SlideShowPro News

07.13.10  |  New in Director 1.5: slideshow publishing

Back when we announced SlideShowPro Mobile, we explained that the mobile fallback player could be enabled simply by updating your Flash Player embed code (with code provided by us). What we didn’t explain was where the new embed code would come from.

We had a number of options for offering the code (including just plopping it in a wiki document and calling it a day), but one option rose above as the most elegant solution: integrated slideshow publishing. Below is a screenshot:

Director 1.5 (which will be a free upgrade for all Director users) will now allow you to embed a slideshow / photo gallery of any album or gallery without requiring any other products. You simply kick-up the “Embed slideshow” window from inside an album or gallery, choose a style, enter a size, and modify some of the player’s main options. Click “Copy embed code”, paste your clipboard into an HTML document, and you’re done! Desktop users will see the Flash version, while mobile clients (including iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) will see a clickable poster that leads them to the mobile player.

For new users of Director only interested in the default player, or those who only want to modify a handful of options, this will make slideshow publishing as easy as embedding a YouTube video. And because Director is powering it all, you’ll have a slideshow that works across all desktops, laptops, and compatible mobile devices, as well as the ability to update the content being loaded by both the Flash and mobile player anytime you want.

As an existing user, you may be wondering how your current slideshows factor into this. Here’s how it’ll work. You embed a new slideshow from Director in your HTML document that loads the album or gallery you want to display, then edit the player embed code to point to your own SWF. So you’ll be able to leverage the player embed code Director publishes, include support for the mobile player fallback, while retaining the ability to create your own custom slideshows using one of our SlideShowPro player plugins (including ThumbGrid).

Rest assured, we’ll be posting all the instructions you need (it’ll be easy, really!) at the time Director 1.5 beta drops (which will be this week — maybe even tomorrow).

If you have questions, fire away.