June 29th 2009
SMD Preloader Pack 2 is available!
SMD Preloader Pack 2 features 3 all new, custom built preloaders coded specifically for Showit! Just drag and drop these babies right onto the stage, specify your color and your set!
Click here to purchase preloaders.
Click here to see a demo.
Interested in something custom? Hit us up!
June 29th 2009
Ever get that stuck preview window that refuses to open when you press preview? Here’s a little workaround.
June 26th 2009
Favicons are good because they set your site apart from others in your visitors bookmarks. What’s a favicon? A favicon is that little symbol you see to the left of the URL in your web browser.
The easiest way to build a favicon is through these guys; http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/ Whats cool about that place is that you can create an animated favicon as well, much like the one we have for Spilled Milk. After creating and downloading your favicon, you’ll need to upload them to your server.
If you are hosting with Showit, then just drag and drop the favicon.ico into Showit. You won’t be able to have the cool animated favicon, but at least you’ll be able to have a normal one. It will automatically go where it needs to from there.
If you are NOT hosting with Showit, you can upload the favicon.ico and the animated favicon to the directory where your html files are located. There’s one little hack that you’ll need to do to the index page of your Showit Site. This is only to allow the animated favicon file to show, and is not necessary if your just displaying a static favicon.
You’ll need to export the site html of your Showit Site. Next, open up the index.html page with notepad, or preferably the free Notepad++. Paste the following chunk of code after the </style> tag, and before the </head> tag;
<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”favicon.ico” >
<link rel=”icon” type=”image/gif” href=”animated_favicon1.gif” >
Check out the screen shot below on exactly where to place this chunk of code.
When finished upload your new index.html page and replace the old one.
Congrats! You know have an cool favicon to identify your site in a bookmark list!
June 22nd 2009
As of now there is no “official” integration for Shoot Q, Studiocloud, or Tave; three of the most widely used Studio Management Systems for photographers. There is however a work around, however it will only work for folks with their own hosting account. We take that back, we have not tried with an account being hosted by Showit. Logically thinking it *should* work. Follow the directions below and instead of uploading the html page that you will create below, upload it within Showit. You’ll then need the direct link to this asset (found in the media library), which you will then paste in the field described in the photo below.
OK, so we know how Studiocloud works with generating it’s contact form, which then you can place into a standard no-frills, plain-jain html page. What we did not know was how Shoot Q or Tave handles new leads. After speaking with one of our newest clients this afternoon however, we we’re informed that Shoot Q generates an embeddable form as well.
Although you cannot embed this code directly into Showit, there is a temporary workaround. Let’s create an html page for your form. Open up your text editor (notepad or Notepad++ even better), and type the following code;
<html>
<head>
<title>Contact form</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor=”color name”>
<h1>Contact form</h1>
Place your embedded code here
</body>
</html>
This is a VERY basic html page as it will only hold the generated embed form provided by Shoot Q or Studiocloud (if Tave works in the same manner, then this method will work for you as well). Save the page as contact_form.html (the underscore is not necessary, just force of habit). Upload this page to your hosting account and make sure you have the correct URL to that page. Next open Showit and choose whatever text or image on the stage that will open up your contact form.
On the advanced panel in the links tab, choose “URL” and paste the URL of your contact form into the space provided. Choose “overlay” from that drop down menu.
Now, we’re not done yet. We want to form that overlay window to the size of your form (with a little breathing room of course). We’ll assume your form is 400×400. Add the following code to the very end of your pasted URL:
?height=410&width=410
In doing so you will tell Showit to resize the overlay window to the size of the form.
There you have it. You can use your generated contact forms from Studiocloud, Shoot Q, and Tave (if they work this way) with your Showit Site. Post your questions below and we’d be happy to answer them for you.
Happy designing.
June 20th 2009
We have something special for you today. A custom hand-crafted flower preloader coded specifically for Showit! Just drag and drop this baby right on your stage, specify the color in the advanced panel and your set!
Note – A few pixels on the right side are cut off when it’s viewed on the stage within Showit. It’s just peachy when viewed through a preview or online, but on the stage of Showit it’s a little finicky. There are some sizing issues we’re trying to figure out when it comes to making swf’s play nicely with Showit.
If your interested in a custom made preloader for your site let us know! Prices range from $35 – $250 depending on the complexity.
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