I played with iWeb the other day. A pretty cool application. I didn't like the cheesy slideshow though that it generates for non .mac publishing so I set about to replace that. I figured out a way and posted the solution on the iWeb discussion list. I got pretty good feedback so I'm sharing my 2 seconds of mac community fame here.
Basically iWeb dumps a folder called "SlideShow_assets" into your published folder. You can replace that with whatever favorite javascript or flash slideshow package you want, it just needs to get the image urls info and current slide index from the opening photo page.
I kinda like the Couloir slideshow which is open source under the Creative Commons 'Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0' License. I adapted it to work with iWeb. Here's an example.
You can use the same modifications if you like, download from here.
Whenever you publish with iWeb, replace the SlideShow_assets folder provided by iWeb with this one.
iWeb has a very appealing approach to web content creation. I like using templates that are done by artists and look good but that are not straightjackets like Sandvox and others have.
So will I use iWeb to replace the current codemanic.com content ? Not yet, not completely, maybe in bits and pieces. I'm working on a python publishing script that will push only differences and do other magic and once I have that I might start using iWeb more for codemanic content. Haven't figured out yet how to convince it to allow flash content and there are other restrictions that bug me. We'll see how it evolves. There is hope seeing how iPhoto evolved from almost unusable and slow to an elegant and snappy application.
This was a great tip. Hopefully we'll see some more great examples come out.
Great "add-on". A must have.
Unfortunately when i tried to upload my page to my ISP server, i get an error; can´t upload the file/folder "master.css~"
Any idea why, or can i do anything about it?
Tks
You can safely delete the files ending in ~ and they don't need to be uploaded. They're just emacs backup files, I should have cleaned them up. Apologies.
does this only work when "publishing to folder"? as opposed to .Mac publishing..
I'm looking on my .mac idisk and cant' find this folder...
It only works for "publishing to folder". For .mac apple uses a different approach with more centralized slideshow assets and some server-side template compositing. It can be achieved there too but unfortunately I don't have the time to pursue it, sorry.
Hey, great job on your site. Out of curiosity, how does the code know to grab your photos?
Tanya
Thanks. The javascript context calling the slideshow already has the list of images (iWeb generates it like that) so the code grabs it from there.
Great interface! Seems to work well with all browsers except IE 5.2.3 (Mac version). Is this simply a problem at my end --or is there an issue? I realize that "real guys" don't use IE for the Mac, but if possible, it would be great to have this work with all browsers.
http://www.franforman.com/art is my wife's iWeb-based site with the IE 5.2.3 problem. Many thanks for the hard work.
I fixed it (it was a known problem, I just didn't get around to making a new package...laziness).
You can download the new package from the same spot.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong. I re-downloaded the file --and IE 5.2.3 is still mishehaving. The script gets stuck in the "loading" mode.
Great piece of work. I don't have dotmac account, so slideshow wouldn't have worked anyway, but with this, everything plays right out of the box.
See http://vosta.macbay.de/home/Photo.html for an example
Hi, and thx for the nice inout regarding the slideshows...
However i've run into some problems.. .I've replaced the slideshow_asssets folder with the one i downloaded here.. But the slideshow is still the same old one when I load the page? go figure..?
What am I missing?
Kind regards
F
This is a great! Thanks so much for your work. This is perfect for me and my students. We will eventually use iWeb to publish a lot of our work but it won't be on a .mac site. Three cheers!
Great and all for not publishing to .mac ... but has anyone attempted swapping out some of the files within the slideshows that are created when publishing TO .mac instead?
I think I'm going to tear into it to see what happens.
Excellent !!! Effective, simple and quick, in short perfect !
Excellent !!! Efficace, simple et rapide, bref parfait !
Uwe... many thanks for this 'plug-in'!!! I like iWeb but I felt a bit limited with the standard templates and the standard slideshow metallic look is a bit outdated...
I have been playing with iWeb for a couple of days now, but still can't make the slideshow work, it's not working with iWeb's default slideshow player nor the one you suggest here. Whenever a picture from a picture page is clicked or the START SLIDESHOW button is clicked, a new page opens up, and then nothing happens, I checked and all of the pictures are there within the server as published by iWeb to a non .mac account. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
this is a fantastic tip!!! thanks for the work and such an easy fix!
looks awesome! :)
okay well it works but the sliude show fetaure for me, doesnt work. i can manually have it go by clicking the hidden next button every time but what makes that so much better than just using what iWeb gives? Maybe i did something wrong....
http://www.psycho78tacoma.com/photo_gallery_test/Dec%2010.html
I have the same problem as the above post.
