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Virtual Exhibit for PastPerfect 5.0

Virtual Exhibit 5.0 is the fast and easy way to put your exhibits online. Virtual Exhibit converts selected collection records and images from PastPerfect into HTML pages for posting online. Simply select the records you want to share and Virtual Exhibit will create the HTML, resized and watermarked images, and related files. You can then upload to your website or burn to CD for a portable virtual exhibit. No HTML programming knowledge is required to create informative and attractive Web-based exhibits.

With Virtual Exhibit 5.0:

  • Create online exhibits in just a few minutes from your PastPerfect catalog records.
  • Design custom layouts with no web design or HTML programming experience.
  • Develop exhibits without physical space limitations.
  • Open your exhibits to a whole new audience.
  • Support your museum's in-house exhibits with complementary Virtual Exhibits.

Virtual Exhibit is a great way to promote your museum's exhibits and events. You select which PastPerfect records to include, and which data fields and images to share. Virtual Exhibit automates the work and allows you to personalize the home page, color scheme, font size, image size, and more with simple on-screen selections. Since Virtual Exhibit is now based on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the possibilities for customization are endless.

Examples

Using the data in the evaluation copy of PastPerfect 5.0, we created a very basic site without modifying any CSS or creating banner images. Also check out the more advanced site, where we've simply added a banner image and customized the colors to give the site a whole new look!

Resources


PastPerfect Evaluation Download

User Guide Chapter on Virtual Exhibit

Featured Online Exhibits

Image of Inventory Manager Worksheets
The Women's History and Resource Center uses Virtual Exhibit to provide a timeline overview of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. In a second exhibit, they use VE to access images of past presidents and provide a gateway to their archival records stored in PastPerfect-Online. The template they have chosen is simple and clean, representing a nice example of what Virtual Exhibit creates "right out of the box."

Logo Olympia Tumwater Foundation
Olympia Tumwater Foundation has a great collection of photographs and archives arranged to tell the story of the Old Brew house. They use links to PDF documents to allow the viewer to gather even more primary source information on the topic. Their images are automatically resized and watermarked by Virtual Exhibit to reduce the risk of unauthorized use.

Logo for Doglas County
Douglas County, Colorado has an excellent example of how a VE site can be integrated into the already existing county website. By using their own custom home page and linking to the stylized pages of Virtual Exhibit, they achieve a seamless transition from county business to the county's rich collection of cultural artifacts.

San Anselmo Historical Museum Logo
The San Anselmo Historical Museum uses Virtual Exhibit to share a sample of their extensive collection of photographs via the World Wide Web. A few of the area's landmarks are illuminated in a very clean and simple way.