PassageExpress.com

Bernie Schwitzgebel

In October of last year my wife and I took an amazing cruise of the Mediterranean with ports-of-call in Barcelona, Athens, Rome, Venice, Monte Carlo, Croatia, Naples, Capri, Sorrento, Florence & Pisa, Nice, and ending in Istanbul. It was a trip of a lifetime and I took nearly 2400 digital photos. When we arrived back home I sorted the photos by port-of-call, then culled the best photos for use in a slideshow.

For my menu I scanned the brochure from the cruise company which showed a color map of the Mediterranean with each of our ports-of-call shown and our route of travel. I used that map as the basis for my menu and superimposed button over each of the ports. So clicking on each button activates then activates the corresponding slideshow for that port. This menu idea also serves as a visual reminder of the entire scope of the trip.
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Bernie

tdew · Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 1:05 pm Post subject:

Bernie, I like your idea. I've managed to copy the photo and put it where we can display it in the forum.

I think you said that each of the ports was a button link to the slideshows from that part of the trip? Did you do this as a DVD computer project?
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Terry - volunteer forum monitor

tdew · Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 1:15 pm Post subject:

I've done something similar for travel menus. Two different years we were planning big trips that involved a lot of family members. I didn't want to have to send details to too many people - and then forget to tell someone something. Instead, I put everything into a PE project.
In 2004 we took a cruise to Alaska with 16 family members.
Then some of us spent more time driving around the State.
I'm still working on those pictures!

The past summer, we went to Scandinavia. I used the same system for getting the info to everyone. I also took the finished CD with me along with my laptop, so I always had the details with me. This trip was a family group of 10 - but all 10 were not in the same place at the same time because of work schedules.

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Terry - volunteer forum monitor

Bernie Schwitzgebel · Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 1:32 pm Post subject:

Thanks Terry for taking the time to post the photo of my menu. And to answer your question, the button on the menu are indeed the links to individual slideshows which correspond to that button. Of course the original photo had the names of the ports-of-call printed on it. But of course those "names" were not links to anything. But I discovered sort of by accident that I could create a "button" with the same name on it and position it over top of the original name. That served two purposes; It hid the original port name and allowed me to design a button which served as a link to a slideshow. I guess it is the "layering" technology used in the menu design which makes this possible.
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Bernie

Loretta Shupe · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:46 pm Post subject:

Bernie,

You are very resourceful and these are beautiful menus posted. Yes, you can make a button that can be hidden behind the writing in an image so that your image looks crisp and clean. Yet, your users can click on the writing and something neat will happen such as launching a slideshow or viewing a history. Instructions to do this in the menu designer are:

1. Add a button to your menu.
2. Move your button to the desired location.
3. Under the button options choose the link style.
4. Under text option for button, select Special Effects. Make it invisible by checkmarking Transparency and unchecking any other box in that field, (shadow and glow).
5. Assign it the desired function.

MaryMcBell · Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Posts: 4

I am new to Passage Express and I have read and re-read this topic and can not, for the life of me, figure out how in the world you can link to individual slideshows?

In the menu for button functions, there is no listing for "links" unless it is the web link. What I was hoping for was a link to a slideshow in another project. If that is not how you link to individual slideshows, how do you do it??

Please help!!

Thanks!
Mary McCampbell Bell

tdew · Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:07 pm Post subject:

Hi Mary,
Welcome to our group.

The menu we are describing is a link from the opening page to a slide show or a file that is inside the project and on the CD.

The menu is the opening screen that shows when someone inserts the CD into their own computer.

It's an easy way for a viewer to look at the different displays you've put together for them.

Hope that helps?
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Terry - volunteer forum monitor

MaryMcBell · Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Posts: 4

Thank you very much for your reply! I finally figured out what I had done wrong! I did not have the folders for each slideshow under the main folder. Once I put everything into the same location, it worked beautifully, and I could access each individual slideshow through my menu page.

I purchased my program when it first came on the market and never had the time to "play" with it until now. I just wish there was a way to test it completely before burning on to a CD. I have wasted several because I discovered errors after I burned the CD!

Mary

tdew · Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject:

Mary,

You CAN test the project before burning it to a CD.

Under the button in the beginning of the program (Build Project, Design Menu and Publish) are the words Test Project and More Options.
Test Project lets you see just how the finished CD will work, while More Options give you other options to work with.

I always test the project to see where I stand and often find something that I'd like a little different on the finished CD.
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Terry - volunteer forum monitor