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Presentation methods for CD
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Presentation methods for CD // Archive: Tech Forum
Post by splinters // Jul 15, 2008, 3:41am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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I spent a few hours the other day updating my Buddy World CD for sale in the shop and realised that I had a massive amount of work to do to get this to the same standard as the site should be. It runs on ezedia MX (think powerpoint only better) which is quicktime/jave based software. Over the years I have had clients who struggled to run the CD. Admittedly, installing the latest version of QT helped but it should have been 'fool-proof' often they throw this sort of thing away if it does not autorun.
Then I ran a piece of educational software which simply had a front end, installed a few files and then ran in explorer.
So I thought, why not just put all the website on a CD and sell that to customers with limited or no internet?
Surely every PC has a web browser?
Now I need a tech boff to help me make a self installing/running CD and I can save months of work in ezedia.
Can anone see a problem with this method, aside from the obvious compatibility problems with Firefox etc?
Bear in mind also that the ezedia CD is PC only while this could way could run on any machine with a browser on it.
Any ideas or observations?
Plus, I have these great (200mb ish) mini CD's which could be supplied. Kids love ickle cute things...I have no idea why!
The ezedia stuff is pushing 700mb+ already!! |
Post by Jack Edwards // Jul 15, 2008, 3:49am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Integrated web-apps is the way of the future. A lot of companies are going to using HTML as the glue that interfaces the different parts of their app.
You still run into installation issues concerning Java and scripting compatibility, but there's no perfect solution.
The advantage to coding a stand-alone executable for displaying the content is that you can have more control over how the computer displays the content. Also the content can be embedded into the exe file or a data file so that it can't be ripped off by someone browsing the CD and simply copying the file to their harddrive or e-mailing it to a friend or posting to a website, etc.. |
Post by splinters // Jul 15, 2008, 3:55am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Then it sounds like my idea is the best way to go...:D
Now, are there any commercial programs that let a programming dunce like me assemble the whole website and contents and make such an .exe?? |
Post by Jack Edwards // Jul 15, 2008, 4:07am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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:) You may want to look into XPS. It's Microsoft's answer to PDF, but it's basically a bunch of XML files in a special formated zip file.
The built in MSVC setup file creator can package and distribute your website if that's all you need though. |
Post by prodigy // Jul 15, 2008, 4:46am
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prodigy
Total Posts: 3029
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The best (IMO) is create a flash presentation.exe + autorun.inf
That's all. |
Post by splinters // Jul 15, 2008, 5:18am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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The XPS route looks interesting but isn't that Windows XP/Vista only?
I don't want to alienate the Mac community...:o |
Post by Emmanuel // Jul 15, 2008, 8:33am
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Emmanuel
Total Posts: 439
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I would go with a Flash file like Prodigy just suggested. |
Post by daybe // Jul 15, 2008, 11:02am
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daybe
Total Posts: 562
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Flash is a good idea, remember the .exe file isn't for the Mac and won't launch, so you will have to come up with another solution for autorun to work on both platforms, perhaps embed the .swf file into html or something like that there you know.. |
Post by prodigy // Jul 15, 2008, 1:34pm
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prodigy
Total Posts: 3029
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An interactive DVD :rolleyes:
Kids can watch the book from a PC, a MAC and even from any DVD Player..
The over the heage has few interactive games that can be played from the dvd.. that should be a good solution Paul :) |
Post by splinters // Jul 15, 2008, 2:11pm
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Wow, even more to look into...:(
I wish there were more hours in the day. |
Post by prodigy // Jul 15, 2008, 3:36pm
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prodigy
Total Posts: 3029
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I found this soft, and seems transalte games from flash to DVD..
http://www.flash-on-tv.com/flash-to-dvd.html
We gonna help you Paul. ;) |
Post by splinters // Jul 15, 2008, 10:54pm
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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You are good folks indeed...:D
Now I need Flash though...it seems a little expensive for now (I need to get the initial work done on the cheap, remember that I haven't made a penny from the site yet as it is not live!). |
Post by daybe // Jul 16, 2008, 12:44am
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daybe
Total Posts: 562
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Yep can be expensive, maybe you could find an older version somewhere, adobe will let you download and use flash for a 30 day trail period for free, maybe that will help. |
Post by frank // Jul 16, 2008, 2:47am
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frank
Total Posts: 709
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What about Swish? Haven't used it myself but doesn't it save to Flash/SWF format?
I've seen effective CD autorun solutions before that were nothing more than an Autorun.inf that called an EXE on the CD, passing along the HTML index file (command line argument). The HTML file would simply load in the user's default browser
There's also this:
(goes in autorun.inf)
[autorun]
ShellExecute=index.htm
Where index.htm would of course be the starting HTML file of your choosing. If it's in the root of the CD, then no path specification is necessary. |
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