A+ Web Show Maker

A+ Web Show Maker is designed to work on any Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP based computer. The only requirements are you should be running in a color mode higher than 256 colors. The program is designed to work correctly in graphics modes of 16-bit color or higher. Running A+ Web Show Maker in 256 color mode may cause some of the generated graphics to not appear correctly when running the program, or they may not appear correctly in the browser as well.

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Shareware:

This program is being distributed as shareware. Which simply means you get to try the product out for free to see if it fits your needs. If you decide to register this program and receive customer support and free updates, a registration fee will be needed to unlock the full version. Click here to register online 24 hours a day!

Restrictions When Not Registered:

The only restriction that is placed on this product while it is not registered is the amount of images that can be displayed in each A+ Web Show Maker. A total of 5 images can be used to create your A+ Web Show Maker while the program is not registered. After you register this limitation will go away. (You don't need to download anything else to register.)

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Program Overview:

A+ Web Show Maker was designed make it very easy for anyone to make a professional looking Web SlideShow using their own pictures and sounds. This Web Show can be displayed on your own computer, or easily uploaded to any web server where it could be viewed by anyone in the world. Using your existing JPG, GIF, BMP images you can literally transform your images into an interactive WebShow in a matter of minutes. A+ Web Show Maker handles all of the tasks of generating your web site documents. You do not need to know anything about web page creation or editing. The end result is a very professional looking interactive WebShow.

Creating a WebShow is great for:

* Displaying your family photos on the Web.
* Displaying your company products on the Web for your clients to see.
* Displaying Real Estate properties for view.
* Running an interactive SlideShow at your place of business.
* The uses are unlimited!

Detailed ToolTips!

This program has been designed to minimize the need to "read the help file" as much as possible by including detailed "tool tips" that pop up when the mouse is moved over a button or important area of a screen. If a tool tip pops up while you are working with the program please take a second to read the tool tip. It will allow you to learn how to use the program very quickly and without confusion.

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A+ Web Show Maker - Main Screen

When you first run A+ Web Show Maker you will be presented with the main program screen. This screen allows you to view your list of created webshows, create a new webshow, edit the selected webshow, preview and publish the selected webshow. You can remove a created webshow from your system by clicking on the "Delete" button which is located near your list of existing webshows.

New WebShow - Create a new A+ Web Show Maker!

Edit WebShow - Edit the currently selected A+ Web Show Maker

Preview and Publish WebShow - Preview and/or Publish the currently selected A+ Web Show Maker

About - Learn more about this release of A+ Web Show Maker

Register - Learn how to register and remove the 5 image limitation.

Help - This file.

Home Page - Visit the A+ Web Show Maker home page on the internet!

Exit - Close the A+ Web Show Maker program and exit.

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A+ Web Show Maker - Editing Your WebShow

Clicking on "New WebShow" or "Edit WebShow" will bring you to the A+ Web Show Maker editor. Here you will be able to select the images that you would like to include in your WebShow.

The A+ Web Show Maker editor is basically broken down into 2 sections. The left side of the editor contains a directory (Source Images) of your hard drive and other storage media you may have installed on your system. Here you can browse your folders and files to look for GIF, JPG, BMP images that you would like to include in your WebShow. You can click on a filename to preview what the image looks like. In the file list you can select one or more images to include in your WebShow.

Add Selected - Click on this button to add the selected image files to your webshow.

Add All - Click on this button to add all of the image files found in the selected folder.

On the right hand side of the editor is a list of image files that you have selected to be in your webshow. You can click on a file to preview what the image looks like. If you double click on an image you will bring up the PROPERTIES screen for that image where you can:
* Add Background graphics to the web page.
* Add sound to the web page.
* Add a text caption under the picture.
* Add a URL link to go to if the user clicks on the picture.

Remove Selected - Click on this button to remove the selected image file from your webshow. Note: This does not remove any image files from your storage media. It just removes the image from your webshow list.

Remove All - This removes all images from your webshow.

Cancel - Exit the editor without saving your work

Ok - Save your work and exit.

Up Arrow - This moves the selected image up 1 position in your webshow.

Down Arrow - This moves the selected image down 1 position in your webshow.

Properties Icon - This allows you to edit the properties for the selected image. You can also double click on an image name it edit it's property settings.

Title Of WebShow - This is the name of your A+ Web Show Maker.

Author - This is the name of the person or company who designed the A+ Web Show Maker.

Home Page - If you would like to include a link to your home page (or any other internet site for that matter) enter the full url here. (http://mysite.com)

Email - If you would like to include a link to an email address please enter the email address here.

Create Title / Ending Page - This allows you to optionally create a title and or ending page that wll be displayed with your web presentation. You will need to configure the settings for this two areas.

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Editing The Properties Of Your A+ Web Show Maker Images.

You can double click on an image or highlight an image and click on the properties icon button to bring up the properties screen for an image. Here you can edit the text that will be displayed with the image, add a link or background image. And even add a music file to play in the background when this image is displayed. (The music feature may not work on all browsers. But it has been tested and works fine under Internet Explorer.)

