Creating a CD-ROM - How To?
April 11, 2008 10:27 AM Subscribe
I'd like to create a CD-ROM with a menu. This menu should have a "visit our web site" option that opens up a web browser to that page.
Are there any programs out there that will do this? I have looked into Nero, but I can't tell whether or not I can author a CD-ROM that has a website link in it. I also can't even tell if it's possible to author a CD-ROM that has a main menu with Nero.
Open source is always nice, but not necessary in this case. I just want to find a program that can help me make a nice CD with a main menu that contains a link to a website. Thanks!
Are there any programs out there that will do this? I have looked into Nero, but I can't tell whether or not I can author a CD-ROM that has a website link in it. I also can't even tell if it's possible to author a CD-ROM that has a main menu with Nero.
Open source is always nice, but not necessary in this case. I just want to find a program that can help me make a nice CD with a main menu that contains a link to a website. Thanks!
Linking to a website from a CD has been possible for quite a few years now. I remember doing it using CDs created in Authorware, Director, and Flash. It depends on what authoring program you are using, but the bottom line is -- easy peasy.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 11:12 AM on April 11, 2008
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 11:12 AM on April 11, 2008
Mac OS X has disabled QuickTime autoplay for security reasons.
You can make an installation DMG image file which contains your installer or application, as well as a .loc file for the website you want to point people to.
You can rename the .loc file to "Visit our website!" and place it prominently in the DMG window -- this is the window people see when the disk is mounted, so whatever you make visible in the DMG window are the icons people will want to click on.
Once you've authored the DMG, you can burn a copy of the DMG to a CD and use that for testing and duplication.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:28 AM on April 11, 2008
You can make an installation DMG image file which contains your installer or application, as well as a .loc file for the website you want to point people to.
You can rename the .loc file to "Visit our website!" and place it prominently in the DMG window -- this is the window people see when the disk is mounted, so whatever you make visible in the DMG window are the icons people will want to click on.
Once you've authored the DMG, you can burn a copy of the DMG to a CD and use that for testing and duplication.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:28 AM on April 11, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks for all the information so far. This is actually something that my non-tech-savvy (read: older) friend wants to do (and he's far away, so I can't just pop in and help him create a .inf or .loc file for him) so the easier, the better. I'm thinking a drag, drop, point, click type of thing, in a program that he won't be afraid has viruses. It's also for CDs that will be played on Windows machines only, which I should have specified in my original question. Recommendations for simple authoring programs are very much what I'm looking for.
posted by k8lin at 11:45 AM on April 11, 2008
posted by k8lin at 11:45 AM on April 11, 2008
It's fairly easy to do in Flash, but that's not a cheap solution. To do it, you just create your project in Flash and then publish it as a "Windows Projector" (exe) file. Then you create an autorun.inf to launch it when the CD is mounted (assuming autorun is enabled, which it is by default). Here are Adobe's docs on how to do it.
A cheap option would be to create an XHTML page stored on the CD and open it via autorun.inf. You could design that page with a link to your website.
posted by wheat at 1:29 PM on April 11, 2008
A cheap option would be to create an XHTML page stored on the CD and open it via autorun.inf. You could design that page with a link to your website.
posted by wheat at 1:29 PM on April 11, 2008
A cheap option would be to create an XHTML page stored on the CD and open it via autorun.inf. You could design that page with a link to your website.
The problem with this is that autorun.inf will only, be default, open .exe files. Putting an .html file in autorun won't work. I got round this at my last job by using a small program that let you open any kind of file with the autorun.inf file but I can't remember what the program is called unfortunately (I thought it was "Autorun Pro" but can't find that on Google). It was free, though.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:30 PM on April 13, 2008
The problem with this is that autorun.inf will only, be default, open .exe files. Putting an .html file in autorun won't work. I got round this at my last job by using a small program that let you open any kind of file with the autorun.inf file but I can't remember what the program is called unfortunately (I thought it was "Autorun Pro" but can't find that on Google). It was free, though.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:30 PM on April 13, 2008
late to the party here, but if you want a quick and dirty way of doing this, make an HTML page any way you want (save as HTML from word if you must), open notepad, type the following:
[autorun]
shellexecute=index.html
Save as autorun.inf, make sure that "index.html" (or whatever you've called your HTML file) and autorun.inf are in the root of the directory. It only works on windows, but it's never caused me any problems...
posted by unless I'm very much mistaken at 6:52 AM on April 14, 2008
[autorun]
shellexecute=index.html
Save as autorun.inf, make sure that "index.html" (or whatever you've called your HTML file) and autorun.inf are in the root of the directory. It only works on windows, but it's never caused me any problems...
posted by unless I'm very much mistaken at 6:52 AM on April 14, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
There are no special requirements for burning the CD - all you have to do is ensure that the correct files (the ones generated by the menu creator app.) are on the CD.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 10:39 AM on April 11, 2008