Putting a Picasa slideshow into your sidebar

This article shows how to put a slideshow from Picasa-web-albums into a gadget on your blog.

Previously I've described the options for linking your blog and Picasa-web-albums, and noted that putting a slideshow into a gadget is one option.

A slideshow is a set of photos that automatically advance from one to the next - it's a little different from an album, which is just a collection of photos with no auto-advance feature.

There are two approaches you can take to putting a PWA slideshow into your blog:

Getting the code from Picasa and using a HTML/Javascript gadget.
Using Blogger's slideshow gadget.

The 2nd option is easier, but the first (usually) gives you more control over how the slideshow works.

Option 1: HTML/Javascript Gadget Approach

(NB a similar approach will work for other blogging tools, eg Wordpress, thought the details will vary slightly)

Go to Picasa Web Albums (http://picasaweb.google.com/home).
Check that you have already uploaded the album you want from your PC to Picasa-web-albums.
(and if you haven't, go back to Picasa and upload it now)
Choose an album by clicking on it.

The album view opens, showing you a thumbnail of all the photos in it on the left of the screen. On the right of the screen, there is a sidebar of useful tools. One of these is "Link to this Album".
Click on "Link to this Album"
Click on "Embed Slideshow"
This opens a new dialog box, over the top of your current browser window.
Fill in the option details you want (slideshow size, whether or not to show captions and to autoplay the slides, etc)
Copy the HTML from the box at the bottom of the left hand-side (the one labelled "Copy and paste ..."
You can now put this HTML into your blog, the same way you would add any other 3rd party HTML : option 1 in this article describes how to put it into a gadget.

Option 2: Slideshow gadget approach

You may be able to use the slideshow gadget instead. To do this, follow steps 1 and 2, and then:

Go to Picasa Web Albums (http://picasaweb.google.com/home).
Check that you have already uploaded the album you want from your PC to Picasa-web-albums.
(and if you haven't, go back to Picasa and upload it now)
Return to Blogger, and go to the Layout tab
Click "Add a gadget" in the area where you want to put the slideshow.
Choose the Slideshow gadget,
Choose these options - in the order shown (ie work down the page - some of the bottom options won't have the right values availabl until the earlier ones are set)

Source = Picasa web albums
Option = Album
Username = the name of the google account where the album is stored. (eg, mine is maryc.fromnz)
Album = which ever album your photos are in.

Save the gadget, and check that the position is correct.

Some people advise against saying that Picasa-web-albums is the source: they suggest choosing Other, and just pasting in the album's URL. I haven't yet found any reasons for this, but it's worth trying if using Picasa as a source doesn't work for you.

Picasa & Blogger - Part 1, What is Picasa?

Picasa & Blogger - Part 2, Options for linking Picasa into your Blog

Putting 3rd party HTML into your blog

Understanding Google accounts

Centering gadgets on your blog