SlideShowPro News

05.07.07 | SlideShowPro 1.5.0 Released

Version 1.5.0 of SlideShowPro is now available for download. What's new? A number of things, but first a 'warning' of sorts if you're an existing SlideShowPro user.

Numerous parameter updates

Ever since a thumbnail option was added for the navigation, the names of existing navigation-related parameters have sorely needed an update. For example, the old "Thumbnail Color" parameter could have described either the pop-up rollover thumbnail frame, or the color around the thumbnail links in the navigation. For new users it was a huge usability pain, and something I've delayed changing until a full audit could be done.

With that, version 1.5.0 rips a big ol' band-aid off the arm by changing 15 parameter names. For existing users of the component, this will cause problems if you update an older version of SlideShowPro. Nothing will break functionality wise, but because a number of the parameters changed names the current settings you have will not translate over to the new ones. It sucks, I know, but there simply isn't a way around it.

If you want to update an existing movie, I recommended you start over with a new FLA and copy your old parameter settings. If you're using ActionScript to set parameters, you'll need to update your code as well.

You can see all of the updated parameters in the 1.5.0 version history notes.

New stuff

Okay, enough bad medicine for one day. What about new stuff? Most notable in this release is the ability to assign your own navigation buttons to replace the default ones SlideShowPro uses. All you need to do is create some MovieClips, give them Linkage IDs, and assign them to SlideShowPro using the new "navIcons" array. They'll work just the same as the ones normally embedded in the component.

With the new navIcons array comes the start of a new sister product: SlideShowPro Button Packs. In case you haven't read the news here lately, they're extra sets of navigational buttons for SlideShowPro. I had mentioned a few weeks ago that there would be more than one set at launch, but I felt it was more important to get 1.5.0 out the door, so we're starting with one pack for now. More packs will be added in the coming weeks/months.

(By the way, if you've got 5 minutes to kill, watch the new Button Pack screencast to see how they work).

Outside of all that, some popular requests for new parameters have been filled: "Navigation Background Alpha" (so you can make the nav transparent), "Navigation Thumbnail Preview Stroke Weight" (control the stroke around the pop-up thumb preview), and "Navigation Thumbnail Link Stroke Weight" (control the stroke around the "Thumbnails" Navigation Type).

Fixes, tweaks

Then of course there are the bug fixes. Most were isolated and quite rare, but one in particular that affected a lot of people was fixed -- the "extra tall" first caption when publishing to Flash Player 7. (I'll have to write a separate blog post sometime about the root cause -- it was a strange one and definitely a bug in Flash Player 7).

Documentation

The User Guide was getting a bit large, so with the introduction of Button Packs and custom navigation buttons it felt like a good time to make a split. Hence, the general "User Guide" is more geared towards beginner / general Flash users, while the new "Customization Guide" is for intermediate / advanced Flash users looking to trick out SlideShowPro or learn more about how the component works.

Last but certainly not least, all of the documentation was updated to include any special instructions for Flash CS3.

Summary

That's it for now. Like all SlideShowPro 1.x updates, this is free for all purchasers of the component and can now be downloaded through your user page.