ShowPic in greater detail

Basic requirements

To use ShowPic either in Park Avenue or in any other site, you need to have the following basic elements:

The full-size image to be displayed
A shim.gif (small transparent gif) to act as placeholder - this is included in assets/img_main folder that comes with Park Avenue
A message to tell visitors that the image is being loaded - Park Avenue comes with a ready-made image called loading.gif (in the assets/img_main folder). Alternatively, you can simply insert a text message in the ShowPic layer
An element, such as a text link, image map, button or thumbnail image that can be used to trigger the ShowPic behaviour
The ShowPic extension from Project Seven (currently available only as part of the Park Avenue Design Pack)
The Netscape 4 Return False Fix - available free from Project Seven
An external style sheet (optional, but recommended)

Getting started

Getting left and top positions from Property Inspector. Unless you are using ShowPic in exactly the same position as in the Park Avenue portfolio, the first thing you have to do is decide where you want to display the picture. The location can be changed afterwards, but it's a good idea to get it in at least the approximate position. An easy way to get the left and top coordinates is to place a dummy layer in your page, and when you're happy with the position, make a note of the left and top positions in the Property Inspector (see left).

Once you have made a note of the coordinates, you can delete the dummy layer, and insert the real ShowPic layer.

Insert menu > Studio VII > ShowPic Layer by PVII

This will bring up the main ShowPic interface, where most of the work is done:

Main ShowPic interface

Filling this in is very simple - and full on-screen details can be accessed by clicking the help button. There's one very important point:

Resist the temptation to type in the name of the full size image file yourself, even if you know it's right. Always select the file by using the browse button. Otherwise...

Warning box - cannot determine width or height.

As the warning box tells you, ShowPic needs you to browse to the image file in order to get the correct width and height. Another important point to realize is that if you ever change the image later, ShowPic will NOT get the new dimensions. You have to adjust those manually yourself (details follow later)
After selecting the image file and shim.gif, fill in the caption and descriptive texts. If you don't want to use either of these, clear the "Use Caption" and "Use Descriptive Text" check boxes at the bottom of the dialog box
Enter the left and top positions of your ShowPic layer, using the coordinates you noted from the dummy layer above (if you didn't make a dummy layer, use whatever figures you think appropriate and, if necessary, change them in the Dreamweaver display view later)
In the Options section at the bottom of the ShowPic dialog box, the first three - Use Park Ave styles, Use Caption and Use Descriptive Text are checked by default. The final one - Allow Insert at Cursor - is turned off by default. It is best to leave these four options in their default positions unless you have no need for the caption or descriptive text. Allow Insert at Cursor is an advanced option which places all the ShowPic code into your page wherever the cursor was when you first opened the dialog box. Use this option only if you are an expert at HTML code
What about the Park Ave styles? Leave the box checked, and we'll come back to them later
Now click OK...

And move on to the next page...