Alt Text - This is the text that gets displayed while the image is loading in your browser. On most browsers this text will pop up when the mouse is moved over the image.

Caption - This is the text that gets displayed under the image when it is shown. You should enter a description of the image here.

Link - Each image in your A+ Web Show Maker can have it's own link to a page on the internet (or intranet). This greatly expands the power of A+ Web Show Maker. Just remember that you will need to enter the full url here to make it work correctly. (http://mysite.com)

Background Image - Each image in your A+ Web Show Maker can have it's own background image. A+ Web Show Maker includes several background images you can use or you can click on the file button to choose an image from your storage media.

Loop Audio - When selecting your background audio files, you can check the Loop Audio box to play the audio file over and over when the page is displayed. Otherwise it will just be played once.

Background Music - Each image in your A+ Web Show Maker can also have it's own music background file. Currently this feature may only work with Internet Explorer, however in the future more browsers will support this feature. You can use *.MID or *.RMI files as your background music source.

Select A Function - Here you will find a drop down list of functions that will help you manipulate your image files a little easier. Simply select a function and then click on the "Execute" button to execute selected function.

You can scroll through your image list in the properties window by clicking on the up and down arrows. Click on "Ok" to exit out of the properties window.

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A+ Web Show Maker - Publishing Your WebShow

After you select the images you would like to use in your A+ Web Show Maker it's now time to turn these images into a document that can be viewed on the internet. (Or you can decide to view it on your own computer.) Nothing special is needed to view your created A+ Web Show Maker. That's because the A+ Web Show Maker publisher generates standard html code that can be viewed by just about ANY browser. There are several features of the A+ Web Show Maker publisher that allow you to greatly customize the look and feel of your published A+ Web Show Maker.

Working With The A+ Web Show Maker Publisher

The A+ Web Show Maker Publisher screen is divided into 5 sections. These 5 sections have important options that when combined are used to create the finished WebShow.

Index Style For WebShow

There are 4 ways you can create your index style for your published A+ Web Show Maker.

Standard Index Slide Show - This is probably the most common form of slide show on the web. It allows you to navigate from image to image. There is no index or catalog page, the first page of your A+ Web Show Maker displays the first image in your show.

Auto Play / Seconds - Auto Play is only available for the Standard Index Slideshow. Check the box to enable auto play. When auto play is selected, the web presentation will automatically go to the next image and will repeat when at the end of the presentation. You may also enter the number of seconds to display each page for.

Framed Index w/ Text Links - This adds to the standard A+ Web Show Maker by creating an index page that gets displayed in a frame while the actual image pages are displayed to the right. This allows you to view the entire list of images on the left had side of your screen in a frame. Each time you click on one of the links on the left it displays the image page on the right hand side of the screen.

Framed Index w/ Thumbnail Links - This is the same process as the above style, but instead of text links for each image, a set of thumb nails is generated to represent each image. This creates a much more graphic navigation system. By clicking on one of the smaller thumbnails you can view the image page for that image.

Note: You can set the default width of the left frame by modifying the "Frame Width" property found in the A+ Web Show Maker Publisher.

Multi Picture Index Using Thumbnails - This index style should be used when your A+ Web Show Maker consists of many images. A vast structure of thumbnails is generated and linked to automatically to provide superior navigation features for your A+ Web Show Maker. You can control how many columns and rows to use for each preview page. (thumbnail section) You can also control the maximum width and height of each thumbnail that gets generated. An optional border can be selected to appear around each thumbnail table.

Suggest Low - Click on this button to suggest a thumbnail size, plus the number of columns and rows for display in "low resolution".

Suggest High - Click on this button to suggest a thumbnail size, plus the number of columns and rows for display in "high resolution".

Navigation Links

You can choose between "text" or "graphic" links. These are the links that are used to navigate through your published A+ Web Show Maker. If you choose "Graphic" you can then select the file box to choose a graphic style for your navigation buttons. You can also choose to display the navigation links before or/and after each image.

Add Drop Down Index - Check this box to add a drop down index reference to each image in your webshow. This allows the user to click on a specific image in the show without having to navigate forward or backward in the show.

File Names

The file name section allows you to choose the name prefix and extensions used for each web page generated with A+ Web Show Maker plus it allows you to configure a "header" and "footer" file to merge with each web page that is created.

Page Prefix - Default value is "index". This is the name for each main image page that gets created. Your first (and starting point) for each A+ Web Show Maker would the default name given here. Using the default values, "index.htm" would be the starting page for your A+ Web Show Maker.

Image Prefix - Default value is "image". Image pages get created when creating a multi picture thumbnail style index. These are the individual image pages that will be generated.

Thumbs Prefix - Default value is "thumbs". When thumbnails are generated, they will be named using this prefix. (thumbs1, thumbs2, etc.)

