SlideShowPro News

08.31.07 | Quartz Button Pack buttons updated

For those brave souls who are trying out the release candidate of SlideShowPro 1.6.0, and are also using the Quartz Button Pack, we've updated the set to include full screen / normal screen buttons for 1.6.0's new full screen mode. If you've purchased Quartz but aren't testing out 1.6.0, there's no need to download the updated set. Nothing else has changed expect for the extra group of buttons. This updated pack will replace the current pack once 1.6.0 goes final.

As usual, login to your profile and click the download link to get them if interested.

08.30.07 | Joel Aron Photography

Photographer Joel Aron is using SlideShowPro on his portfolio site to showcase his large collection of original work. SlideShowPro's "Crop to Fit" Album Type is dramatically used with large images and in-line typography serving as the links for his albums. Plenty of great images as well, so be prepared to stay a while.

08.29.07 | Content aware image resizing

This isn't SlideShowPro related per se, but I thought it would be of interest. Check out the crazy video demonstration below of software that resizes images, but without resizing the content contained therein. Huh? Yeah, just watch.

08.27.07 | Release candidates now available

After a full summer of development, and a couple of weeks of private beta testing, we're finally able to publicly offer release candidates for both SlideShowPro 1.6 and SlideShowPro Director 1.1. Feature wise, a lot has changed in both products, but that's only half the story. We've also put a considerable amount of time into under-the-hood improvements. You know, the kind of stuff that never gets a fancy bullet point, but is there nonetheless.

With that, if you're feeling brave, you can now login to your user profile and download the first release candidate of both products (assuming you own both, of course). But before you do, please remember that both are still considered betas. We've spent a lot of time kicking the tires on both, and feel strong enough about their stability to offer both publicly. But we fully expect there to be issues that will require resolution before going final with both products.

SlideShowPro 1.6.0 RC1 installs as a separate extension in Extension Manager, so installing that is pretty straightforward. SlideShowPro Director 1.1 RC1 on the other hand, because we're dealing with server-side software, isn't so straightforward. If you download Director 1.1, refer to the sticky entries in the Director 1.1 Release Candidate forum before attempting to install / update your existing installation of Director, or install a new build.

New forums have been setup for both products as well. We encourage anyone who downloads and uses these releases to provide feedback through those channels.

Before I go, one last thing. Many thanks to our private beta testers who were kind enough to help kick the tires. Their time and feedback was more than helpful.

08.17.07 | Got video? Show us!

As demonstrated a week ago, the next update to SlideShowPro will support FLV playback. With that, we'll soon be updating this site with an example of SlideShowPro playing back video. That's where we could use your help. We could lift some movie trailers or other stuff that doesn't belong to us, but that's not nice. So we're turning to you! If you've got some video we could use for demonstration purposes, we'd be happy to give you credit and a conspicuous link back to your web site.

What kind of video are we looking for? Anything that's production quality, 16:9 aspect ratio, and around two or three minutes in length. It can't contain profanity, or anything offensive. We'd also prefer something non-promotional/advertorial (otherwise it might look like we're selling something else). Short films, music videos, experimental stuff, whatever you're willing to share!

If you'd like to help out, email us a URL to your masterwork(s). You can also shoot us an email if you have any questions.

Thanks in advance.

08.15.07 | Screenshots of Director 1.1b

For those who aren't beta testers, here's a couple of screenshots of SlideShowPro Director's "Snapshot" page, which is your central hub for overseeing recent activity, copying data feeds, and other tasks. Here's a couple of hi-res previews:

Snapshot page: black (default) theme

Snapshot page: white theme

By the way, these screenshots were grabbed using a private beta of Skitch, a cool new utility for OS X. We actually have 4 beta invites (gone!) we're not using, so if you're a Mac user and would like to try the app out, hit me up.

08.10.07 | Beta testers needed!

Would you like to help "kick the tires" of SlideShowPro 1.6 and Director 1.1? If so, jump over to our beta signup page and send us your email address. Please be sure to use the same email address that's part of your slideshowpro.net user profile so that we can verify your identity. The beta is open to any user who owns a license for either product, but we will stop asking for participants once we feel the room is full enough. So if you're interested, signup now, and make sure you read the Terms & Conditions first. Thanks!

