On one of my websites (indiereviewexchange.com), I've got photo gallery displayed as scrolling thumbnails only (in order to showcase multiple book covers). It works great, but I'd like to remove:

1.) the red border that appears on the "active" thumbnail
2.) the mouse pointer change from arrow to pointing-finger, which normally functions to link the thumbnail to the main picture (it would be GREAT if I could keep this function, but link each thumbnail to the book's corresponding Amazon book page instead).

Thanks for any suggestions on improving the appearance of this admittedly unusual way of using the software.

Melissa

I bet most of this could be accomplished by tweaking the xml file. I can't hear what I'm looking at when it's so easy to overlook something I'm not looking for.
Here's my S-Drive site with
examples of what can be accomplished in VSD.
http://progrower.coffeecup.com/
Here's my CoffeeCup SCCP Shop with examples of what can be done.
http://progrower.coffeecup.com/shop/

Thanks Rolly,

Is there a How To somewhere on tweaking said file that you can point me towards? Otherwise, I'm lost...

Mel

Hiya Melissa,

The border is something you have control over within the program itself if I remember correctly. There should be a setting that you can tell it to have a border or not, what kind and colors etc.

As for the tweaking it's not too difficult really. Mostly you have to go to the location that your files are in on your computer. Find the files for the gallery, particularly the one with the .xml extension for the gallery (turn on extensions for your computer if you haven't already which you can do in the Folder Options of the computer's folder. Just go to the View tab of the Folder Options window and scroll down just a bit till you see:
-Hidden Files and Folders (check the circle for showing them)
-Hide the Extensions for Known File Types (uncheck this one, you want to see those extensions.)

Once you have the ability to see the file extensions you will know for sure which file it is depending on what you named your gallery as it will have the same exact name with an .xml ending on the file name.

* Open that file in Notepad (or your favorite text editor).
* Scroll around and get familiar with the look of the page and find the area that shows all the paths for the photos.
* If you don't have your photos opening up to larger ones, you should probably make some changes to your gallery so that they open to larger photos (this is temporary don't worry).
* From there find that larger photo pathway and change it to the book page you want it to open to.

Shouldn't take much more than that and the hardest part is just making sure you're changing the right pathway.

I would HIGHLY suggest you backup your files first so that you don't have to worry about messing it up, if you mess it up then you can always copy the original back an try again without worrying about losing the working files.

Hope that helps and let us know if you need more assistance Jo Ann

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Melissa,
The red border is easily modified or eliminated in the program by changing the "Highlight Color" under "Item Settings" when the thumbnail strip is in focus. If you make it the same color as your background, it will disappear.
As for the rest of your intentions (Your Item 2), I'm afraid you are removing yourself so far from the normal functioning of the PG that there is hardly anything left of the program. I don't even think that some of what you want to do is possible by just 'tweaking the xml'. You'd probably be better off Googling for some CSS/HTML code or some script for a scrolling image strip, that has been designed more closely to what you want to accomplish, without a lot of extra tweaking. - Just my opinion of course... Per
www.mingas.com

Per makes some valid points. So if your looking for something that can accomplish this, check this out.
http://progrower.coffeecup.com/marqueeslide.html I can't hear what I'm looking at when it's so easy to overlook something I'm not looking for.
Here's my S-Drive site with
examples of what can be accomplished in VSD.
http://progrower.coffeecup.com/
Here's my CoffeeCup SCCP Shop with examples of what can be done.
http://progrower.coffeecup.com/shop/

Erik's sample slider reminds me of something else I had intended to mention, namely this: The value of having manual controls for the scrolling. I often find fully automatic scrolling to be very frustrating. They invariably move too fast or too slow, and the image that just "exited left" is always the one I had wanted to take a closer look at - or click on - but by then it's too late and I have too wait through a full cycle to catch it again, etc... In other words, keep those left/right arrows available!
Melissa, in case you think that I'm beginning to sound awfully negative here, I want you to know that it is all with the best of intentions! I really like the concept of your site, by the way. Free books for writing reviews. Sounds perfect! I think I'll become a "customer" at some point! Per
www.mingas.com

Try FireStarter trial. You can make images slide in and out, and also add hotspot areas (images) that link to web pages. Get creative! CoffeeCup... Yeah, they are the best!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Very appreciated and I will look into it all asap.

Melissa