Category: Adobe

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Creating an HTML 5 Website for Photographers in Adobe Lightroom 3

This one is for the Photographers out there!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has had web galleries since day one. You can either export out an HTML gallery of your images or a Flash Gallery of your images. Each one of course having its advantages and disadvantages. I find that photographers in general like Flash galleries because of two things: 1) they're (pardon the pun) flashy. You get transitions, animations, zooming, automatic slideshows etc. 2) they offer one more level of image protection by making it harder for people to just right click and download the images. The disadvantage is that not every device can display Flash galleries. If you go with an HTML gallery it can be seen on just about any device, but you lose the flashy appeal. 

 

What about HTML 5?

Up until yesterday my photography website was all Flash with an HTML fallback. I loved the features of my template. I loved the animations, image fading and slideshows and while I did have an HTML fallback for those that couldn't see the Flash site the biggest problem was keeping them BOTH up to date. The Flash site was driven by XML and was pretty easy to update with new images.. The HTML part was driven by a Lightroom web engine (more on that later) and required a separate export and upload each time I needed to do an update. It wasn't the end of the world to update them both, but I found myself updating the Flash site more often (because it was faster), which meant that people on non-Flash devices/computers wouldn't see my latest images. Not good!

What's this HTML 5 thing anyway? HTML 5 is next standard of HTML and it's still very much a WORK IN PROGRESS. This is why you don't see a ton of tools for it yet. Also and probably the biggest thing to note is that HTML 5 may never do all the things that Flash can do. This means that it's not a direct one to one replacement. At least not today for sure. HTML 5 authoring isn't just one thing. It's using HTML 5, CSS3 and Javascript. . Actually it's CSS3 that's the really interesting part. If you're really interested in developing in HTML 5 Adobe has already released the HTMl 5 pack for Dreamweaver and Illustrator. Check them out on Adobe Labs. More tools are in the works! Back to the photographers…

 

My goal

I started thinking about my site and the fact that it was a pain to update and therefore I wasn't updating it as often as I'd like to. Then I started listing the ideal things that I would want to have to make it easier:

  • I'd want as much of the site as possible driven by Lightroom since that's where my images live anyway.
  • Until HTML 5 is further along I still want Flash galleries for those who can see them.
  • The site has to be viewable on devices/computers not running Flash
  • I only want to update ONE set of images. In other words, both the Flash and HTMl version would use the same images.
  • I want Video that plays on everything <-this is not as easy as you think!
  • I don't want to write any code! Writing a line here and there during setup is fine, but I don't want to have to code the thing with every update.

 

The Turning Gate To The Rescue

Once again The Turning Gate has come through for me. You might remember my post on using one of their web engines for my client review galleries. Since that review went live I've been working with Matthew Campagna at TTG on the ultimate solution to my goals. After countless emails back and forth (he's a great guy!) on what I wanted and tweaks to his engines based on my feedback I was able to create my entire site from scratch using Lightroom 3 and three TTG plug-ins. 

Continue reading “Creating an HTML 5 Website for Photographers in Adobe Lightroom 3”

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My “Learn the Creative Suite with Terry White” App is now on Android too!

Just a quick heads-up before heading into the weekend. My popular "Learn the Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White" App is now available for Android OS too! Now Android users can get my weekly tutorials, tips and tricks right on their Android devices. Just like the iOS version you'll be able to mark your favorites to view when you want, browse the episodes you want to watch and of course view the exclusive bonus content that is available with many of the episodes. 

 

$1.99

You can download the Android version here from the 

and of course you can also get it for iOS here from the Learn Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White - Wizzard Media

The native iPad version is in the works.

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The Adobe CS5 Pharaohs Tour in Cairo – Photo Trip Report

I'm headed back from Cairo as I write this quick post to thank everyone who showed up and supported the CS5 Pharaohs Tour in Egypt! It was an amazing turnout with standing room only. I had a blast, took lots of pictures, met some great new friends and was photographed more in one day than I have been in 10 years 🙂 I'm totally wiped out and therefore I decided to wrap this trip up with more photos than words. Enjoy…

click the images to enlarge

 

Yes I managed to work in a Fashion Shoot 🙂 – ok back to work!

 

The turn out was absolutely incredible with some traveling as far as South Africa to see this event!

 

They treated us like Rock Stars! I was floored by the number of fans that were on hand to have the photos taken with us and to take photos of us. I'm truly humbled by the response!

 

Yes we made it to Historic Old Islamic Cairo. This is a "must visit "if you're in the area.

