SlideShowPro is a Flash component and Lightroom extension for presenting photo and video galleries online. The product is a great, inexpensive solution for creating professional slideshows with little to no coding required, making it useful for designers with no ActionScript experience or those looking to save time or work within a limited budget.
How SlideShowPro Works
SlideShowPro is a Flash component, meaning it is embedded in an existing Flash document. Once in Flash, it is easily editable with no coding required… simply adjust the parameters through the component inspector. It does require some web development experience, as it is necessary to create a new Flash document, drag in the component, and then export and embed the Flash file on a web page. The Flash component then reads an XML file to determine what photos or videos to display in the slideshow. The XML file is a simple text file that lists the files to present, and it can be generated with several export tools (including one for iPhoto) that make it so you never have to edit it yourself. The product also comes with instructions on how to create and edit the XML document, if necessary. While there are several steps to learn to create a slideshow, the time involved does not even compare to what it would take to create a slideshow from scratch with similar features. SlideShowPro for Adobe Lightroom allows for the creation of the same slideshows directly out of the Adobe software.
SlideShowPro Director
SlideShowPro Director takes the software to the next level with full online content management and publishing. Once the initial Flash file is set up, you or a client can login and upload images, create galleries and edit captions. While it does require some initial setup on the web server, it’s a great service to offer clients or a time-saver for personal use.
SlideShowPro Features
SlideShowPro offers a large feature set to fully customize your galleries. The component can be completely integrated into your design, even to the point of masking the fact that it is SlideShowPro at all. The size, colors, gallery speed, transitions, caption location and user interface are part of the 100+ formatting options. The component offers full-screen mode, background audio, preloading options and fully customizable buttons to make it your own. The documentation and user community are extremely helpful for learning to perform advanced functions.
Costs
What makes SlideShowPro even more desirable are the low costs of the various products. The Flash component is $29, and the Lightroom extension just $25, both great values for the development time you can save by using it. SlideShowPro Director is available for an additional $29, and requires either the Flash or Lightroom product. Button Packs (sets of navigation button styles) are available for the Flash version for $9.
