Creating a Slideshow

If you like to use the Widgetkit Lite extension for slideshows (as shown in the demos), you can download it for free here: http://www.yootheme.com/widgetkit/downloads

To add a slideshow to your website using the Widgetkit Lite extension, first you have to create a slideshow and then insert it wherever you want it to be (either in an article or a module).

To create a slideshow (assuming you've already installed the widgetkit), go to Components > Widgetkit > Slideshow > Create your first slideshow.  Now you should see a screen that allows you to add images, customize settings, etc.

Note: In this example I'm using my favorite editor, the JCE because it has a nice image manager.  If you are using the TinyMCE you might have to upload your images via the media manager first.

The following screenshot points out how to add new slides:

Once you've created the slides you want in your slideshow, then you can tweak the settings to suit your needs, or leave them as default if you prefer:

Then you can give your slideshow a name and save it.  Now you're ready to put it in your website.  Once you're back on the widgetkit dashboard, you should see that you have it new slideshow and it displays the shortcode for it:

You'll need to use the shortcode if you want to insert the slideshow into an article or custom html module.  Otherwise, you can just go to Extensions > Module Manager > New > Widgetkit and then select the slideshow you created from the dropdown menu under Basic Options.  Then select what module position you want it in and save (top-a, top-b, and innertop are all good positions for a slideshow).

A few tips for creating a nice slideshow:

• keep your images roughly the same size: I cropped mine to achieve this.
• resize your images: If your images are huge but you want a small slideshow, you're better off resizing them in photo editor rather than just allowing the widgetkit to resize them for you.  This is because it takes the webpage longer to load if there are large images that have to be loaded
• optimize your images: optimizing your images in a photo editor will decrease the file size of each image while preserving image quality.  I use Photoshop, but most other image editors will do the same thing.