Note, when you go to my page (http://www.orlandospage.com/) and navigate to Photo Albums -> picture of me mountain biking.... Then click on slide shows.... My homepage appears.
I have yet to figure this out. Any help is much appreciated.
Great work though on other pages!!
I have the same problem as the above post.
Note, when you go to my page (http://www.orlandospage.com/) and navigate to Photo Albums -> picture of me mountain biking.... Then click on slide shows.... My homepage appears.
I have yet to figure this out. Any help is much appreciated.
Great work though on other pages!!
To Michael Smith and anybody else...
I have made this work for .Mac publishing.
http://web.mac.com/varkgirl/iWeb/Aardvarkland/Change%20Default%20Slideshow.html
Brilliant!! You should be marketing this!! Thanks for a great iWeb enhancement.
Wonderful work!! & So easy to use!!! Thank you so much!
Unfortunately, this won't allow you to "Right-Click,save-as" the photo in the slideshow...so someone can download the full (although still-reduced resolution) photo. Not with Safari anyhow.
Would be really cool if that worked.
I am so disapointed to see that Apple has not thought through all it's features on .com web sites with iweb. You have just cleaned up their mess. God bless you!! This is wonderfull!
I like this slide show very much, the only thing that I see wrong is when it loads it puts the image in the top left corner of the view area. Any Suggeestions on how to fix this. Also I get a flash security warning when it trys to locate the Sound File. This may not happen on a server but it does happen when tested locally.
I agree with most here that this is a great improvement over the non-dot-mac slideshow feature and should be marketed. Is this supposed to move to the next slide automatically or do you have to click for the next pic? I'd like to have my slides change every 2-3 seconds automatically.
Please check out
http://www.johnnybclub.com
and go to the Gallery page.
For some reason I cannot get your slideshow to work. Even when I try your "example" link on this page I get no slideshow when i click the relevant button. I just get a static first image and have to progress through the images manually. The same happens when I adapt my iWeb site with your folder. I have an iMac G5 Os 10.4.8 and launch web sites in Safari. Any thoughts on why it doesn't work on my computer.
What do you make of this problem?
http://homepage.mac.com/varkgirl/couloir.jpg
(screenshot)
hi uwe,
thanks for the great looking replacement slideshow for iweb. however, when i view my site offline through my browser i get a dialog box every time that reads, more or less : "Flash player has stopped a potentially unsafe operation. The following local application on your computer is trying to communicate with this intenet enabled location_______. click settings, you must restart application after changing your settings."
the settings button takes me to the adobe flash site. there is also an ok button. this happens everytime i run the slideshow. i haven't put my site online yet. would you please advise me how to correct this issue.
many thanks, dave.
Amazing, thank you so much. The default gallery is hideous isn't it!
I've tried out your suggestion on my wedding gallery,
www.jebaloo.com/wedding.html
take a look if you want.
I use 'Simple Viewer' galleries on my other website pages (look at the photography page to view it as the others aren't working currently), which I purchased the code for. The benefit of this gallery is that each image pre-loads, so whilst you are admiring one image, the rest are loading up in preparation, which means a lot less waiting time.
If I sent you the code, do you think that you might be able to adapt it for the use above.
http://www.airtightinteractive.com/simpleviewer/
Thanks so much,
jemima
Jemima,
Many iWeb users have already incorporated Simpleviewer, and for free!
Check out these links:
http://www.rowan-cottage.co.uk/Site/SimpleViewer.html
http://web.mac.com/varkgirl/iWeb/Slideshows
http://mountainmandan.net/webexport
http://www.hagus.net/taxonomy/term/14
I've loaded the Couloir slideshow as per the instructions above and it works great...when viewing the page with a Mac. However, when I view it with a PC I still get the same crappy brushed steel look. Is there any way to make it work on both Mac and PC?
Worked like a charm!
Is sound included like the exaple listed at the top of the page?
Hello, And thanks for a nice (and easy-to-do) change to the kitchen sink look of i-web´s slide show. 2 minor problems, however: Some, not all, of the pictures get distorted and enlarged when re-wiewed on the slide show, and sometimes the sound and arrows don´t show up. Any quick resolutions? Jon Halvorsen
Great looking slide show just perfect.
I'm using iWeb and publishing to a folder which is ftp'd through transmit to the server.
When I replace the slideshow assets folder and then upload the site when I go to check the site and go to the slideshow page I get a 404 error?
Help!