 

Special thanks goes out to the Adobe User Group Managers in Cairo! You guys are awesome. Thanks for making me feel so welcomed.

 

That's all I have time for now, I'm about to board my next flight. See more of my photos here and once again THANK YOU CAIRO! I shall return 🙂

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I’m headed to Cairo next week!

It's time to head to the Middle East/Africa for my CS5 Masters Tour! Of course I'm looking forward to seeing all the Adobe Creative Suite users in Cairo as well as the numerous photo ops. So I'll be blogging on location throughout the week with a hectic schedule. If you're in Cairo I look forward to seeing you there. It's my first time back to Egypt since 1990.

If you're going to be in the area register here.

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Thanks for a Great Adobe MAX 2010!

I wanted to take a few minutes to thank those of you who attended my "Creating Interactive Content Without Writing Code" session at this year's Adobe MAX. This session was sold out and I apologize to those that wanted to attend that couldn't. Based on the evals this content was right on the mark. I must admit that MAX isn't necessarily a show that I look forward to based on its traditional "Developer" focus. However, as a Design Evangelist I was jazzed by the creatives in the crowds and I was really inspired by everything that was shown during Monday's keynote! If you want to see where Adobe is headed around publishing to multiple devices, Flash, AIR, HTML 5 and more, you definitely owe it to yourself to watch the Keynote replay here.

I've taken the liberty of embedding my favorite part of the keynote below. We had a surprise guest Martha Stewart and she took the wraps off her NEW special digital edition of Martha Stewart Living running on an iPad and created using the NEW Adobe Digital Publishing Suite:

 

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My New Google TV: A Work In Progress

A little bit about my habit

I admit it. I'm a TV junkie. Yes, I'm one of those guys that actually enjoys TV. Now while you may be picturing this guy laying on a couch with empty potato chip bags all around, I'm not quite that bad. I use TV as a form of turning my brain off. I work long hours every day. I travel for a living and that in and of itself adds layers of stress on my life. I'm constantly on my computer working or reading up on the latest things in tech. When I've had enough! It's time to veg in front of the TV. This means that I'm not looking for inspiration. I'm not looking for a message on life. I'm not looking for controversial issues. I'm looking for simple entertainment. That's it. 

With that said, I've got all the latest TV gear in my home. HDTVs, a theater room, TiVo HD, Apple TV, Comcast HD Cable Service, Slingbox, Playstation 3, Nintindo Wii, Xbox 360 and a Netflix account. At one point I even had both DirecTV AND Comcast until DirecTV all but accused me of lying about a pay per view that I didn't order (as a result I'm no longer a DirecTV customer, their loss!). There is no shortage in ways to watch TV in my life. 

 

When do I find the time to watch?

I almost NEVER watch a live broadcast. I just don't have the time to sit in front of a TV on someone else's schedule. That's why TiVo HD is my favorite piece of gear out of all of the above boxes. I set up the Season Passes and one time recordings for the shows I want to watch and when I'm home and done with work for the day, I can usually get 3-4 shows in (fast forwarding through commercials) in one sitting. My second favorite box is my Slingbox. This allows me to stream my own TiVo recordings anywhere I happen to be traveling on my computer or my iOS devices. Lastly I also like to watch on those long flights. Therefore I either bring Netflix DVDs or rip the TiVo'd shows to my laptop or my iPad. That pretty much covers that ways that I watch content. I'm not a regular Hulu user and I rarely if ever watch shows on the network websites. The biggest reason for this is that I'm either watching at home and using TiVo or I'm in the air and don't have an internet connection to stream content. So streaming shows to my computer is the least interesting option for me.

 

The road to Google TV

I was intrigued by Google's initial teaser video on the upcoming Google TV and put it on my list of gadgets to check out. At the same time I was looking to replace the HDTV in my bedroom. The one I had was a Sony 32" 720p lower end Bravia. While this TV worked fine, I wanted a few more HDMI ports, Full 1080p resolution and the power saving aspects and clarity of the new LED sets. I was in no hurry and was just waiting for the right deal to come along. Also I had no particular brand in mind. I have no love or hate for Sony. I have several Sony products, but if a better set came along by another manufacturer I'd consider it.

Then I got an email from Sony announcing "the world's first HDTV powered by Google TV". I thought "perfect timing"! I was in the market for a TV and I wanted to tryout Google TV and this would kill two birds with one stone. 

Continue reading “My New Google TV: A Work In Progress”