Need help getting started with Photo Objects

I've been working with Photo Objects for a web page, but with only limited success.

I started with the Butterfly Photo Panel from the gallery.

First, I widened all four containers to make them suitable for my 4x6 photo content. Then I used Replace Bitmap to place my content into the containers.

My first problem arose when the aspect ratio of the containers didn't exactly match my photos ... so I tried to drag the containers wider using the normal drag handles.

They became wider, but they streched my content photos ... not the result I wanted. I then discovered I could resize the container, itself, by using the small inside handles. Yet those inside handles are tedious to use for precision sizing.

So, before I continue stumbling forward, I want to ask: What are the rules for using these containers? Specifically:

• Is there a way to figure out the necessary size before putting content in?
  
• What determines how much of the image is visible in a container after placing a bitmap in it? IOW, is it specified somewhere ... or is content just clipped in one of the dimensions?
  
• Is there a way to use Assign Attributes for containers, once I have one of them sized properly?
  
• Is there a way to precisely edit in the size of a container so that the content doesn't get stretched? (I could only change the overall content+size.)
  
• Is there a way to make the container show only a portion of the content, yet have the entire photo display when the viewer clicks on it? IOW, show some significant element of the photo as a thumbnail in the container, but have the entire photo displayed when selected.
  
• Is there a way to disable the << >> buttons that come up on the bottom portion of a selected image?
  
• Finally, what is the best source of details on all of this? The tutorials I've viewed gloss over a lot.

Thanks in advance for any help. Sorry for having so many questions.

BTW, I'm using Xara Designer Pro 6.1.2

Too many questions for my mind to deal with all at once. :eek:

But, here is what I suggest from skimming your message. If you want to add a photo that is 4 x 6, then create a rectangle to that size.

Hold down the Shift key and drag and drop your bitmap image (from the desktop, Windows Explorer, or the Bitmap Gallery) onto the 4 x 6 rectangle.

The photo will proportionately fill either the width or height of the rectangle.

Now you can select the photo with the Photo Tool. The fill path arrows will appear. Click on the outside control points (the small squares at the ends of the arrows) and use the arrow keys on your keyboard to resize the image or rotate the image within the rectangle. If you click on the center control point, you can move the image around inside of the container rectangle.

Thanks for you response. I've been able to make some progress, but I'm hung up on one of the points that I listed:

Is there a way to make the container show only a portion of the content, yet have the entire photo display when the viewer clicks on it? IOW, show some significant element of the photo as a thumbnail in the container, but have the entire photo displayed when selected.

Yes, I can move content around ... even rotate the image ... but what displays in the popup window is always exactly what the thumbnail shows. I need to have the popup show the full photo.

Is this possible?

Yes. Link the partial image to a pop-up layer containing the whole image. Here is an example http://www.gwpriester.com/vector-Illustration.html

Thanks for your response. Your example site is impressive.

The problem I'm facing, however, is that I'm reluctant to introduce a different behavior on my site. I already have four pages that use the standard overlay popups. Having some that require clicks and some with automatic popups wouldn't be so good.

BTW, what I'm dealing with are screen images, where small thumbnails are unrecognizable and meaningless. I need the "clipped thumbnails" to be only snippets that represent the individual screens. The entire image would then be presented (in the same overlay fashion, with drop shadow) when the visitor clicks.

Any suggestions?

Does this help?

That is it.

All I had to do was add "popup close" as the link for the full-size image. Now it behaves exactly like my other images: "click to open ... click to close".

Thank you.

Glad to help :-)