation thumbnails for more accurate positioning. Click here to read more.

06.30.08 | Symphony Audio Import

The web site for Symphony Audio Import is using SlideShowPro for Flash to show off their catalog of products. With the entire site rendered in full screen mode, the developers employ some clever masking to show/hide the slideshow when moving in an out of the main navigation. And when the slideshow is visible, you can click a "menu" button at the top right to return and select a different category. In all, an engaging idea for using the component exclusively in full screen.

06.27.08 | SlideShowPro for Lightroom 1.3.1 released

Previewing content published from Lightroom using Firefox didn't work quite right in 1.3.0, so a new point update has been released (1.3.1) that fixes the issue. It's a free update for all SlideShowPro for Lightroom users, and can be obtained through your account center profile page:

Login/download

New third party script: Fetchr4SSP

Developer Steve Mooradian has just released a new PHP script for loading Flickr photosets in SlideShowPro for Flash. Named Fetchr4SSP, the script accesses Flickr's API, and allows you to load more content than what's available through SlideShowPro for Flash's RSS parsing. The script is sold for $4.95 (personal use) and $9.95 (commercial use), and comes with a free trial as well. Check it out.

06.18.08 | View SlideShowPro Director content on your iPhone

Even though internal work continues on SlideShowPro Director 1.2 public beta, that hasn't stopped a number of developers from finding creative things to do with the product's new (and still in development) API. Case in point: iShowPro from Visual23. It's a free (and in beta as well) template Director 1.2b users can use to display Director content on their iPhone. The developer is looking for feedback, so if you're running 1.2b, we suggest you give it a try!

06.16.08 | Denzmixed

We always wondered if someone would take full advantage of the "...Scale" parameters for SSP's preloader and timer animations, and designer Danis Sie certainly has with his engaging portfolio site Denzmixed. The timer and preloader are scaled way large and colored bright yellow for a crisp, modern look, while the embedded navigation buttons have been replaced with ones that match the style of his site. He also knocked out the background of SSP by setting "Content Area Background Alpha" to 0, which also allows him to load transparent PNGs for slideshow content that overlay his grayscale, layered background. As for his gallery, Sie purposely increased "Gallery Columns" beyond the number he actually needed, and set "Gallery Order" to "Left to Right," to create short groupings of album elements flush left in the interface.

Great customization work all around.

06.09.08 | SlideShowPro Director Hosting relocated

We wrote about this more in depth over at our hosting status blog, but for those who don't follow or subscribe to that site, the back-end for all hosting accounts was recently upgraded for improved speed and stability. The hardware we were using wasn't working as well as we'd like, so everything was successfully relocated late last week with very little downtime or issues. Everything appears to be running better than ever now.

05.30.08 | Back online

The slideshowpro.net server experienced about 2 hours of downtime this afternoon, but is now back online. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you sent any email between 1:30pm and 3:30pm Eastern time, you may want to send it again just to be sure we received it.

Hosting accounts on slideshowpro.com were not affected, as the hosting platform now resides on a separate server.

05.29.08 | SlideShowPro for Flash 1.8.8 released

A small patch that fixes a Media RSS parsing issue with Flickr feeds, plus embedding changes to the standalone version of the component. To read more about this release, see the updated version history.

05.23.08 | Director 1.2 Beta 5

After taking a unexpected break from 1.2 development to give our Director hosting service some much needed attention, we're back in business with beta 5.

This beta fixes a few small issues uncovered in beta 4, but the major changes are with the API. It's been completely reorganized and documented on our new wiki. We've also updated the API demo to match, so be sure to check that out.

For a full list of the changes, see this thread in the beta forum. Feel free to give feedback or ask questions about the beta in that forum as well.

05.21.08 | SlideShowPro for Lightroom 1.3.0 released

A new point release update for SlideShowPro for Lightroom is available for download. This release tackles two things in the 1.2 build that were less than optimal -- hyperlinks, and embed size.

