Are there any services which will scan my old photos?
Yes, but since you are going to trust them with irreplaceable family pictures, be confident in the service you choose. Check out ScanDigital where they charge less than $100 to scan 100 photos, including color corrections, and provide your photos on a CD. Turn-around time is about one week.

Will my Projects look like your samples even if I don’t have the bold condensed font used for the category names?
That font is called Peace Bold Condensed and was licensed for use and inclusion with Softimeline. It is part of the software application.

I’m having trouble figuring out how to add a thumbnail photo to the Home Page.
The Thumbnail photo which represents and links to an Event Page is created from one of the photos which resides on the Event Page. Therefore, an Event Page must be created before its Thumbnail link can be created. Also, for the Thumbnail photo to appear in the correct position on your Home Page, it needs the following information from the Event Page entry: 1. The Category. 2. The Date. 3. The Event Page Name (which becomes the Thumbnail label.)

How does Softimeline affect my photo files?
Softimeline works on a copy of your photo and the original is left intact. Any cropping or re-sizing is done on the copy made by Softimeline.

My thumbnail photos often take up more than a year of space, and sometimes get in the way of each other.

1. You may edit your Timeslice intervals. This is the space between the grid lines and may be set  to any dimension from 1/4” to 5” vertical spacing.
2. You may jog Thumbnails up or down by simply right-clicking on a Thumbnail and choosing Thumbnail>Offset. It may be moved up or down as much as 100 pixels, one pixel at a time. Keep in mind that the top edge of the Thumbnail will no longer exactly correspond to its date with this method.
3. Often, all you need is the Thumbnail>Bring to front or Send to back
   command to clean up the appearance. (Right-click on the Thumbnail to access that command.)

How can I share my Project with others?
Any time you save a Project, someone with a copy of it and the free "Softimeline Reader” module may browse it. The Reader may be downloaded from this website or you might include a copy with your Project when you burn it to CD/DVD for sharing. Most Projects will probably be too large for email.

Can a Project be viewed interactively on the internet?
Yes, but not publically. With your permission, a Project may be viewed on your computer from another computer using remote access. So Aunt Betty in Toledo can look at your Softimeline Project of baby’s first year (or any Project on your computer).

She will be able to view and browse your Project(s) by remote control, just as if she were in the same room. Even if Aunt Betty has a Macintosh computer! So by simply downloading and installing this remote access application, you can share your Projects, privately, with trusted friends who have a computer with internet access.

You should check out LogMeIn Free for anytime, anywhere access from a remote computer. It allows friends, family, partners or associates to visit and view your computer screen so you may share a Project. As a bonus, when you download LogMeIn Free you will receive a free trial of either LogMeIn Pro or LogMeIn IT Reach.

Try it today: http://secure.logmein.com/referral/free

Softimeline does not offer customization of color, design, or typography, which many professionals expect; will these features be available in a future version?
We are already working on a professional version of Softimeline which will include many options for customizing a Project.

Why didn’t you include these options in the initial version?

1. We defined our first target market as the user with average computer skills. We wanted Softimeline to be easy enough for just about anyone to use, but have the result look like an art director had created it.
2. Team collaboration was also an important consideration. A company might wish to create a corporate profile where many departments participate in creating a Project. Because of the pre-defined templates, and color schemes, many can contribute content and still have the finished Project look like the work of one designer.

Are there any work-arounds which provide a degree of customization at this time?
Quite a few.

1. You might have a Project made up entirely of PowerPoint® slides (simply save each slide as a jpg or png file). Now import them into the full page Softimeline template for every Event Page, if desired. Organize your slides by category to create an interactive PowerPoint®  presentation.
2. Just about every Softimeline template has at least one text box. These can be containers for almost anything you can copy and paste into an rtf (rich text file) box, be it larger, bulleted type points or a graphic. Also, you can delete all the type from a text box if you prefer the extra empty space around your photos.
3. There’s no rule that picture boxes must contain pictures. Any graphic or text will do, as long as you save it in one of the formats accepted by Softimeline.
4. Scrapbook builders might consider shooting digital photos or scanning entire scrapbook pages, then importing them into Event Pages using the full page template, as in #1 above.

Does that mean I need to re-design all my slides or scrapbook pages to work around the Softimeline navigation buttons?
You may show or hide the navigation buttons by right-clicking or  left-clicking the mouse anywhere on the page, in the browsing mode. The name and date of the Event Page appear in the window title bar in this template only.

May I copy photos from the internet or other sources for my project?
Softimeline is licensed to users only for the reproduction of non-copyrighted materials, materials in which you own the copyright, or materials you are legally permitted to reproduce.

How can I find out what’s copyrighted and what I can use?
There exists the concept of “fair use”, in addition to materials in the “public domain”, plus the possibility of getting permission. Far more information than we can cover here, in fact, books have been written on these subjects. Some excellent books include “The Public Domain”, “Getting Permission: Licensing Copyrighted Materials”, and “The Copyright Handbook”, among others.
Go to:
Patents, Copyright & Art Information at NOLO.com
Do-It-Yourself Legal Books, Forms and Software From a Trusted Source

Also, answers to fair use practices was the charter of the Code of Best Practices Committee at the Center for Social Media at American University. The results of their efforts is the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video. If you want to stay within copyright law, you really should take a look at this document.

Does Softimeline have an Affiliate Program?
It is currently being structured. Send us an email telling us why you think Softmeline could be a good fit for you as an Affiliate.

I've bought a lot of software which I never use; how can I be sure this will do what I want it to?
You can try it for 30 days for free. Or, many like to see the Help file in its entirety to help make a decision.