Magic Gallery 5.0.6.0 - User Guide and FAQ

1. Creating a gallery always begins on the first page. From here you will add photos into your gallery. To add one photo at a time click the "Add Pictures" button. To add an entire folder of pictures select the "Add a folder" button.
   
   The pictures will then be added to your picture list. From here you can change the order of the pictures or remove any pictures that you don't like. Simply select the picture so that it appears in the preview window. Press the move up and move down buttons to change it's order in the list, or press the remove button to remove the picture from the list. Removing a picture does not delete the picture it simply means that the photo will not be in your gallery. To quickly rotate a photo simply right click on the photo and select Rotate.
   
   
2. Once you are happy with the pictures click the next button at the bottom of the screen. This will bring you to the second page of Magic Gallery. Here you will enter the location and name of your gallery. You can save it anywhere on your computer that you want. A typical location will by in the My Pictures folder. Use the browse button to select a different location or a different name.
   
   If you would like to send an email about your gallery or if you need information on purchasing your own .com website check those boxes.
   
   To publish to your website enter your website user name and password. Also enter the FTP address for your website. Click the browse button to choose the folder on your website where you would like to save your files.
   
   
3. Click next to choose the template that you will use. Magic gallery provides many templates, you can also create your own template. There are also new templates that are available in our online template gallery. Different templates may ask you different questions as they process your gallery.
   
   
4. Click next to advance to the final preview screen. During this time Magic Gallery will create the thumbnails for all your pictures. It may also ask you some questions about your photos and the gallery. You can answer these questions or click "don't ask me again" to avoid answering any more questions for that gallery.
   
   
5. On the preview page you can do some basic editing. You can enter text and delete some pictures. You can drag and drop pictures, use the drop down control on this page to select different pages to edit. Once complete press finish to view your work in a web browser.

Frequently Asked Questions - Magic Gallery

1. My computer does not recognize the '.MSI' file that I downloaded.
   You should install the Windows Installer from Microsoft.
   
   
2. Component 'DHTMLEd.OCX' file is missing or invalid.
   Magic Gallery requires that you have Internet Explorer 5 or greater installed on your computer. If you are using Windows ME or Windows XP you should already have this.
   
   
3. When I create my gallery my photos have a gray border around the edge. How can I fix this?
   Go to the options menu and turn off fast resizing. This option does not work on Windows 98. This option is not available in newer versions of Magic Gallery where all options are fast.
   
   
4. My photos are showing banding of color, how can I fix this?
   Color banding may be caused by two things. The first is if you have set the JPG compression too low. TO fix this problem go into the options screen and increase the JPG quality. Another reason you may see banding is if your computer is set up to display a limited number of colors. To correct this go into the control panel, display properties and ensure that your display is using either 24 or 32 bit color. This will produce the best looking images.
   
   
5. How do I remove the little magic gallery button off my pages?
   We ask that you keep the button on your page if possible but it's totally upto you. The way to remove the button is to use the menu tools, banner ads. If you are a registered user you can uncheck the "Raizlabs Magic Gallery" banner ad. You must be a registered user to remove the magic gallery button. After you remove the ad you will need to regenerate the gallery and the buttons are gone. You can also remove the buttons by editing the template directly.
   
   
6. I've recently started seeing blank pages when I create a gallery, or I have started seeing problems after I updated to Windows Service Pack 2.
   Some older versions of magic gallery have problems with service pack 2. Version 4 and higher of Magic Gallery should correct these issues. Please install the latest version of the software.
   
   
7. Does your software work on a Apple / Linux?
   At this time this product only provide a Windows version of the software. There are several companies that provide quality thumbnail and photo software for Apple MAC's and Linux.