My previous post on boring slideshows generated a fair amount of comment and a good deal of disagreement. In this Poynter interview with Joe Weiss, the inventor of SoundSlides, Weiss seems to imply that yes, there are a lot of boring slideshows on newspaper sites, and he offers an antidote.
The most important thing is not your photojournalism. The most important thing is not your audio journalism. The most important thing, overall, above anything else, amen, to the end of it, is the story and how well you communicate that to the human being who’s on the other side of that computer.
Of course, if you’re thinking of the best way to tell the story, the best way to make it meaningful for a site visitor, you’re knee-jerk reaction won’t necessarily be an audio slideshow. If you’re thinking about all of the options, you will also consider video.
I’d like to know what kind of gallery and with what software you should use when you only have still shots? Do you still do a slideshow with or without audio? Or do you just do regular HTML galleries? (What software?)
There should be another post on my blog (try the search) that talks about eyetracking and photo galleries.
For best results, go with a straight HTML/Javascript solution (not Flash) and let users drive.