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Header and Footer Files - These allow you to add HTML code before and after the A+ Web Show Maker pages that get created. This is an advanced topic and should only be utilized by those individuals who are familiar with HTML syntax.

Each "header" and "footer" file should be in ASCII text format, created with a text editor. Most web page editors use this format. When you create your header and footer files to merge with your A+ Web Show Maker you should make sure that they do not contain the following HTML headers: <body> or <html>.

Why user header and footer files?

If you have a custom menu bar or other "block" of html code that is on your web site you can add this to your A+ Web Show Maker to make sure the A+ Web Show Maker fits the look and style of your web site. Plus with the addition of header and footer files, this greatly increases the navigational possibilities of each A+ Web Show Maker.

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Text Sizes And Colors

This section allows you to customize the appearance of the text in your A+ Web Show Maker. If left alone, the default values for your web browser will be used. But if you like you can change the font, size and color, of your title, captions and links in your A+ Web Show Maker.

Choose Where To Publish Your WebShow

A+ Web Show Maker allows you to publish your webshow to any folder on your system or you can upload it to your web site using FTP.

Folder - Click in the file box to select a folder where to publish your A+ Web Show Maker. You should use the "Preview" button to get a feel for what your webshow will look like before publishing it to a folder on your system.

Note: When A+ Web Show Maker "publishes" a webshow, ALL files needed for that webshow are published. This means if you publish to a folder on your system, all of your image files, music files and backgrounds PLUS the actual web pages will be published to that folder. If an existing file by the same name is in the target folder it will be replaced by the new file.

FTP Server - A+ Web Show Maker can actually publish your webshow to your web site by transferring the files via FTP. This means after you have "Previewed" your webshow and are satisfied with the results, with a click of your mouse you can upload your A+ Web Show Maker to your web site!

Host: This is the name of your FTP server. (ftp.myhost.com)
User Name: Your user name to access the server.
User Password: Your password needed to access the server.
Dest Path: If you would like to upload the webshow to another folder, you need to add the complete path (from the root) here. Example: myfolder/ This would cause the webshow to be uploaded to a folder called "myfolder" on your web site. Make sure to include the "/". Some web sites may need to have the folder character reversed such as "myfolder\". If this value is left empty the webshow will be uploaded to the root directory of your web site.

Advanced FTP Settings - This menu allows you to configure the FTP settings for the timeout value and firewall settings. The timeout setting allows you to configure how long A+ Web Show Maker should wait to upload a file. The default value is 3600 seconds which is 1 hour. This value should normally not be changed since most file uploads will be alot shorter than that.

Firewall Settings - As of this writing the firewall support features are in an "experimental" stage. We need your feedback if this is working for you or not. If you are having problems using the firewall settings please send us an email letting us know. In the mean time you can always publish to a folder and then upload your A+ Web Show Maker using another program.

Defaults - This resets the A+ Web Show Maker Publisher values to their default settings.

Preview - This allows you to preview your webshow without actually publishing to a folder or ftp site.

Publish - Click on this button to actually publish your A+ Web Show Maker!

Exit - Exit the A+ Web Show Maker Publisher.

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A+ Web Show Maker Features

Easily create professional looking interactive Web Show's using your own pictures and sounds.

Anyone can use this program. You need no knowledge of programming or web page creation.

Put your family slide show on the web for other family members to see!

Create business slide show presentations with your company products and information.

Generates highly compatible browser friendly html code.

Add links to any internet site from each image in your A+ Web Show Maker.

Add captions and alternate text for each image.

Add music or sounds to your presentation. (MP3, MIDI, WAV)

Add a background image or music file for each image.

Automatically generates thumbnails when needed in your A+ Web Show Maker.

Customize your navigation links using text or built in graphic buttons.

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Tips On Publishing

There are a few things to consider when publishing your A+ Web Show Maker to the world wide web for others to view. Try to keep your image graphics (GIF,JPG) size to around 500x375 or less. This is a good size for most pictures and will allow your slide shows to be viewed from a wide variety of compatible browsers. Another thing to be concerned about is the size of your image files. The larger your pictures the longer they will take to download from your web site. When creating your image files, carefully choose the level of JPG compression to apply to your image files. This can greatly reduce the size (and sometimes the quality) of your image files.

Note: A+ Web Show Maker does not resize your graphics.

Take advantage of the fact that each image can have it's own link to the internet. For instance you could use A+ Web Show Maker to design a slide show of your products and then each image could have a link to it's main product page or order page.

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Support:

All customer support for this product is handled via email. If you have any questions or comments about this program please take the time to send us an email at: support@cmbsoftware.com

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How To Register:

You can register this program 24 hours a day by visiting our order page at http://cmbsoftware.com/order.htm

You can register and receive your registration code in less than 2 minutes!

If you would like to register by phone please call:

1-800-964-9223 from the hours of 9:00-5:00pm Central Time Zone.

For customers outside the USA please dial: 1-817-485-8143

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