Total running time of peoples shows.

[centreofengland]

Hi,

Personally I like to download and watch all the slideshows that people post here, for inspiration and the fun of seeing what is possible but one thing which I feel is worth adding to slideshows is the total running time of the show. This should be on the first intro slide or perhaps in a forum post when you upload it.

I would love to know how long would I be watching a show for. There are some shows that are not very well compressed (jpgs and mp3s). So you download a massive file only to find that it only plays for 3 minutes. Then there are some, which the file size is not that large and yet the shows last for a long time.

Out of courtesy I think it would be good to know before hand the total running time.

I don’t like to quit a show before its natural ending but sometimes if its going on a bit I have done so but I may be missing out on a really good part of a show. If I knew at the start, the duration then I could decide if I want to wait and see what happens.

When I post a show I will be putting an intro slide stating how the long the show will run for.

What do people think, is this a good idea?

Or would you prefer your viewer not to know how long they will be watching for?

[LumenLux]

I think it is a very good idea. A courtesy for sure.

It would be nice if the duration could be listed before downloading. Short of that, but still helpful, is a one line readme file to be included in the zip file that contains the show itself. If we remember to do so, probably most of us are willing.

[Ken Cox]

agree to both of the above posts.

an additional "CUE Card" would be the name of the author so we can properly ID the work -- i have seen 2-3 names belonging to a show - the addie at the download site, the forum name and a different signature if by chance they post a letter -- very difficult to keep track of the ownership and thus very difficult to recommend the show/work.

ken

[centreofengland]

Hi, Glad you agree.

Photography is a very personal thing and so is music, so a slideshow which combines both of these media needs to keep the viewer hooked, Some shows may not keep your attention thoughout the show perhaps because the music used is not to YOUR liking, so knowing the total duration will help and stop people quitting the show because of such things.

Thinking about my original idea more I think that another thing which should also be stated at the start of any show is what screen resolution the show should be run at.

example 1024 x 768 pixels.

Some people use massive screen resolutions as standard such as 1600x1024 pixels, if the show was made with a 800x600 display in mind and the Fit to Screen option was ticked when it was made then the show is going to be very grainy at 1600 pixels, if not ticked then the show is going to be seen rather small in the middle of the screen.

Possibly something else worth stating is what minimum spec pc the show has been tried on. Remember not everyone has the latest spec PC so you should consider this when making a show (within reason!)

Yes also the Author should be mentioned and best of all a link to your website if you have one.

Thanks

Andy

www.derbyphotos.co.uk

[DaveG]

Hi Andy,

Whilst I agree with your original suggestion about running time and also, possibly, about screen resolution etc I wonder if the correct place for all this information is not in a readme file contained within a zipped folder together with the show?

A lot of people do this and it is common practice in a lot of shows downloaded from Beachbrook. However, how many of us read the readme files?

On your other point about the resolution of shows mine are made at 1024x768 because that is the current "standard" sensible size of projectors currently available (larger resolutions available at much higher prices). But I always set my show up to play in a 1024x768 window and not "fit to page". I recently saw one of my shows on a friends computer set to the maximum res of his 19 inch Sony monitor - it looked rather ridiculous in the middle of the screen but I think it would have been really gritty if I had not fit to the 1024x768 window. The other point is that to maintain the same quality at higher resolutions will bump the file size up considerably.

So, to sum up, all of this info is valid but where is the correct place for it - slide 1 or in a readme file? I'll go for the readme file.

DaveG

[Peter Coles]

With some Sequences it would be nice to be told how long they were at the end and then we could all exclaim,

"Really!"

[DaveG]

Perhaps Igor could put a real time clock in the bottom right hand corner counting DOWN to the end?......................

DaveG

[ronwil]

No thank you DaveG - Most disconcerting to a viewing audience. If the sequence is worth watching, time will not be noticed.

Ron [uK]

[DaveG]

I wasn't really serious Ron!

DaveG