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