Offer slide show for download on site?

[DustyDesert]

I'm just learning all this web design stuff. I just learned how to re-design and update my site so I can maintain it myself. I have a demo slide show set to music and I'd like to offer it as a download from my site. How in the world do I do it? My show is 4.4 MB as an EXE file. I don't have any fancy WYSIWYG program, just plain old HTML written by hand.

Thanks,

~Cindy

[boxig]

Welcome Cindy,

First, zip your exe.

Then upload it to your server same way you upload HTML files.

(if you have one of those free web sites maybe you can't - I don't know)

On your web page write:

<A HREF="MyShow.zip">Download My Show</A>

Also you can upload your show to beechbrook.com from where people can download your show.

[alrobin]

Hi, Cindy,

I use WsFTP95-LE (a free download) to transfer files to and from the web-page server. It is designed for use in Win 9x operating systems, but I find it works well under XP too. However, as Boxig says, some of the free public sites may not allow FTP transfer, but it is so handy once you get it set up that it is worth a try. You may find it useful in uploading all your .htm and .html files when doing updates to your site if you don't use it already and your server allows it.

It is available at WS FTP95-LE,

or WS FTP95-LE (2) .

Here are some links to sites which provide info on how to use it:

Site 1,

Site 2,

Site 3.

[DustyDesert]

Thanks for the help! I did upload it to my site but I didn't zip it first. What's the reason for zipping? I've never zipped, only un-zipped and not always successfully. ANYhow, I have been using the ftp program you mentioned to upload my site so far and it worked for this, also. Great program!

So, how do I upload to Beechbrook? I didn't find where to do that on the link you left.

I'd be interested to know if this plays properly since my internet computer isn't quite up to the speed I wish it were and you guys are the experts. The music is mp3, and the pictures were all optimized in Photoshop to about 30-50kb, give or take a few.

http://daydreamsart.com/Information1.html

Scroll down to the "FREE DEMO!"in yellow letters and that's it.

~Cindy

[alrobin]

Hi, Cindy,

Looks like you have figured it all out - good on you!

You have some interesting and clever juxtapositions in your show. Well done!

By the way, as you have found out, you don't absolutely have to have your show in "zip" format - only for uploading to Beechbrook. You won't save much space zipping a PTE executable file. However, some people have trouble downloading .exe files and getting them past their corporate firewalls (some companies are paranoid about executable files finding their way through their internet connections, and rightly so). So, it is wise to zip the file - some people change the suffix from .exe to .p2e, instead, which the viewer then changes back to .exe before watching the show.

Here is the address for Beechbrook: Beechbrook Upload site . Just follow the directions. You will need a thumbnail photo of your show (120 x 80 pixels) so that an image representing the show can be posted. Since the space is limited there, you might consider sending Bill ("cottage" on the forum) an email asking him to post just the link to your own site, and people can then download through Beechbrook off of your own web site.

[DustyDesert]

This might be a stupid question, but do I just add the extension .zip to the file to make it a .zip? Just like many other extensions? Or do I need to convert it through my zip program? I know I get a lot of hits from state and educational places, and if the firewall thing is a problem with exe's then I'd like to offer it as a zip.

Thank you for the compliment and the advice!

~Cindy

[ccmanz]

I think you should use a zip program to zip the file.

This way it will not confuse people when they are

downloading the file.

If you are using XP you can right click on

your file DaydreamsDemo.exe

Send to..

Compressed (Zipped) Folder

This will add another file in the Dir

DaydreamsDemo.zip

I am sure you wil get more information if you need it.

Hope this helps.

cc

[DustyDesert]

Thanks! That was easy!

[Marianne]

Hello Cindy,

Nice show! I just played it on my computer which is Athlon XP 1500, 512mb RAM, and some of the fading is not quite smooth. My guess is that this is because your show was made for 800 x 600, but put in full screen mode. Since my screen is large (1280 x 1024) this makes the fading hard work for the processor.

If you know all of your customers are using screens of 800 x 600, there is no problem. Otherwise I think it will be better not to use the full screen mode.

But, it could rather well be that I should upgrade my system

Hope to see more of your shows.

Marianne

[DustyDesert]

Thanks, Marianne!

Okay, it's zipped and on my site. I discovered I wasn't "optimizing" images properly, so I pulled up the never before used Image Ready and dug out the manual and actually used it. I hope I haven't optimized the pictures TOO much. They're about 40-70 kb each! I also re-did the rest of the images on my site and now the pages load twice as fast. The file size is now 3.7 MB.

As far as the full screen mode, I tried the windowed mode and don't care for that look. The desktop is distracting. The "fit to screen" button is un-checked, I thought that was supposed to make a difference. I have downloaded other slide shows and they weren't in the "windowed" mode, so I don't know what I should do. I know the fading is REAL hard on slower systems. I haven't upgraded from the 4.01 yet. Would the latest update make a difference in the smoothness of fading transitions?

[Marianne]

Hi Cindy,

I'm sorry, I didn't make myself clear when I suggested not to use full screen mode. Because I use the Dutch language version I translated without checking. What I meant to say is that maybe it is better not to use the fit to screen option. But you say fit to screen is unchecked, so that can't be the problem.

Perhaps you can adjust the fading time?

Anyway, every new version has more or less improvements. Though not with every softwarepackage, with PTE it is always sensible to use the latest version.

Marianne

[Ken Cox]

Cindy

my system pIII 1.3 ghz with 512 mb ram

your demo show ran as smooth as silk

it is quite apparent that you have done your homework because it looks like you have incorporated pretty well all the features of p2e -- far more than i could ever hope to do

for others to see go to

http://daydreamsart.com/Information1.html

my only complaint was finding the demo -- had to crank my brightness up to max

ken

[DustyDesert]

Thanks, Ken, and I changed the free demo sign, you can't miss it now! I'll be re-doing the show so it will play smooth on more systems, but it has to wait for now. I'll leave it there until then since it does play smoothly on many systems.

~Cindy