Looking for an easy way to create slide shows for your web site?

by Lance Albright

Check out ShockWave’s PhotoJam3.

 This is a cool, inexpensive and abysmally easy to use program that enables consumers, families and even businesses to quickly and simply create a digital slide show complete with background music and special effects and transitions between the images. Pretty cool and lots of fun.

 When you are finished, you can save it to play it back from your hard drive, copy it to a CD or DVD, share it with friends and relatives via email or the web, or even post it on Shockwave’s free PhotoJam web site.

 PhotoJam3 is so well designed and the graphic interface is so obvious that you don’t need a manual or read the instructions. Actually, I don’t think there is a manual! The only instructions I found were online in the FAQ and the ReadMe file in the program.

 You can download a trial version of the program from and try it for free. If you want to upgrade to the full version, it costs just 34.95, and enables you to add captions, include a greater number of images, and provides additional styles and effects. The full version also provides advanced editing of both the music and your slides that provides even more creative options. The free trial version is limited to three projects of 25 slides maximum and sharing it on the Shockwave site for only 10 days.

 I tested the full version and was very impressed. What more could you want for $35?

 PhotoJam is available for both Macintosh and Windows computers. Mac owners need a Mac PowerPC running OS 8.1 or newer (not OS X), 233 MHz or faster, and 64 MB of RAM. Windows users need to running Windows 98, NT, 2000, Me or XP with a Pentium II 300 MHz of better, and 64 MB of RAM.

 Step one is to go to the Shockwave site and download and install the program. When you run it, the first step to creating a slide show project is to navigate to the directory on your hard drive when your photos are stored. PhotoJam will then use all the jpg and gif image files in that directory.  Unfortunately PhotoJam does not read bmp, tiff, psp, or any other common file format, just jpg and gif formats. Also, unlike most other imaging programs, when you go the image file directory, it does not display the image files inside, just the directory name.

 After selecting the image directory, you then pick the music. You can use your own MP3 songs or select among 100 songs that are provided by Shockwave. The next step is to pick a style and then hit Create. The computer thinks and few seconds later your new PhotoJam plays.

 If you want to edit and fine-tune the finished production you can edit your project. From the opening menu, you Open an existing project. Hit pause on the player and you can then edit.

 By selecting photo tab, you can re-arrange the images, add or delete images, change brightness, duration, flip them around or even add cool little caption balloons with a choice fonts, letter sizes and colors. The music tab enables you to add various different soundtracks to your slide show. You can use an endless number of songs if you wish. Unfortunately, PhotoJam 3 Pro does not automatically fade in the new music and audio transitions can be quite abrupt. The final button enables you to pick from different sets of styles and transitions.  If you wanted, you “could” have a different style and music soundtrack for each image in your slide show!  When you are done editing, just go back to Show and watch your production.

 When you are all done, you then use the publish command. You can Publish (export) your finished file as a standalone application for burning to DVD or CDs, save it as a file that can be emailed, or create a web page and associated html folder that you can upload to your personal web site. Check out this brief demo. If you don't already have the latest Shockwave Player, you can download it for free.

 Of course, you can also upload it to the Shockwave web site and then share it by sending out your specific Shockwave address.

 PhotoJam3 Pro is truly a fun little program that appears to rock-steady. Try it out.

 Having problems with PhotoJam? Need some answers? Check out the new PhotoJam FAQ