Sarasota PC Monitor
FlipAlbum Suite 4.0
A Software Review
by Sharon Rump
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.Since digital imaging is one of my greatest loves, I have thousands of images on my computer just waiting for a neat way to share them with others. When I was given the opportunity to play with FlipAlbum I was anxious to get my feet wet and create some albums that I could share with others in a different way.
The user guide that comes with the program is 71 pages long. It is more of a booklet, being small in size and has small colored print that I found a little difficult to read.
The program loaded easily and has a clean interface. You are able to create a new album in two different ways. You can start with a blank page and then insert the images/objects that you want or you can open a folder that contains all of the images/objects that you have collected for the album. In addition, images can be twain acquired.
When you have the images in the album you can customize the look of the individual pages with the many themes that are included with the program. There are many to choose from including babies, weddings, travel and family. There is also an additional CD with a complete design library included.
Images brought into the album can be ready for the project or you can do some basic photo editing within the program. You can resize, add text, edit colors, adjust brightness and contrast, remove redeye and various other simple tasks. I would prefer to bring images into the program already edited and ready for the project.
After you have all of your images placed where you want them on pages in the album, background sound can be added which is a nice touch while looking at the pages. If you have included a video file on a page, when you play it the background music automatically stops while the video sound comes through and then starts after the video is completed.
Bookmarks can be added so that you can easily find a particular page and annotations can also be added to pages. You can set the background to transparent so that the text floats on the image or page.
Since the name of the program is FlipAlbum, it is a nice feature that the pages will flip with a click of the mouse or they can automatically flipped at a speed that you choose. You can also set the program so that you can hear the pages flip. There is also an option for a slide show which automatically will show the images but not the album itself.
When you are finished with your creation, you have the option to upload the album to the internet to a web site of your own or one that is provided by the makers of the software. I was able to upload the album to my own personal web site but had a bit of a problem when I tried to access it. I did go to the site provided by the program and the images were uploaded there with no problem either. It is important to know that they provide only 5 MB of web space for albums so it is a good idea to work with small images when creating albums. After the files were uploaded I was prompted to send an email message to someone so that they could view my album. This did not work for me. I was able to send my own email with this information but it was not automatic with a hyperlink to the book. Anyone who wishes to view an album on their site must have a FlipAlbum viewer which can be downloaded from their site at no cost.
The last option and perhaps my favorite is the ability to burn the album to a CD and give it to someone to view on their computer. It has an executable file that starts automatically when you insert the CD.
It must be noted that I reviewed FlipAlbum Suite 4.0. The newest version, FlipAlbum Suite 5.5 is now available.
Minimum system requirements are Windows 95/98/2000/ME/XP & NT4.0, Pentium 166MHZ, 32 MB Ram, 16 bit color display, 800x600 resolution. The new version of the program retails for $59.95 I would suggest the program would be good for anyone who is familiar with digital imaging and how to work with image files. :
Copyright 2004. This article is from the April 2004 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.