SlideShowPro News

12.31.08  |  SlideShowPro for Lightroom 1.3.6 released

A new update for SlideShowPro for Lightroom is now available for download in the account center.

This release, version 1.3.6, allows you to override parameter settings assigned through param.xml with FlashVars in the player embed code. You simply create a FlashVars variable for the parameter you want to override (using the same name as used in param.xml) and assign a value. That FlashVars variable will then be used instead of the value assigned in param.xml. This allows you to do things like assign a dynamic XML File Path, change colors, etc.

Also updated in this release is an input field for “Text Strings.” The field is populated (by default) with a comma separated list of the English words used for things like the gallery navigation buttons, caption header, etc. You can edit these values to anything you like.

The release also includes the very latest version of SlideShowPro (1.8.9.8) which you can read more about in the version history.

To download the update, login to the account center, then follow the updating instructions if you need assistance.

12.28.08  |  SlideShowPro Director Hosting year-end special about to run out!

Just a friendly reminder that there are only three days left to take advantage of our year-end free month bonus. This special offer adds an extra month of service to any SlideShowPro Director Hosting subscription that’s new or is an extension of an existing subscription. The offer expires when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, so take advantage of it while you still can!

12.26.08  |  ThumbGrid “iTunes” demo

To further demonstrate what’s possible with SlideShowPro ThumbGrid, and to give Flash developers some ActionScript to play with, we’ve posted a new iTunes inspired demo. The demo loads album cover art in an interface that resembles the iTunes store, whereby you can navigate backwards and forwards between thumb groups, as well as jump to a particular thumb group using the circular navigation above the thumbs. The circular navigation is dynamically generated to include however many thumb group screens are present, so you can add/remove data at will without rebuilding the navigation.

SlideShowPro ThumbGrid users can download the FLA for this demo on the product download page.

12.24.08  |  SlideShowPro ThumbGrid 1.1.1 released

SlideShowPro ThumbGrid has been updated to version 1.1.1. This is a small update that changes the behavior of active thumbnails so they can’t be clicked while in an active state (but still rollover/rollout). It also includes a new event (switchThumbGroup) that broadcasts information about the thumb group being switched to. This is different than currentThumbGroup, which fires every time a new thumbnail is made active, for it only fires once when thumb groups switch.

Registered users of SlideShowPro ThumbGrid can login to the account center to download.

12.22.08  |  SlideShowPro for Flash 1.8.9.8 released

SlideShowPro for Flash (AS2, AS3 and standalone) has been updated to 1.8.9.8 and is now available for download in the account center.

This release is mostly a maintenance / optimization build that improves the efficiency / CPU usage of the media player interface, improved rendering of the timer element when positioned inside content of varying sizes, and some live preview tweaks. This release also changes the file name displayed when using the “File Name” Caption Header Appearance setting with images/videos loaded from SlideShowPro Director (now shows the original file name, not the generated one).

You can read more in the SlideShowPro for Flash version history.

12.17.08  |  SlideShowPro ThumbGrid 1.1 Released

A new 1.1 release for SlideShowPro ThumbGrid is now available for download in the account center.

This release includes two new features / parameters to modify when using ThumbGrid. The first, Active Focus, allows you to turn on/off ThumbGrid’s automatic selection of active thumbnails on the grid (either when a new image is loaded in SlideShowPro for Flash, or when the user stops manipulating the grid view after five seconds have passed). The second is Thumb Zoom Overflow, which allows thumbnails (when rolled-over) to expand outside the component area. You can allow thumbnails to overflow all four sides of the component, the left and right only, or the top and bottom only. The latter two options are especially helpful when ThumbGrid is scaled to the edges of the SWF with empty space only available above/below or on the left/right side of the component.

We’ve also modified the TGThumbEvent event class so that it broadcasts all related data pertaining to the image a thumbnail is associated with. This includes the existing currentThumb event, but also with the (two new) events rolloverThumb and rolloutThumb. These will allow Flash developers the opportunity to display things like image titles, captions, etc, outside of the component area when thumbnails are rolled-over in ThumbGrid.

The release also fixes a couple of small things, which you can read more about in the ThumbGrid version history.

12.16.08  |  Director 1.2.12

A new maintenance release is now available for Director, version 1.2.12. This release primarily resolves issues with EXIF/IPTC data encoding, along with various other fixes (check the version history for a full report). As always, you can download the latest Director release from the account center.

12.12.08  |  Holiday gift for SlideShowPro Director Hosting subscribers

If you subscribe to our SlideShowPro Director Hosting service, a special year-end gift just arrived in your email inbox:

As a way of saying “thank you” for being an early adopter of SlideShowPro Director Hosting, we’ve retroactively added a free month of service to all existing subscriptions. Which, for those who love to crunch numbers, equates to almost 75 years of free time. If only life itself were that easy.

But while we’ve got the Santa suit on, we have a special offer. Between now and January 1, 2009, any new or existing subscribers to SlideShowPro Director Hosting will receive an extra month of service by signing up for a new account or by renewing a subscription before the end of this year. If you still have plenty of time left on your subscription, you can still renew with the special offer and the extra months will be added to your total time.

Happy Holidays!

12.08.08  |  ThumbGrid and Lightroom?

We’ve received a number of emails inquiring about Adobe Lightroom and SlideShowPro ThumbGrid, and whether the two shall meet. Here’s the deal.

Adobe Lightroom (as of this writing) only accepts Flash galleries coded in ActionScript 2 or older. SlideShowPro ThumbGrid is an ActionScript 3 component, so in order for it to work with Lightroom it would need to be re-coded as ActionScript 2 (something we’re not doing), or Lightroom (the application itself) would need to be updated to support ActionScript 3. We obviously can’t speak for Adobe and their roadmap with Lightroom, but we can say that they are aware of the ActionScript issue.

So even if we wanted to offer ThumbGrid in a form that was compatible with Lightroom, we couldn’t. This is something we’ll be keeping an eye on going forward, but until then SlideShowPro ThumbGrid is exclusively a Flash component.

12.07.08  |  Top 10 user examples for December/November 2008

Every month loads of SlideShowPro users share their creations with us. From those submissions we pluck out the ten most creative, beautiful, interesting, or unique examples and post them here as well as in our monthly e-mail newsletter.

In no particular order, here are our top user examples for November and December 2007:

http://www.chrisrichey.com
http://www.nonjamckenzie.com
http://www.doggettstudios.com
http://www.interactcreative.com
http://www.fleka.me
http://calverphoto.com
http://www.bbandcompany.com
http://www.t-photographic.com
http://www.johnbrennanphotographer.com
http://www.trophyworldtour.com
http://nathanaelporembka.com
http://www.viahorizon.com
http://theyshootmusic.at/posts
http://www.anseladams.com/ansel_art/AA_slideshow.html
http://www.sakulsky.com
http://charlesmamarot.fr.nf
http://www.andreabuso.com
http://www.ronaldntan.com
http://www.wantusiak.com/?page_id=9
http://www.stefanradtke.com
http://www.geoffreycoleman.com
http://www.catart.it/index.php?n=news
http://www.vesic.com
http://www.petermeretsky.com
http://www.enyanet.com

Note: To respect the privacy of our users, only those sites shared directly with us are considered or included. If you’d like us to consider your site for next month, please submit your site through our contact page or post to the Show & Tell community forum.