RealSlideshow a Winner
by Tim Kennedy
August 1, 1999

When I was told by RealNetworks that they were working on an application to create SMIL based slideshows, I smiled politely but wondered if the effort was a waste of time. As a self-appointed SMIL evangelist, I have often felt that the growth of the language depends on getting good authoring tools in the hands of Web designers. How was an application that creates simple SMIL slideshows going to make a big enough splash to entice designers?

Well, maybe it won't. But RealSlideshow is one sweet little application. And maybe there is some wisdom in taking little steps before trying to run.

Start with the Basics
RealPix slideshows are an important feature of RealNetwork's G2 technology. Designed to integrate with SMIL, the RealPix language commands images to appear and transition in the RealPlayer window. Being still images that utilize transitions coded into the player, it is a low bandwidth way to create a high bandwidth multimedia feeling.

RealPix is not a difficult SMIL variant to write. Just pull out a text editor and start slapping in references to images. But if you start pulling together a number of images, it begins to get a bit long and complex. Throw timing to audio in the mix and even the most stalwart multimedia designer can get shaky.

So RealSlideshow takes care of the basics. With click and drag ease, you can import images and time them to an audio track. And I'm talking real click and drag ease. It's simple. It's intuitive. It works.

It's All in the Timeline
What makes work so well is it is solidly based on a simple timeline approach. Launch the application and it simply states "Drag Images Here to Start." Drag and drop your images in the timeline and they begin to stack up from left to right. You can scroll along the time and even see a small thumbnail of the images you have placed in your presentation.

Want to test your work? Press the "Play" button. Ready to put it online? Hit the "Publish" button. It's that easy.

But of course, a tool that easy probably doesn't have teeth. This where RealSlideshow surprises. While it doesn't have every RealPix command or attribute available, it gives enough features all but the most complicated jobs.