How to Use

The following assumes that you are familiar with Apple Aperture including how to create file export presets. Also, I assume that you have Aperture 1.5.2 or later and a web browser with macromedia flash version 8 or greater installed.
  1. Select the files you want to export and then pick the plug-in from the File Export menu.

    HINT: The output order is defined by the order that you select the photos in Aperture.

  2. Pick the album style (SimpleViewer, PostCardViewer, AutoViewer, BananAlbum or JavaScript Extras)
  3. Enter an album name. This is the name of a folder that will hold all web album files.

    NOTE: If the folder already exists, the plugin will delete the existing files inside it (after a OK to continue prompt). This is useful so that you can easily update an album, but if can be dangerous if you are not paying attention.

  4. Set any output options to taste. For option descriptions, go here: SimpleViewer, PostcardViewer, AutoViewer, BananAlbum and Javascript Extras. Please note that very little input validation is done, so it is up to you to make sure that all values make sense.

    HINT: if you mess it all up, just pick the “Reset Defaults” button to get back to the original option values.

  5. The “Include" (Captions) checkbox and popup will copy information from the selected Aperture IPTC or EXIF field into the web album.
  6. The “Open in Safari” checkbox will open the web page in a browser window after the export is complete.
  7. Use the Browse button to pick the output folder. This is the place where FAE will put (or update) the album name folder.
  8. Pick the Aperture specific values for image naming and scaling. I typically limit my image size to 800 pixels, use the custom name with index export name format and a custom name template of “image”.

    HINT: The best way to do this is setup an Aperture export preset specific for the web. Put this at the top of your preset list so that you don’t have to pick it each time.

    NOTE: DPI must make sense for screen output. DPI=300 is known to cause problems -- don't use it.

  9. Pick the export button. This will start the export process. Steps that are done include setting up the directory structure, exporting the image and thumbnail files, and creating the proper HTML and XML configuration files. Once complete, the files are now ready to be moved to your web site.