08.08.07 | SlideShowPro 1.6.0 Beta video demo

Remember all those times when I said that "video wasn't supported" in SlideShowPro? And that loading FLVs was a bit of a hack? Well, not anymore. The next update to SlideShowPro, version 1.6.0, will support direct linking to FLVs from your XML file, just like you would an image. So all you have to do is create an FLV, link to it in the XML, or upload it to Director. Here's a little demonstration I whipped up using a trailer for the movie Ratatouille.

The demo doesn't show this (cause there's only one piece of content), but if SlideShowPro is set to "Auto" Display Mode when reaching a video, the video will temporarily switch Display Mode to "Manual," and after completion of the video will switch it back to "Auto" and progress to the next "image." This way you could line up more than one video, or mix videos with photos, and they'll playback in a loop.

As for the media player, it appears at the beginning of a video for 5 seconds, then slides out of the way. If you want it back, move your mouse down towards where it would normally be, and the player will appear. And like all other parameters in SlideShowPro, you'll have complete control over its color, text size, scale, etc. You can also turn off the navigation to just show video and the media player if you'd like.

And one last thing -- your videos will scale just the same as images. So if they don't fit exactly, you can proportionally scale them, downscale larger videos only, or scale and crop to fit.

So there you go! Back to work!

08.05.07 | Director Preview Video: On-demand image publishing

If you are wondering why we went silent after our first few preview videos for Director 1.1, this post should explain quite a bit. Somewhere along the line we had an "ah-ha!" moment that led to a drastic change in how Director publishes images for SlideShowPro. We realized that generating content by manually filling in values in the "Generate content" tab was a tedious, backwards way of doing things. After all, if SlideShowPro already knew what size images it needed, why couldn't it just "tell" Director automatically? So, beginning with SlideShowPro 1.6 and Director 1.1, that's exactly what it will do. The generate tab is long gone. You simply upload your full quality imagery into Director and SlideShowPro will request the exact size it needs, receiving an optimized copy from Director on the fly.

For more on this change and why it was needed, check out a quick preview video covering the new on-demand image publishing system, then let us know what you think at this dedicated thread in the forums.

08.01.07 | SlideShowPro / Director update pricing and features

Alrighty everyone! After a considerable amount of work, here are a few highlights from the next versions of SlideShowPro and SlideShowPro Director.

SlideShowPro 1.6.0

• FLV playback support
• Integrated media player for handling video and audio
• Transition pause countdown animation
• Revised play/pause feedback element
• Ability to remove navigation bar from view when gallery is open
• Centered text in captions, album titles and descriptions
• More parameters to control the width, height and scale of thumbnail pop-up previews and album previews
• Ability to peruse links in the navigation without snapping back to current image in view (when in auto playback mode)
• Lots of visual improvements to live preview mode to make editing easier

SlideShowPro Director 1.1

• Complete user interface and design overhaul
• Vastly improved organization of content
• New on-demand image publishing system
• Image sharpening
• Ability to copy/move images between albums
• Ability to batch copy/move/delete images in any album
• Editable template system for assigning hyperlinks to images
• Automatic reading of IPTC caption metadata (if available) on image upload
• International language support
• One-click copying of XML file paths
• Interface themes (comes with two - black and white)
• User avatars
• Integrated server/installation information
• Ability to "remember me" when logging in

And now for the best feature of all! Both updates will be free of charge to all current users. Yes, free. Why? Because we're crazy. No, seriously, we could have easily up-ticked both to "2.0" and passed around the collection plate, but we don't roll like that. Consider it a "thank you" for your constructive feedback, word-of-mouth support, and for taking a chance with us in the first place.

All that said, there is one small caveat for a small percentage of Director users. SlideShowPro Director 1.1 will feature a new key authentication system (and revised license agreement) that will allow you to install the software at one domain, and one domain only. If you need to install Director under a second domain (or more), you will need to purchase a new license for each additional domain. Most people use Director at only one domain anyway, so this won't impact the majority of users. But everyone else will need to purchase additional licenses if they administer Director installations on multiple sites.

If you're one of the affected people, you may be thinking "W-T-F." But hear us out. The reason for moving to a system like this is to prevent the escalating issue of software piracy, license agreement abuse, and to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. We dislike these type of systems just as much as anyone else, but for the continued development and support of Director it's simply unavoidable.

Alright, so now that we have that out of the way, the next series of blog posts will highlight some of the aforementioned features, including a demo of SlideShowPro playing FLVs, and a thorough explanation of how Director's new "on-demand publishing system" works. We'll also be offering a private beta for both product updates, which we'll announce more information about in the coming days.