I created
mine in iWeb. I have a couple tips that will help in making the pages load quickly.
- Disable "Optimize images on import" in preferences as it reduces the image quality of pictures to a unusable quality. Instead when you export your images size them to the exact size they will be on you page and set the jpeg quality to a acceptable level. 7-8 for me.
- When you have published your site to a host open it in Safari and use the "Show Web Inspector" in the develop menu to show the files sizes and how long they take to download. I discovered that one of my images was 300% too big resulting in the page loading slowly.
- Also don't put all of your images on one page. Create seperate pages for different themes. This will speed up loading.
***EDIT: May 5, 2010***
I have had a lot of emails regarding my site and how I implemented flash galleries and due to the site I used for instrutions been taken down, I thought that I would add the instruction here. Here goes:
My iWeb site in general:
The site is and designed created in iWeb with the flash galleries for photos being
AutoViewer.
iWeb Theme:
The theme used is custom made as I was able to create exactly what I wanted without having to "fight" with one of the pre-made themes.
Flash Gallery/AutoViewer:
AutoViewer is a free flash gallery made by
SimpleViewer and on their site you'll find different types of galleries that you can use. AutoViewer just worked for me.
How I create my AutoViewer Galleries:
I use Aperture 3 for my image editing however I use the Lightroom 3 Beta for my AutoViewer creating as it has more options and is much easily to use than the Aperture plugging available or the text based customization provided with AutoViewer.
Regardless of what way you create you're galleries, make sure that when you export your images for the gallery that they are sized exactly (600x400 pixels) how you want them to be on your website. This is to save every extra kilobyte of bandwidth when loading the webpage.
Once you have created the gallery and are happy with it, upload it to your server. I create a folder name "Flash" that I place all of my galleries in for the ease of finding and changing them. To make sure that you're gallery is uploaded, enter the path to the index.html file in the galleries folder. Example:
http://stefanfeldmannphotography.com/Flash/Sports/index.html Note the URL as you will need it later.
Adding the Gallery to your iWeb site:
The flash gallery is added using iframes. First, drag a HTML Widget from the iWeb inspector onto the page you want your gallery.
Then in the gray box that appears add this code:
Code:
<iframe src="http://YourSite.com/FlashGalleryFolder/index.html" width="900" height="650" scrolling="no" style="border:none;" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Change the YourSite path to the one that you noted earlier. You can also change the width, height, scrolling and style to your preference. It your gallery loads inside iWeb, the above code is correct.
It is crucial that your galleries files be on a server not on your local machine as otherwise they won't appear in iWeb when you are creating your site.
So there you have it, how to add a flash gallery to your iWeb site.
iWeb Extras:
While I'm at it ill talk about what programs I use to enhance my iWeb site.
I use
iWebSEOTool by Rage to add search engine optimization as well as custom page titles and other features.
I use
iTweak to add a php contact to my website as well as to add iPhone redirection. The iPhone redirection is added via the search/replace function using this code:
Code:
type="text/javascript">
<!--
if((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i))||(navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i))){
var question = confirm("Would you like to view our iPhone Site? The main site contains flash galleries.")
if (question){
window.location = "http://www.YouriPhoneSite.com";
}else{}}
//-->
</script>
Thats that. I hope it helps all of those working with iWeb to create their place on the internet!
).
