Narrated slideshows: Slidestory.com

boatster_sr4 · 02 January 2006, 22:21

I helped develop this website slidestory.com . Using the downloadable client anyone can create narrated slideshows from a pc computer. I'm going to be doing a slidestory on my rib next.

I was wondering what everyone thinks of this concept? There are no fees associated.

The idea is, narrating your own photos gives a more personal flair adding more value to photo sharing as well as the ability to create instructional slidestories too. It takes about as long to create a slidestory as it does to view one.

Here is a slidestory I created:
http://www.slidestory.com/?page=detail&cid=8

codprawn · 03 January 2006, 01:34

Great idea and a good site - hope it really takes off for you!!!

boatster_sr4 · 04 January 2006, 06:28

Thanks Codprawn. That means alot to me. We've put some good effort into this idea. Its time to see how people take to it.

limeydal · 04 January 2006, 14:53

Boatster,
like it!!!!!

Would the stories be resident on your server when up and running and if so how can you make a go of it without charging?
Really like the concept ,as I am no good at video and think stills can convey many topics just as well(if not better!)
Found the narration very interesting as much more of a personal insight than the usual background associatted with video.(must practise my narrative voice though ). Be fun listening to the various accents from members relating their stories;especially after a few beers

Of course Garf needs to be banned from this site immediately

Would be great linked to sites such as Ribnet,so we wern't limited in photo downloads and could share stories.Give it another dimension completely.!
Nice work

cheers Dal
PS up in Orange county today and must visit Elco Marine ,as having our work xmas meal close to it.So forget the turkey!have to go check out the RIBs

boatster_sr4 · 04 January 2006, 17:36

Darrall,

Thanks for your feedback. I totally agree with you on all levels, especially the narration part

. There is a feature for cue cards that really improves the narration but a certain spontenaity can be lost. I like to just type in keywords that kind of keep me on subject it helps rid the mmm's and uhhh's.
Anyways the downloadable client is VERY user friendly and its easy to rerecord each slide until you're satisfied.

As far as hosting, it is all done on our server. All the costs are on us and the hope is to eventually do text based ads like Google or Yahoo or something like that. Or subscription for advanced features, its all in the air right now.

You should give it a try!

I think it'd be really cool to hear you narrate your shots of San Diego Bay. I'm going to do one of my new rib as soon as I get the opportunity to take decent pics.

limeydal · 05 January 2006, 03:13

Signed up and ready to go.
What size image files do you recommend to give a good image without taking up too much space? (Or does the program save in a lower resolution automatically?)
cheers dal

boatster_sr4 · 05 January 2006, 04:05

Hey Great Darrall!

Thanks for trying it out. You pretty much drag and drop the photos into the program and it automatically resizes them for the website. The publisher stores the resized image in the program directory and doesn't effect the original image copy. You can save the slidestory and pull it up later if you want to modify it or add more slides. You don't have to delete the old one from the website as it does that automatically when update a slidestory.

You will also need to add your username and password in the program settings. The username is case sensitive in the program so if you signed up as "LimeyDAL" you would have to enter it as "LimeyDAL". Don't forget to choose a category as well. This is in the Edit button for the slidestory title, description, and tags.

Please let me know what you think of the client program. We are aware at this point it might be a little confusing to use at first. Any comments/critiques are most definitely welcome.