In the last chapter we discussed how to customize the content of a show. In this chapter we'll look at customizing how Envision displays that content.

Visual effects

The following settings are specified in the Show pane of the Settings dialog, shown below in Figure 1. Note that some controls are marked "Mac only" or "always on iPhone" -- this indicates that these controls affect the the display of the show in Envision on the Macintosh, but not in iEnvision on the iPhone or iPod touch. For details, see Authoring for iEnvision

Seconds between pictures - Specify how long an image is displayed before going to the next.

Show picture's caption text - Say whether or not to display a picture's caption (if any) and if so, for how long. Choices are Always, Briefly and Never.

Effect between pictures - Specify the visual transition from one image to the next: None (abrupt transition), Dissolve, Wipe, or Montage. With the first three effects, all images are displayed in the main window. Montage mode is a bit different:

• Montage mode displays a single image (often the poster image) in the main window, but each image after that appears in its own separate window (a montage window), with a maximum of 20 montage windows. From the Application pane of the Preferences dialog you can specify bordered or borderless montage windows.
• The main window remains the "controller" window, displaying show status and providing controls like play/pause and close (which closes the main window and all montage windows).
• All keyboard events, in particular, space bar (play/pause) and the arrow keys (next/previous) are passed to the controller window for the show that's displaying the frontmost montage window.
• Mouse events, in particular double-click (go to an image's Web page), are passed to the frontmost montage window.
• To get back to a montage show's main window, pause the show (space bar), and then
• click anywhere on the main window, if visible
• select the main window from the Windows menu (which does not list montage windows)
• option double-click a montage image

Background color - Make the color of the display area of the page black or white, or choose a custom color. To choose black or white, pick the color from the popup menu. To choose a custom color,

• Click the rectangle to the left of the popup menu (the rectangle displays the current color), OR
• Choose Other... from the popup menu.


Choose the color you'd like from the Colors panel. For details on how to use the Colors panel, see Using the Colors panel.

Fitting images into windows - You can tell Envision how you want images fit into its main display window

• Add borders where needed - Envision will expand or contract the image so that it fits entirely within the window. The image's original aspect ratio is maintained, which means that unless the image and the window have identical aspect ratios, the image will fill the window in one direction, but not the other.
• Fully fit, stretch if needed - Envision will expand or contract the image so that it fits exactly within the window. The image's original aspect ratio is not maintained, which means that unless the image and the window already have identical aspect ratios, the image will be stretched in one dimension so that it completely fills the window in both directions. No image will ever be stretched by more than 50%.
• Fully fit, zoom if needed - Envision will expand or contract the image so that it completely fills the window. The image's original aspect ratio is maintained, which means that unless the image and the window already have identical aspect ratios, some portion of the image will not fit in the window. No image will ever be zoomed by more than 100% (doubled in size).
  

NOTE: When Fully fit, zoom if needed is selected, GIFs will not animate.

Don't expand images - Tell Envision to not enlarge images beyond their actual size (but shrink them if necessary). If unchecked, Envision will always enlarge images as much as necessary to fill the window in one or both dimensions (see Fitting images into windows above). Enlarging can lead to image degradation due to pixelization; if high image quality is important, check this option.

Animate GIFs - Tells Envision to play animated GIFs. Animated GIFs contain multiple images, to be played sequentially, in the same file. Animated GIFs do not work (do not animate) under Jaguar.

The following items appear in the Window menu.

Minimize - Collapse Envision's window, and put it in the OS X dock. To restore the window, click once on the window's item in the dock.

Current image

• Display actual size - This item applies to only one image at a time, and will thus be most useful when displaying a single image for an extended period. Display actual size causes the image to be drawn in its actual size (its size in pixels), with the window shrunk to fit the image.
• Trim - This item applies to only one image at a time, and will thus be most useful when displaying a single image for an extended period. Leaves the image in whatever size it's currently drawn, but shrinks the window to fit the image.

Hide toolbar - Toggles between hiding and displaying the toolbar in Envision's main window.

Window size

Some shows look better in a larger window, some in a smaller window. Envision allows you to change the size of the main window in four ways:

1. Resize the window using the standard Grow Box in the window's lower right corner.

2. Zoom the window to fill the screen (but still display the menu bar) while keeping the window intact (title bar, toolbar, status bar). To zoom the window,

• Click the green Zoom button at the top left of the window, OR
• Type cmd-shift-M, OR
• Choose Zoom from the Window menu.

3. Go to full-screen mode. Use the full monitor as the display area of the show. In this mode, the window's title bar, toolbar and status bar are not displayed, nor is the menu bar. Only the images of the show are visible. This is a true presentation-style display of a show. To go into full-screen mode:

• Type cmd-F while a show is running, OR
• Choose Full Screen from the Window menu.

In full-screen mode, a play/pause icon is displayed (for a maximum of 10 seconds) whenever the mouse is moved. To get out of full-screen mode:

• Type cmd-F, OR
• Hit the esc key.

4. Make the window look just like an iPhone's by choosing iPhone-size (vertical) or iPhone-size (horizontal) from the Window menu. This option can be useful if you're authoring for the iPhone/iPod application iEnvision.

The poster image

When Envision runs a show for the first time, it chooses (by default) the first image displayed as the poster image for that show. The next time the show is run, Envision will download the poster image and then display it while it looks for subsequent images to download and display.

You can change the poster image in either of two ways

• When you see an image in a show that you'd like to use as that show's poster image, choose Set as poster from the Show menu. Note that this item is disabled when in montage mode and the main window is not the frontmost window. If you see an image in a montage window that you'd like to use as the poster image, the fastest way is to pause the show, switch to thumbnail mode, select the image you want and choose Set as poster from the Show menu.
• Enter the URL of the image into the Poster URL field of the Show pane of the Settings dialog. This allows you to use a poster image that is not even part of the show.

Note that the poster image is, in some ways, unlike other images in a show. For example,

• the poster image does not display in thumbnail mode
• the poster image cannot be set as a desktop picture
• the poster image cannot be used as a Screen Saver image
• captions are not displayed for the poster image

Shuffle play

Envision's Shuffle play feature is a way to make frequently played shows more interesting by having Envision download and display images in random order. To enable (or disable) Shuffle play, choose Shuffle play from the Show menu.

Automatic starting and stopping of a show

Envision can be configured to automatically start a show when it is opened (as when opening a saved show). This is controlled with the Start show automatically checkbox in the Show pane of the Settings dialog (Figure 1). If this box is not checked, the show must be manually started after it is opened. You can also specify that the show automatically start in full screen mode by checking the Start full screen checkbox.

Envision can also be configured to pause a show automatically once all its images have been downloaded. This is controlled with the Only play show once through checkbox, also in the Show pane of the Settings dialog (Figure 1). If this box is not checked, Envision will automatically repeat the show from the beginning once all the show's images have been displayed.

Hiding the toolbar and status bar

The appearance of a show can be cleaned up by hiding the main window's toolbar and/or status bar. To hide the toolbar:

• click the button in the upper right of the window frame, OR
• type cmd-T, OR
• choose Hide Toolbar from the Window menu

To hide the status bar, choose Hide Status Bar from the Show menu.

Forward to Authoring for iEnvision
Back to Customizing Content

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