First, hyperlinks. In the current version of SlideShowPro for Lightroom, toggling on "Attach Hyperlinks" adds hyperlinks to each slideshow image so that (when clicked) a new browser window opens with that same image. It worked okay, but was a wasted opportunity to offer users something more (which you'd naturally expect by clicking on something anyway). So...we revamped the hyperlink functionality by incorporating a new "Popup" system. This allows you to export a third, higher-resolution set of slideshow imagery as part of your export. When a slideshow image is clicked, the larger version of that image is loaded in a new browser window along with its title, caption, and also a preloader (that uses the same animation options as the slideshow itself). The popups are fluid, so the windows will scale to fit smaller display resolutions if necessary, and proportionally downscale the popup images if necessary. You also have control over all its parameters within Lightroom. Also, by using Flash instead of HTML to display your popups, photographers have a little more security for their work instead of directly linking to a physical image.

Second, embed size. SlideShowPro for Lightroom is embedded, by default, at 100% width/height for extra features like the Header and Wet Floor effect, and so that your slideshow always "floats" in the center of the browser window. The one downside is people using lower-resolution displays, for SWFs embedded at 100% incorporating content that's larger than the display size can cause unwanted cropping and display problems. With that, this version implements a workaround that detects when a browser window is too small to display your slideshow and (like HTML) displays horizontal / vertical scroll bars if necessary.

As usual, this update is free for all current users of SlideShowPro for Lightroom, and can be downloaded here (login required).

(mt) Collective Motion Project

Web hosting gurus (and sponsor of this site) Media Temple (mt) is using SlideShowPro for Flash to present a spectacular collection of videos for their Collective Motion Project. 23 videos in all, the gallery is styled using the "Fill" Album Preview Style with custom graphics containing each video title and byline. You can open the gallery to jump in and out of videos, or select one and let the entire collection playback and rotate automatically. But the most impressive part is the content itself, with some really amazing motion graphics work. Check it out!

05.16.08 | SSP for Flash 1.8.7 / SSP for Lightroom 1.2.7 released

Adobe released a public beta of Flash Player 10 yesterday, which we tested out to make sure everything was kosher, and found that the full screen button wasn't appearing (cause our player detection needed updating to detect the higher version). So we patched it up quickly and pushed out updated builds for both SlideShowPro for Flash and SlideShowPro for Lightroom to accommodate.

Updates can be downloaded through the account center.

05.13.08 | SlideShowPro for Flash 1.8.6 released

This is just a quick release that changes the default setting of the "Smoothing" parameter added to the previous version (1.8.5) to "Off" instead of "On." Why the change? Well, it turns out that the smoothing filter caused problems when loading an XML file from a domain where cross-domain permission is granted, but the links contained inside the XML file point to separate domains. May sound like an edge-case problem, but it's fairly common with Media RSS feeds. So to keep things from being broken "out of the box" and causing unnecessary confusion, the parameter is now opt-in.

Nothing else is different in this build, so unless you were having issues similar to the aforementioned, you don't need to download it or update your slideshows. Update can be download through the account center.

05.09.08 | SSP for Flash 1.8.5 / SSP for Lightroom 1.2.6 released

New updates for both SlideShowPro for Flash and SlideShowPro for Lightroom have been released. Most notable in this release is a new "Smoothing" parameter (that replaces "Video Smoothing") that helps smooth out some of the jagginess when odd-size images are scaled and displayed in both products. This goes for everything from slideshow content to the thumbnail navigation and album previews. The extra processing required to generate the filter is negligible, but you can turn it off if need be.

These releases also fix a few other little tweaky things that were discovered recently. You can read about those in the updated version history at our new wiki.

Both updates are free for all current users and can be downloaded through your account center member profile.

05.07.08 | New help wiki launched

A couple of months ago we mentioned that a new help wiki for our products was in development, and today we're launching it. The wiki collects together all the content in our PDF-based user guides, how-to forum topics, forum stickies, API documentation, and more. We're hoping that the new format makes finding the content you need easier and faster.

Another reason for moving everything to HTML is to provide documentation in more than just English. Every document has an "Other Languages" box at the top right for alternate translations in Spanish, French and Italian. Right now pretty much everything is in English, and that's where we could use your help. Anyone can help translate a document by clicking a language link and entering their login and password to the account center. You'll then have full access to the non-English version of that document.

As for our existing documentation, we will continue to include the PDFs with our product downloads for at least another few weeks. That will give us time to fix any wiki issues, and hopefully get everyone accustomed to using the wiki to find the information they need before pulling the plug on everything that's been moved.

So when you have a chance, give it a look and let us know how it can be improved, or if you spot any mistakes / omissions.

