Creating web pages with your collections
Overview
Learn how to create complete web pages with the pictures in your collections without writing any HTML.
What does the web export feature do?
The Web export wizard is used to create complete web pages with your selected pictures on them. Although you can design your own custom web templates, this topic only deals with how you can create pages with the existing templates that come with the installation.
Creating web pages
Go to Tools > Export Web album. The Web export wizard opens. For each web export window, you can move back and forth in the wizard by selecting Back and Next.
Note: If no files are selected, the button will be grayed out and you will have to select the files you wish to publish first.
Choosing images to export
In the first wizard window, you can choose between exporting only the selected images and exporting all images in the archive. Note that the order in which you select the images will be reflected when you export them to a web page. If you chose to use all images in the archive, the current sort order will be reflected when exporting the images.
Select the option you require and select Next.
Choosing a template
In the second wizard window, you must select a web template from the dropdown list. When a web template is selected, a preview is shown together with a short description of the template. Select the web template that you want to use and select Next.
Naming your album
Enter a suitable title for the web pages in the Title field. This field is mandatory and the Next button is disabled until text is inserted into the field. The text entered in the Title field is used as the web page title (normally shown in the browser’s title bar) and also as heading on each web page. Text entered in the Description field will be shown below the title text.
Choosing grid size and image options
Number of Image Columns: Select the number of images you would like to have in each column in the Number of image columns dropdown list. For some of the templates (Album, Gallery, Professional onebyone, Thumb and text left, Thumb and text right, and Web), the number of images in each column is preset in the template and cannot be changed. The maximum number of columns is 10.
Number of Images per Page: Select how many images you would like on each page in the Number of images per page dropdown list. Note that for some of the templates (Album, Gallery, Professional onebyone, Thumb and preview, and Web), the number of images in each column is preset in the template and cannot be changed. Note also that the number of images per page appears as a multiple of the number of image columns.
If you would like to edit the more advanced image settings, click on the Advanced Image Settings button. Read more about this in the Advanced image settings part of this topic.
Make Links to Preview Images: If you would like to be able to click on a thumbnail to open a preview of the image, select this checkbox.
Make Links to Fullsize Image for Download: If you would like to provide a link to the full-size image, select this checkbox. The text entered into the Text field will be shown underneath the image. The default text is Click here to download.
Advanced Image Settings
Thumbnail and Preview Size: If you would like to adjust the size of the thumbnails and previews on your web page, you can select Advanced Image Settings on the fourth page in the Web export wizard. In the window that appears you can choose between three preset sizes for thumbnails and previews (Small, Medium, or Large), or you can set a custom size.
- In the Custom pixel size text field, enter the maximum number of pixels for width/height. (For portrait orientation it will be height, and for landscape orientation, it will be width).
- To limit the maximum height of the thumbnails or previews, select Use size as max height. The number of pixels entered in the Custom pixel size field is used as a maximum height, also for media files with landscape orientation.
Sharpening: You can apply sharpening to thumbnails and/or previews. There are four levels of sharpening (Weak sharpening, Normal sharpening, Strong sharpening, and Very strong sharpening), or you can disable sharpening altogether (No sharpening). If you have previously sharpened the images in your archive, we recommend not applying further sharpening, as this will most likely not produce a good result.
JPEG Quality: You can choose from five quality levels (Very high quality, High quality, Normal quality, Low quality, and Very low quality) on the JPEG thumbnails and previews on the web page. A higher quality level means that the thumbnails and previews will be larger and more detailed so that the web page will typically take longer to load. However, this may not be a concern when using a broadband connection or an intranet. By selecting Use premade preview, FotoStation will use its cached preview on the web page. Using the existing preview has the advantage of speeding up the generation of web pages since FotoStation doesn’t have to create new previews of all the images that you are exporting.
Choosing metadata to include
If you would like to display one or more metadata fields Caption, Object Name, Byline, or Credit, select the corresponding checkbox. Note that the template may override these settings. These four checkboxes are disabled for some templates.
By selecting Put all keyword in a meta tag for indexing, all keywords are copied into the meta tag of each web page to enable indexing (for example for search engines).
Adding a logo and background
Changing Colors
In this wizard window, you can set the background color and text color on the web page. Note that for some templates, this is defined in the template and can’t be overwritten. Click on the Background color and the Text color buttons to change the color for the background and text respectively. The default background color is white, while the default text color is black.
Display Logo Image: If you would like to include a logo on the web page, select this option. Enter the logo path directly into the text field, or find the logo file by browsing the computer (click on the… button). The logo alignment will depend on the template selected.
Use Bitmap as Background: If desired, it is possible to use a bitmap as background for the web page. In that case, select this checkbox. Enter the background bitmap’s path directly into the text field, or find the bitmap by browsing the computer (select … ). Make sure that you use a bitmap that is suitable as a background. If you choose this option, the background color option will be disabled.
Note that for some templates, one or more of these options are disabled.
Adding an email contact link
You can insert an email link on each web page. This means that by clicking on the link, a user can send an email to the address specified. To enable this option, select the Display E-mail link checkbox. Enter the text you would like the user to click on in the Full name text field. This text is often the name of the person who receives the email, but it can also be something else, for example, Click here to send me an email. In the E-mail address text field, enter the email address of the person to receive the email. Make sure that this email address is correct since FotoStation does not validate text in this field.
Choosing where to store the HTML output
In this wizard page, you must select settings regarding where the web pages should be created (folder name and location) together with information regarding file names.
Folder Name: Enter the folder name in the text field. Note that the web page title (as entered in the third wizard page) is shown as the default folder name. If you don’t change this, the folder name will be the same as the web page title.
Folder Location: You can choose between saving the folder on the Desktop (the Create folder on the Desktop option) and creating a new folder in the location of your choice (the Create folder in the selected location option).
Name of First Page: Web servers normally have ways of redirecting browsers that try to access a folder instead of a specific web page. Because of this, it is important that you use a file name that corresponds to the setup on the web server where the content is to be published. Contact your system administrator if you are not sure what filename is used on the web server.
You can choose between two predefined names (default or index), or you can enter a new file name directly into the field.
File Extension: As with the file name, you can choose between two predefined extensions (HTM or HTML), or you can enter another extension directly into the field.
Use Real Image Names: The web wizard will create thumbnails and previews of the images you selected before starting the wizard. You can choose if these files should get the actual image name (i.e. the same file name as the original image, but stored in a different folder) or if FotoStation should create its own file names. When FotoStation creates its own file names, they are numbered successively so that typical file names could be prev21.jpg and thumb21.jpg.
Select Use real image names if you would like to use the actual file names.
Creating the album
In the last wizard window, select Finish to start creating the web pages. After the wizard completes, you have the option to view the output in your default web browser: