All About Zoomshare - Help and Other Resources for Zoomshare Websites

Zoomshare Widgets
Zoomshare recently introduced a new feature called Widgets. Widgets allows you, via Web Page Editor, to embed multimedia and interactive features into your pages without extensive knowledge of web development languages such as Javascript. In this instance all of the developers here at Zoomshare can apply our web development knowledge in a way that allows you to take advantage of new and interesting interactive features, for just about any web page in your Zoomshare site.

Widgets also provides the ability to share content across the whole web. In this sense, Zoomshare Widgets is a flexible tool for sharing along the lines of other Web Widgets such as Google's Gadgets. Thus, Zoomshare Widgets can be deployed on just about any website with a simple cut and paste operation, even if that site is not a Zoomshare site.

Example Widget
As of this posting we have released four different Zoomshare Widgets, YouTube and Google Widgets for painlessly adding video clips to a Zoomshare site, a mini-photo album, Flipbook, based on a Zoomshare defined photo album and News Reader, a feed aggregator that collects and displays one or more of the latest news stories on a site. As you'll see each interactive widget comes with its own control functions which allow a visitor to navigate (pause, play, jump) if necessary. For example here the Flipbook Widget based on the photo album from a Zoomshare hosted site:

Working Example of Flipbook Widget

Adding a Widget to a Zoomshare Page
To use Widgets, the first step is to point and click the cursor to the desired location of the Widget in Web Page Editor. Next, click upon the 'Z' logo from the editor's toolbar. In the Widget console all available Widgets are listed for you to choose from. Once you select one from the list on the left you will need to configure it. For Flipbook this means selecting an album to share.

Example Widget Console

Each Widget provides at least two options, 'Insert Widget' or 'Get the Code'. If your using Firefox or Internet Explorer 7 one may also notice 'Preview' and 'Customize this Widget' options.

• Insert Widget simply inserts the Widget into the Web Page Editor at the location of your cursor when you launched the Widget console.
• Get the Code allows you to cut/copy the script code for your widget and paste it elsewhere, such as in a Zoomshare Blog entry or on a non-Zoomshare site such as Blogger.
• Customize This Widget (not all Widgets have this option) allows for advanced customization of a Widget.
• Preview allows you to preview your new widget settings before adding it.

If a Widget is inserted via the Web Page Editor you'll see a placeholder denoting where the widget has been inserted into your page. Should you wish to reconfigure your widget after you've inserted it you first select the Widget placeholder in the editor and then click on the 'Z' logo to modify the Widget in question.

Adding a Widget to a Zoomshare Blog
Since the Blog tool uses a different editor, if you wish to add a Widget to a blog entry you simply use the cut-and-paste option to add the widget of your choice. First select Web Page Editor and follow the steps listed above. When you're ready to add your Widget, select 'Get the Code' instead of 'Insert Widget' You'll see a textbox with HTML code similar to the following:

<!--zoomshare embed code begin-->

<script src="http://www.zoombricks.com/bricks/1.0/? url=http://www.zoombricks.com/bricks/1.0/album/alb um.xml&site=http%3A%2F% 2Fwedding.weinstein.org/:album? album=Family&output=js"></script>

<!--zoomshare embed code end-->

Highlight and cut or copy this text using your web browser's Edit commands. Then select Blog and start a new entry. Paste the code into the blog editor, write up your post and save.

Adding a Widget to a non-Zoomshare Site/Service
You can also share your widgets on non- Zoomshare sites. You can even pass your widgets to friends and family to share on their own site or blog. Simply use the 'Get the Code' option to cut or copy your widget and paste in into an email or page editor for sharing.

Please Note
Some web services limit what content can be posted by users for various reasons. In some cases Zoomshare Widgets, which relies on Javascript and the HTML <script> tag, may not be allowed as a security precaution. An example that comes to mind is MySpace. If you, a friend, family member or co-worker finds this to be the case, we ask that you respect that service's decision. To act otherwise would be irresponsible and could be considered a violation of that service's user agreement.

Find Out More
Stay tuned, as we are looking to bring you more widgets down the road. Remember to keep checking this blog and to visit our forums as well. We always announce new features as they are released as well as recap existing features to keep you informed

Also, don't forget to let us know what you think about the Zoomshare Widgets and how you are using them!