Collaborating a Story

Web applications are all about sharing and collaboration. In addition to create a story by yourself at Showbeyond, you and your friends can collaborate a story. How to do it? It is simple.

 

 

First you need to create an account, then you share the account with your friends including user name and login password. After that, you and your friends can work on the same story, one at a time but not at the same time. When the story is done it can be shared publicly or privately.

 

As the same way, a group of people can create a channel (a shared account) and publish stories with common interest.

 

 

 

Link and embed

In addition to email and IM, link and embedding are most important options for you to spread your story around.   

 

For each story, showbeyond provide two links and one default embedding option.  If you want to insert link under text or images, use URL.  If you want insert thumbnail (133X99 pix for standard format story and 200X100 for wide format story) with link attached to it, use HTML. If you want to embed you story to your blog/website, certainly, use embedding option.  Showbeyond default embedding option is 425 pix wide for standard format story and 500 pix for wide format story.  If these default sizes do not fit well at your blog/website, you may use “customize embedding” option.  You only need to insert width, such as 450 pix, and then system will generate new codes for you.     

Tips for good recording (using microphone)

1) Testing.  Do a test recording before a formal recording.  Adjust volume when necessary.

 

 

2) Microphone close.  Hold the microphone about seven inches (roughly a hand’s length) from your mouth and slightly off to the side.  If the sound is too loud, lower the volume instead of moving the mic farther away. 

 

 

3) Be careful of mic noise.  The low rumbling sound (known as “mic handling noise”) may be created when you move the mic in your hands.  You can avoid it by using a light touch and not shifting around too much. 

 

 

4) Avoid popping “p” and sharp “s” sounds (unnatural plosives and silbilance).  If you hear either, move the mic farther to the side of your mouth.  Bothe occur only in a relatively narrow zone directly in front of the mouth.

 

 

5) Verification.  Always listen to your recording before inserting it to your story.  

 

 

Updating Player and Providing HTML Link

The player was updated last night to including indicators of story durations and slide numbers.  The information is very useful, particularly, when stories are embedded into users’ blogs or websites. 

 

In addition to URL, HTML link is provided to users.  When users past this link to their blogs or websites, a thumbnail of the story will be displayed instead of a URL and nicely improve appearance of an entry.    

Uploading PowerPoint Slides

User’s question:  I have many PowerPoint presentations, I like to add some narration and/or background music to them, then share them with my friends/readers.  Can I use Showbeyond for this purpose? 

Answer is yes and it is easy to be done. You may follow these steps: 

1)     Open your presentation by using PowerPoint;

2)      Use “Save As…”  from file to save your presentation as JPEG file (each slide would be saved as individual image);

3)     Upload these JPEG files to Showbeyond, and after that you just slidecast with these slides as you do with other images.   

There are advantages to upload your PowerPoint slides as JPEG file, you can select, regroup these slides to create new presentation.  You can also create new slides right from Showbeyond and combine them with your existing PowerPoint slides for new presentation.