Soundslides Forum

New Link and Action Buttons!

I’ve got two new interactive overlays out today; an easy to use link button and a timeline action button. (Demo show link).

Link button overlay

If you’ve ever wanted to put a link at a certain point in your slide show, then the link button is just for you. You can link to a URL in a new window, or have the link open in the same window. When the user clicks on the link, the presentation will pause.

Use cases:

  • Link out to related resources
  • Add a link button to the end of your show to link shows together
  • Add links back to your own portfolio site
  • Links to your Instagram or Facebook page

Screenshots:

image

Action button overlay

These buttons allow your viewers to control the timeline. The most obvious case is for replacing the main play button with a new play button.

You can also add custom pause buttons, or “go to and play” at specific points in the show.

Use cases:

  • Custom play buttons
  • Rewind buttons at end of show
  • Skip intro buttons
  • Choose your own adventure type experiences

In the following screenshot, I’ve created an entirely new play button for a story I put together on FSA photographer Arthur Rothstein’s documentary portraits from 1940.

(This story is also vertically oriented, which a feature from another recent update).

Styling for custom button

You can control most of the button’s attributes.

  • Buttons are a single line of text
  • Buttons can feature an optional icon
  • Add your own call-to-action text
  • Any RGB color, including transparency
  • Buttons scale with the slide show

Examples:

image
image
image

Buttons are available for web-published shows only

Since there’s no way to create an interactive button in a video file, button overlays don’t appear when you export your show to a video format.

How to add a button overlay

  1. Open your show in the Timeline editor
  2. Click Overlays on the pane tabs
  3. Click “Add Link Button”
  4. Enter the text and the link.

image

You can also drag-and-drop the button in the player area as illustrated below.

d%26d_button

As always, let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Joe