Which Flash Software for Website?

<p>I wanted to create a Flash website for my photos. Question is which software to use. Since I already have Lightroom 2.3, I was thinking of purchasing the "SlideshowPro" for Lightroom (the free presets in the version 2.1 aren't so great). Has anyone used Lightroom for webs applications or can you recommend any other that is just as easy. I also have ProShow Gold, but not sure this would work for anything other than web slide shows.</p>

<p>There are a bunch of templates for Lightroom web galleries. Search the Lightroom Forums (http://www.lightroomforums.net/) for suitable choices.</p>

<p>It's difficult to create an entire site (with home, contact, and links pages) only in LR but there are some template sets that address that issue.</p>

<p>I created a flat HTML front end and used LR-created Flash galleries behind that, for my previous site.I liked being able to add galleries easily, I didn't like having to completely regenerate the gallery to make even the smallest change to a gallery.</p>

<p>Now my site is non-Flash and it's easier to update.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Same here-- I built everything from HTML and put Lightroom galleries in iFrames on the page. A slideshow on the front page is an embedded flash slideshow.<br>

When a visitor hits the site, the html-based background and menus come up instantly, and the slideshow or galleries then come up. Seems to lead much faster than pure Flash sites.<br>

If you don't mind getting into the xml document that is part of flash, you can tweak the way the galleries look beyond what Lightroom allows for.</p>

<p>Ugh, why use flash? All it really does is make the website harder to use, usually, and make it impossible to use for people who have special access needs. Plus, there is the risk that search engines won't be able to fully index your site.</p>

<p>SlideshowPro is exceptionally good for the price. It's a little difficult to use with Lightroom though, I ended up purchasing the version for Flash because it's much easier to update and maintain. So if you happen to have a copy of Flash CS3/CS4 I would suggest getting SlideshowPro for that instead. It's the same price.</p>

<p>I wouldn't bother with the free stuff in Lightroom, they tend to be very slow once they're online. The other thing is that everyone who has Lightroom knows what they look like, so when you put up a Lightroom preset web gallery we all know it. I think it looks a little unprofessional for that reason.</p>

<p>I have scoured the internet for free, pre-built Flash slideshow galleries and they ALL suck. When you start having to pay for them, they can get pretty expensive. That's why SlideshowPro is so good.</p>

<p>SlideshowPro is exceptionally good for the price. It's a little difficult to use with Lightroom though, I ended up purchasing the version for Flash because it's much easier to update and maintain. So if you happen to have a copy of Flash CS3/CS4 I would suggest getting SlideshowPro for that instead. It's the same price.</p>

<p>I wouldn't bother with the free stuff in Lightroom, they tend to be very slow once they're online. The other thing is that everyone who has Lightroom knows what they look like, so when you put up a Lightroom preset web gallery we all know it. I think it looks a little unprofessional for that reason.</p>

<p>I have scoured the internet for free, pre-built Flash slideshow galleries and they ALL suck. When you start having to pay for them, they can get pretty expensive. That's why SlideshowPro is so good.</p>

<p>Charles and Damon, I am also interested in integrating a LR html gallery into my site, and would appreciate some help.<br>

Charles' portfolio is close to what I have in mind, with a few changes, such as showing fewer thumbnails per page in full and different aspect ratios, adding captions for each image, etc. But LR's customize options don't seem to support these. Can these be done "easily" by someone with limited sw skills?<br>

Damon, can you provide your site's url?</p>

<p>I used Imagevue <a href="http://www.imagevuex.com/">http://www.imagevuex.com/</a> for my website to display my port. The product is flexablie enought so you can set it up the way you like to display your photographs.<br>

Bill</p>

 

<p>This might help you to get something professional just for the photography purpose.<br>

<a href="http://slideshowpro.net/">http://slideshowpro.net/</a></p>

<p>Thanks,<br />Abhijit</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Damon, can you provide your site's url?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Sorry I didn't post sooner, but I just saw your post today.</p>

<p>I don't have the address in my profile yet, because it's not ready for public consumption, in that I haven't picked the photos or populated the galleries with the final photos. There's just a test gallery with random images and a test flash splash slideshow with random images and an info page with no info. But, for this academic situation, it's www.damondamato.com. No snickering, but let me know what you think about it. Click on "unitstills" to see the test gallery that's in place.</p>

<p>About modifying lightroom galleries beyond the options available-- you make changes in the xml and html docs that are created when you make a lightroom gallery. Lightroom makes the whole page, so I had to delete header items and other stuff from the .html doc. You change the appearance of the gallery itself in the .xml document.</p>

<p>The xml doc also contains the list of photos that the gallery contains, so you can change images from the xml doc rather than by rebuilding the whole gallery from lightroom.</p>

<p>The following is what the xml looks like, to give you an idea. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can change many of the stock parameters. </p>

<p><simpleviewergallery<br /> maxImageWidth="680"<br /> maxImageHeight="600"<br /> textColor="ffffff"<br /> frameColor="#181818"<br /> thumbnailFrameColor="#181818"<br /> frameWidth="0"<br /> stagePadding="50"<br /> navPadding="40"<br /> thumbnailColumns="3"<br /> thumbnailRows="6"<br /> enableRightClickOpen="false" <br /> navPosition="left"<br /> vAlign="center"<br /> hAlign="left"<br /> enableImageButtons="true"<br /> imagePath="slides/"<br /> thumbPath="thumbs/"></p>