Stitchboard Support message #1
Creating a Showcase - Page 5 - Enter Other Info - Part 1
June 4, 2011 at 12:34:02 PM
 
As the screen says, "You're almost done!"

This final page allows you to set a bunch of options, which will customize your show even more.

ENTER OTHER INFO - PART 1

I'll split this page in two.  Part 1 relates to the upper half of the page.

The first option lets you enter a name for your showcase.  This name will show up both in a search results page (when someone does a search), and also on an optional automatically-created title page.  The maximum length is 40 characters.

The next box lets you type in a brief description of your showcase.  This text is part of the search.  The maximum length is 64 characters.

The next section also relates to people being able to find your showcase, this time when they search by category.  Simply click one or more checkboxes to select the categories your showcase relates to.

Next, you can enter key words to help people find you.  For example, you could type in:
knitting, knit, beading, socks, peyote The maximum length is 128 characters.

The copyright notice allows you to type in a message that will appear on the optional final "The End" page that the system creates. The maximum length is 50 characters.

The next option lets you direct that pace of your show.  Here you can select various times (in seconds) that each image will be held on the screen before going on to the next page.  Your choices range from 8 to 14 seconds per image.  This time also relates to how long your title and ending page will show.

Tip:
We recommend a slower display time (higher number) here when using longer descriptions, to allow time for people to read them.

The transition type is a bit difficult to describe, but here goes.

• Elastic Resizing: When transitioning from one image to the next, there will be a smooth expansion or contraction of the image frame as it resizes to show the next image.  This is the default.


• Slide Projector: Old farts like me remember the old slide projectors, where going from one image (slide) to the next, makes the screen go black, and then the next image (slide) shows up.  This mode does the same thing.


• Cuts: This is simply a mode where the images transition from one to the next without any effect whatsoever. So if you're viewing one image, the next image will just show up at the same time the first goes away.
  

Now a bit more customization:

Select "Title page should be created automatically" to have the showcase create your own title page.  Right now this title page will be a 500x500 dark gray image, with optional text on it.  If you would rather create your own title page, using your own graphics, or an image with text that you place on it, simply uncheck the box and the showcase system will not create a title page.

If you have selected to have the showcase create a title page, the next option lets you define what information it places on the page.  Your options are:

• Showcase Name: This will be towards the top of the page and will show the "showcase name" you previously entered.


• Your username: Allows you to show your Stitchboard username centered on the title page.


• Copyright: Your previously entered copyright notice will appear towards the bottom of the title page.

Next, you can specify whether you want the music to begin at the beginning of showing your automatically-created title page, or whether you want it to start right after your title page, when your images actually begin showing.  The default is to play music as soon as the title page comes up.

The last option in this section is whether or not you want  your "The End" final page to be automatically generated by our system.  As with the title page, the automatically-created ending page is a dark-gray 500x500 image, with a "The End" a bit above center, and, if you have entered one, your copyright notice at the bottom.

From here, you'll decide what your actual use of your showcase is.  If you're trying to bring interested people to your own web site, blog, or online store via a link from your showcase, or if you want to place a small "ad" or promotional text in your show, we consider it a promotional (not necessarily commercial) use of your showcase and ask that you pay a nominal fee beginning at $5 for 3 months.  More will be explained in Part 2 of this showcase step.

If you're simply here to show everyone what you've made, that's great too!  We love having everyone here.

In this case, you're pretty much done creating your showcase.  Simply click on the "All Done" button and you'll move on to a Preview page.

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