SlideShowPro for Flash can load both images and videos and display them in the Content Area as well as stream MP3s of background music or narration for each album. This chapter covers acceptable file formats, scaling, alignment, hyperlinks, preloading, caching, as well as a basic walkthrough on content creation.
If you publish to Flash Player 7, SlideShowPro for Flash will only load non-progressive JPGs. If Flash Player 8 or higher, SlideShowPro for Flash will load GIFs, JPGs (any type), or PNGs. All images must be 72 dpi. GIF animations are not supported in any player version. SWFs are acceptable, but it's recommended that you keep animation and interactivity to a minimum. The reason is that SlideShowPro for Flash layers content in order to create transitions, which can obscure button hyperlinks in a loaded SWF.
Like images, acceptable video formats are also dependent on what version of the Flash Player you publish to. Flash Player 7, 8 and 9 will all load videos encoded in the FLV format. On the bleeding edge is "Flash Player 9 Update 3" (9.0.115.0) which adds support for videos encoded in H.264, including F4V, MP4, M4V, M4A, MOV and 3GP. SlideShowPro for Flash can load these video types, but you should only do so if the majority of your web audience has this player version (or newer).
SlideShowPro for Flash accepts MP3 files to use as background audio for any album. The type of MP3 that's acceptable is dependent on what the Flash Player supports. With that, MP3s must be encoded with a sample rate of 44.1 khz one of the following supported bit rates (kbps): 8 / 16 / 20 / 24 / 32 / 48 / 56 / 64 / 80 / 112 / 128 / 160. Most MP3s meet these criteria, but if your audio plays back fast or slow, it's been encoded using an unsupported bit rate and/or sample rate.
The width/height of your instance, as well as the Content Area inside, dictates how large or small your content is when loaded. By default, content is loaded and proportionally downscaled (if necessary) to fit the Content Area. This may be modified through the CONTENT/Scale parameter in the Component Inspector. Options include "None" (scaling turned off), "Crop to Fit" (proportionally scales content until it fills the Content Area, then cropped), "Crop to Fit All" (just like "Crop to Fit" except it uses the entire area of the instance), "Proportional" (proportionally downscales/upscales content larger and smaller than the Content Area), and "Downscale Only" (proportionally downscales content larger than the Content Area). The following illustration shows their differences (green outline is the Content Area sized horizontally and vertically):
When content is scaled using the "Proportional" or "Downscale Only" options, you can choose whether the content is scaled to the edges of the Content Area through the CONTENT/Scale Percent parameter. By default it's set to 100%, but you can set this to a lower value to force the content to a smaller scale within the Content Area. This gives a little bit of breathing room between your content and the edges of the component.
If your content is smaller than the Content Area, you may also choose where your image is positioned inside. This is controlled through CONTENT/Align. Options include "Center", "Top Left", "Top Center", "Top Right", "Center Right", "Bottom Right", "Bottom Center", "Bottom Left", and "Center Left".
By default, slideshow content is loaded without applying any strokes or padded background around their perimeter. They're simply loaded as-is. If however you'd like to give each slideshow image and/or video a "framed" look, you may do so through the parameters noted in the left diagram.
Frames use a CSS-like system, whereby you can increase / decrease the amount of "matting" around an image by adjusting a padding attribute. In the case of SlideShowPro for Flash, this is handled by CONTENT FRAME/Padding, which must be set to a value higher than zero in order to apply a frame color and alpha transparency .
All slideshow content is invisibly preloaded before it appears. Progress is communicated to the end user through a "Pie" preloading animation in the center of the Content Area. When the animation ends, the requested image will load. More information on preloading can be found in the Feedback chapter.
SlideShowPro for Flash can cycle through all of the content in an album and invisibly load them into the browser cache. When used, any requested content that has been cached will display immediately without any preloading. Caveats include a slightly longer album startup process, as well as additional server load. If bandwidth isn't a concern however, it's there for you to use. To turn this feature on, set OPTIONS/Cache Content to "Only Thumbnails" to load just the thumbnail images used for link previews and navigation links (more on both of those in the Navigation chapter), "Only Images" to skip videos (if included) or "All" to cache all the content an album contains.