Getting "load fail" on an .swf file

[Saxon Slade]

First, Xara is a great program! Finally a web design program I can understand.

The instructions for inserting an swf flash file are also very simple. I can't see where I could possibly have gone wrong. I created an .swf slideshow via slideshowzilla. On .web project, I inserted a rectangular placeholder exactly the right size (240x240), then under web properties I selected placeholder, checked flash, and navigated from there to the proper swf file. I saved, exported to an html to check my work, and each time I get "load fail" where the flash should be. Any ideas as to what is going wrong? Much appreciated.

[steve.ledger]

Welcome to the TG Forums.

I am unfamiliar with slideshowzilla, but from what you say I am guessing the slideshowzilla builds a slide show and outputs the .swf player along with a folder of photos and an .xml.
This being the case, you will need to make certain that the files being called by the .swf (the player) are available in the location expected by the player (possibly in the same folder as the player?).

FYI: Picasa outputs it's slideshows in a similar way. It's common.
(Picasa is also free

[Saxon Slade]

Hi Sledger! Not sure if this is the problem. Here's how it works with the slide program. It produces a folder with four files and one "slides" folder. The four files are:

("slide," in this case, being the name of the show)

fs_aux.html
slide.html
slide.swf
slides.xml

and folder called "slides" with jpgs of each slide.

I direct Xara WD to that folder and select slide.swf.

I have created the placeholder box in the exact size and in slightly larger ones. I have worked with 240 x 240 as my slideshow size.

Just playing around with things, I tried uploading the slide files to my server, then connecting the placeholder graphic to the html--so that when the graphic is clicked online, it does indeed play the slideshow. I just can't associate it as a working slideshow that runs automatically on the web page.

Any other ideas would be great. Not that I would ask the following of busy people, but I would even be willing to zip my .web project with the appropriate files and send it to anyone who can find out what's wrong. This is a business slide show and very important to the page, so I do want to figure out the answer. I'm thinkin'! Thanks again--particularly for a quick response. I'm committed to Xara now.

[steve.ledger]

You can .zip and send to sledger [at] gmail.com if you wish.

Provide all that SlideShowZilla outputs and your .web project file please.

[Saxon Slade]

Thanks to Sledger for excellent and attentive service.

Here is how I eventually solved the problem.

1) Downloaded Picasa (wish I could get back my $50 for the other program)

2) Created a slideshow which saved in .wmv

3) Used video software to convert to a single-file .swf.

Now it works just fine with my page.

[steve.ledger]

Glad to have helped out Rob.

BTW, you could also just embed the Picasa *.wmv

Attached is a .web file with the details for doing this.

[Saxon Slade]

It's funny how we can get so hung up on thinking about a problem one way--in this case, .swf--that we forget to think around it. Like the old story about NASA spending millions to create a pen that would write in zero gravity, and finally came up with it: a pencil. I figured the wmv would work, too, but I didn't immediately see how and I knew I could convert to an all-in-one .swf. That took less than a minute.

I continue to be amazed by how much fun site designing is with this program, by the way. Did all kinds of neat stuff tonight, and learning was a pleasure rather than a chore.

Very, very nice program.