[sandandrew]

Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but here goes...

I'm an artist, and I'd like to be able to give away CD's to potential customers with samples of my work - I want to have them pop in a CD and open up a viewer that will allow them to click on various thumbnails and see various paintings and info. I've thought of using html so that they'd view stuff in their web browser, but it seems like there should be a more elegant method...?

I'm looking for a freeware/cheapware application that will create some sort of a viewer program that I can burn onto a CD that will be viewable by both Mac and PC.

Or maybe a good tutorial on how to set something up?

I'm using a 400 iMac, with OS 9.1.

Thanks for any help.

[nitram_at_work]

Some possibilities:
1. Put together the project in Flash. It could simply be an linear timeline of your work, or it could have interactions
- export it as a self running projector for PC (*.exe)AND
- export it as a self running projector for Mac
1a. If you want it to be autorunning:
- create a hybrid (Mac/PC) autorunning CD-ROM with Toast5 http://www.keiserphoto.com/resources/cdauto.htm (note: many Macs have autorun turned off)
- note that you will need a slightly different autorun.inf file for the PC side to what is mentioned on this site. Since the PC Flash file is already an executable file, you need a very simple autorun file. Use this ->

AutoRun on Windows
The AutoRun feature on Windows is implemented by putting an INF file in the parent directory of the CD. Create a text file called "AutoRun.inf" using a program such as Notepad. Include the following text, replacing "whatever" with the name of the application you wish to launch:

[AutoRun]
open=whatever.exe
icon=whatever.ico

2. Create a slideshow in Powerpoint if everyone will have PowerPoint. Save it as a PowerPoint Show (*.pps) and burn it to a PC format CD. Go easy on the slide transitions

3. Create a QuickTime movie of your work and burn to a PC CD. All the end users will have to have QuickTime, something that can't always be guaranteed particularly on PCs. You could include a QT installer, but that could be a pain for the end user.

4. Go the HTML route but pay attention to the display options you can invoke. For instance you can use javascript to maximise the browser window, hide all the controls (except ones you place in your page) and even run a slideshow. IE for PCs has the ability to lose its window borders as well. If you wanted constant background music, you could use frames (music in a constant frame, pics in a changing frame)or you could use nifty slideshow javascript that keeps all the images on one page. Go to http://www.dynamicdrive.com for a squizz at slideshow javascript. For instance you could use the left-right slideshowand link each thumbnail pic to the full size image.

Hope this helps, or at least doesn't confooz.