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- A Photo Blog Can Solve Many Problems
- Working with Posts in WordPress
- Adding an Image to Your Post
- Adding Categories & Tags, and Changing Your Publishing Status
- Adding a Gallery of Images to Your Post
- Adding an Animoto Slide Show
- Some Housekeeping Notes on Categories, Tags & Images
- Working with Pages Inside of WordPress
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Adding an Animoto Slide Show
There are times when even a gallery won’t really do justice to your images. A slide show with music can really take your presentation to the next level. I’m really into making slide shows, and like to use Animoto because it lets you create them very quickly.
- Step One: Go to www.animoto.com and sign up for a free account. The free Basic account lets you create 30-second slide shows. If you find that you want longer slide shows, you can always upgrade to the All Access account, where you can create unlimited-length slide shows, or the Pro account, where you can create unlimited DVD-quality slide shows. Try out the free account first and see how you like it, but I’m convinced you’ll upgrade to the $30-a-year one in no time!
- Step Two: Once you’re signed in, you’re taken to the My Videos page where you can begin creating your video slide show. So, to get started, just click the Create One link. On the next page, you’ll need to choose a style for your video. Here, I’ve chosen The Animoto Original style. Click on the Create Video link beneath the style thumbnail you want, and in the window that pops up, click on the Free link to create a 30-second video (if you have the Basic account; with the All Access and Pro accounts, full-length videos are free).
- Step Three: The Imagery section is where you upload your images for the slide show. You also have the option to use images from a collection you may already have uploaded to Animoto, or to retrieve images from another website you uploaded them to. So, go ahead and upload your images and once you see their thumbnails appear in the window, click the Done button at the bottom right.
- Step Four: Next, you can choose the music you want to use for the slide show from Animoto’s collection, or you can upload music you have on your computer. I’d suggest steering clear of uploading your own music, though, because of copyright issues.
- Step Five: The next page lets you customize your slide show video. Click the Continue button and you can give your video a name and description. If you have a Pro account, you can include an end-of-video button that will get people back to your site (found under the Advanced Options). This is important because of where you might place this video. If you post it on your Facebook or Twitter page, you’re going to want an easy way to get people back to your website. It’s all about getting people back to your site. Once you’re done customizing your slide show, click the Create Video button.
- Step Six: Once Animoto finishes producing your slide show video, you’ll be able to see a preview of it. Just click the Play button in the bottom left of the preview window. Beneath the bottom right of the preview window, there’s a Video Toolbox button. Click this button to create the code you’re going to need to post the slide show to your site.
- Step Seven: In the Video Toolbox, you have the option to embed the slide show, as well as to export a copy of it for your own use. We’re going to share this on our blog, so click the Embed button.
- Step Eight: The Embed This Video window will show the code for embedding. Under the Advanced Options, you change the size of the slide show player window, as well as have it automatically start and loop. Keep in mind that if you do make any changes here, the code at the top may change, so make sure you make these choices first. Then, just click the Copy Code button to copy it.
- Step Nine: Now, go back into your admin page in WordPress and create a new post. Click in the HTML tab’s content field, and then press Ctrl-V (Mac: Command-V) to paste the embed code from Animoto (if you paste the code in the Visual tab, you’ll only see the text on your site and not the slide show).
- Step 10: Go ahead and publish the post, and you’ll see the slide show on your website, complete with music. No coding required!
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