Journal
SlideShowPro + Portfolio
27 December 2005 › 16 comments
Since everyone seems to be blogging about what they got for Christmas, I figured I would show off my new toy. No it’s not an Apple product, although I did buy an iPod Nano for my sister this year. My most exciting present was none other than SlideShowPro. I guess I’m just not a big fan of normal presents, because nifty little things like this are what satisfy the geek in me.
I first saw SlideShowPro used for a portfolio in the projects of Lea Alcantara. When I asked my wife if I could burn $20 on a Flash extension, she looked at me like I was crazy. It is my opinion that just like Mint, this is money well spent. One of the benefits of SSP is that once you purchase it, you can reuse it for as many client sites as you like, without having to buy another license.
Aside from pricing, I love it because it is XML based. This means that when I want to update my portfolio, there’s no need to even touch Flash. I just make changes to the XML file with a text editor, and upload it along with my new JPG file. This saves on file size, because you are not embedding images directly into the SWF file, but are pulling them dynamically from a directory.
It can even be used to display your Flickr RSS feed. Essentially, SlideShowPro is to Flash what a good CMS is to website content. It is a container that can be filled with whatever you want, even multiple galleries or photo albums. So, I have put it to good use, redoing my web portfolio yet again. Previously, I had limited myself to 25, due to a 5×5 grid, but with SSP I am now sporting 42.
I’ve made more than that, but sadly some are offline. I also neglected to archive each one during various computer switches and upgrades through the years. Still, I think it will make for a nostalgic walk down memory lane, as they are listed in reverse chronological order. You’ll be able to see a sort of progression as my skills have (hopefully) improved throughout the process.
Discussion + Dissension
Comments closed after 2 weeks.
#1 James Mitchell
Nathan,
Very cool. You will have to keep us (or me if you just want to email me directely) up to date on how you like SSP. Coincedentally or not I was just looking at that app two days ago.
#2 Nathan Smith
James: I am really liking SSP. I would highly recommend it to anyone who might have need for it themselves or in a client project. It’s just so simple to use, and very intuitive when making changes. Todd has made everything pretty much point and click from an extra panel in the Flash interface.
#3 Ryan Heneise
Very nice. I like your new portfolio. I got SlideShowPro a while ago and was extremely pleased. I’ve used it for several clients:
www.neighborhoodhomeworkhouse.org – the main image is done using SSP.
www.harmandermatology.com – the main image again is SSP.
Another example.
#4 Nathan Smith
Ryan: Man, I never would’ve guessed that it was SSP on those two main images, especially the Homework House. It’s pretty amazing how seamlessly SSP can fit into a site’s design. Great work, by the way. Looking back through my own portfolio, I get a bit disgusted. I need to break out of my design rut.
#5 Elliot Swan
The first time I saw it was on Mike Davidson’s site, I thought it was pretty cool. It looks to be pretty customizable? Do you have to have Flash to customize it? As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve actually been working on my own non-Flash slideshow app, but who knows when it’ll actually get finished.
#6 Ryan Heneise
Nathan: No dude, you do good work. I know what you mean though. I hate looking at my own stuff sometimes. I need to work on my portfolio too. The portfolio always seems to float down on the priority list somehow though.
#7 Ryan Heneise
Elliot: You do have to have Flash to customize SSP. However, once you’ve exported the slide show, you can modify it later simply by editing the XML file. There’s also a really nifty iPhoto plugin that lets you export photos, thumbnails, and the XML file right from iPhoto.
I just went over to Lealea’s site – that has to be the prettiest website I’ve seen in a while.
#8 Beth
Nathan, I’ve been thinking about making the leap and showing my portfolio by way of SlideShowPro as well. I already bought it, because it’s worth the $20 just to play with it, and I’m beginning to think it’s about the best thing ever for a lazy person who needs to update their work more often.
#9 Nathan Smith
Beth: Exactly! I have done Flash slideshows in the past, but I love that this one is so simple and doesn’t need embeded images. It’s great because it doesn’t require using Flash everytime I want to update. I can just resize an image, and then simply upload it along with the changes to the XML file.
#10 Matt Heerema
Nathan,
I bought this last month with similar intentions. I have yet to get around to using though. Nice work.
#11 Beerzie Boy
Slide Show Pro is great; I highly recommend it and it is well-woth the $20 I spent. Check out the small rotating image on our front page and on this gallery.
#12 Nathan Smith
Matt: Hey, that’s cool. SSP is pretty intuitive and easy to set up. Just make sure that if the page you’re displaying the SWF on is in a different location than the XML file, then change the location in Flash to an absolute reference.
Beerzie: Man, those galleries are really nice. That 2nd photo in the High Speed gallery is amazing, how the bullet is cutting right through the Queen of Hearts. I didn’t even know it was possible to shoot that accurately!
#13 Greg Balzer
Nathan,
I really liked SSP too, and used it in an online portfolio site: http://www.rhdo.com/projects/14park/index.htm
The only thing I wrestled with was getting the Flash object code to validate correctly. Not sure my solution was the best – but it works.
#14 Nathan Smith
Greg: Feel free to check out the code I’m using on my portfolio page. It’s really simple, and validates. It’s especially nice for placing small, quick loading SWF files like SSP. IE has a slight problem with not playing Flash until it’s fully loaded. Since all the images are external, and pulled via XML, it doesn’t matter. Additionally, you can style
objectdimensions with CSS.#15 Petros Dimitriadis
SSP is great and very easy to use. I have used it for my bosses website: view here where i managed to put a help file as well.
Also in my website for my portfolio: view here
Very cool website Nathan and very good article about the image sizing.
#16 Nathan Smith
Petros: That is some very nice work, both on yours and the photography site. I am glad you found my Flash and image scaling articles helpful. I am still considering the practicality of such a method, as using
emsizing for pictures gets kind of tedious. I mainly just wanted to make people aware of it.