05.01.08 | ChrisVector.com

Cristiano Siqueira, aka ChrisVector, uses SlideShowPro for Flash on his simple, elegant portfolio site to show off his incredible collection of vector illustrations and Photoshop wizardry. Chris is using the "Fill" Album Preview Style for his gallery, which allows an image to be used for each album element. He also removed the stroke that surrounds the component (through Content Area Stroke Appearance) to give his content clean edges all around. The navigation is styled with a muted gray with a hint of green, and the navigation icons are styled white with the shadow/bevel effects removed for a flat look. The link preview popups load a separate group of thumbnails that are purposely desaturated for a unique look. And finally, a drop shadow was applied underneath the SlideShowPro instance on the timeline (not something that's built into SSP, in case there's confusion) to lift the presentation off the page.

In all, very well executed and with tons of amazing, creative content to explore. Check it out.

04.22.08 | SSP for Flash 1.8.4 / SSP for Lightroom 1.2.5 released

Small update that patches an issue with the Dissolve transition style in both products, plus tweaks to permalink loading and album preview formatting in the Flash version.

Both updates are free, as always, and can be downloaded through your account center profile page.

04.17.08 | Director 1.2 Beta 4

As betas usually go - two steps forward, one step back. With the new metadata functionality we introduced in Beta 3, we inadvertently broke the link template functionality. Also, the new EXIF/IPTC dialogues were not showing up in IE 7. We've fixed both of these issues with Beta 4, now available via the account center.

As always, we appreciate your feedback (good or bad) through the 1.2 beta forum.

04.16.08 | SSP for Flash 1.8.3 / SSP for Lightroom 1.2.4 released

New versions of SlideShowPro for Flash and SlideShowPro for Lightroom are now available. Version 1.8.3 of SlideShowPro for Flash includes a handful of bug fixes related to transitions and scaling (full version history here), while the 1.2.4 build of SlideShowPro for Lightroom simply brings the gallery up to the same build as the Flash version.

Both updates are free, as always, and can be downloaded through your account center profile page.

Director 1.2 Beta 3: EXIF/IPTC support expanded

Although the major focus for Director 1.2 has been implementing the new API system, there was one other thing we have been itching to improve for some time now. As many of you have pointed out, most images are embedded with a rich set of metadata about when the image was taken and what settings were used. This valuable data is known as EXIF and is inserted into the file by the camera itself at the time the image is taken. Likewise, it is common for images to include IPTC data, which is data that is input in imaging software such as Photoshop or Lightroom. Many photographers use this data to identify the copyright owner, give the image a caption, and so on.

Up until now, Director has been mostly ignoring this data. However, starting with 1.2 Beta 3, we've revamped the album settings tab to expose quite a few EXIF and IPTC fields. We've also exposed more Director data, allowing you to quickly create dynamic captions and titles with a mix of Director, IPTC and EXIF data.

Director 1.2 Beta 3 is now available in the users area. Please do remember it is still in the beta stage, so use with care. Screenshots of the shiny new stuff:

04.07.08 | Taz Goldstein

One of the more unique customizations of SlideShowPro for Flash, the video portfolio site of LA based director Taz Goldstein has a clever layout and great content to match. The layout slices an image of Taz in two, with the top area comprised of a SWF, and the bottom being regular HTML. The SWF loads with a darkened version of the top half of the photo, then SlideShowPro for Flash appears with the same image as the first, but at full brightness, textual navigation cues set inside, and a tad shorter so that the darker version still shows underneath the navigation (which has its background alpha set to semi-transparent. From there the image changes to videos to present three pieces from Taz's portfolio, of which the second one is really quite funny -- especially for fans of the 70s Battlestar Galactica (of which I most certainly am). Check it out!

04.04.08 | SlideShowPro for Lightroom 1.2.3 released

This release brings the Lightroom version of SlideShowPro up to date with the latest Flash build, plus a new export option: permalinks. This has been available in the Flash version for a while, but wasn't added to Lightroom because of the technical issues in doing so. But they're in there now, and make it quite easy to copy a direct URL to a particular piece of slideshow content. You can read more in the updated SlideShowPro for Lightroom User Guide (the new "Extra options" chapter). Update can be downloaded here.

SlideShowPro for Flash 1.8.2 released

Version 1.8.2 is now available for download. This release incorporates the changes to permalink functionality described earlier, a rewritten chapter on permalinks in the SlideShowPro for Flash Customization Guide, plus a couple of other small fixes. Update can be downloaded here.