The Media Pane of the Customize Drawer

Select the "Media" button at the top of the Customize drawer to show the Media pane. This pane shows photos, movie files, and audio files that are on your computer. Click the pop-up menu at the top of the Media pane (shown to the left) to choose the kind of media files you want to accessaudio, photos, or movies.

If you lower the separator bar, you'll see a list of play-lists, as shown directly below, instead of a second pop-up menu.

Audio media

When you choose "Audio" from the pop-up menu in the Media pane (shown, left), a list displays the iTunes Library and all iTunes playlists. Select a playlist to show all the music files in that playlist in the lower section of the pane. Use any song you see as menu background music or slideshow music.

• To preview a song, select it in the list and click the Play button in the bottom-left corner of the drawer. Click the Play button again to stop. You can also double-click a song to preview it.

• To change a menu's background music, drag a song's icon from the Media pane onto the menu background. When a blue border highlights the menu window, let go of the icon. Or single-click a song name in the list, then click the "Apply" button in the bottom-right corner of the drawer.

• To add a song to a slideshow, double-click a slideshow button in a DVD menu to open the Slideshow editor (page 204). Then drag a song from the Media pane to the "Audio" well in the Slideshow editor. Learn more about slideshows on pages 204207.

Photos media

Choose "Photos" from the Media pop-up menu to access all the photos in your iPhoto collection. Select any photo to use as a menu background or a button image. You can even drag an iPhoto album to the menu background to create a background slideshow.

Use the Search field to find media files in a selected album, playlist, or movie folder. The lower pane changes to show only files whose name matches the letters or words you've typed in the text field.

• To use a still image for a menu background, drag the image from the Media pane onto the menu background. When you see a blue border highlight the edges of the menu window, let go of the image.

• To replace the image on a picture button, drag an image from the Media pane and drop it on top of a button in the menu.

• To replace an existing image or a movie in a drop zone, drag a photo from the Media pane on top of a drop zone. When you see a striped-border highlight appear around the drop zone, let go.

• To add one or more photos to a slideshow, open the Slideshow editor (see details on pages 204207). Then drag a photo (or photos) from the Media pane to the Slideshow editor.

• To add an entire slideshow, first create an album in iPhoto that includes the photos you want to use. Then drag that iPhoto album from the Media pane to the menu. You can also drag a folder of photos from any Finder window to the menu.

You can drag still photos on top of existing motion buttons. You can also drag a still photo onto the menu background to create a photo background.

If you drag the Media pane's dimpled separator bar up, the contents of the upper paneiPhoto imagesare moved to a pop-up menu (shown above). To show the pop-up menu's contents in a pane again, drag the bar down.

Movies media

The Movies pane displays movie files that you can drag to menu backgrounds, buttons, or menu drop zones. iDVD automatically shows the Movies folder that's in your Home folder, but you might have other movies located in other folders or perhaps on other drives.

To show other folders that contain movies in the Movies list: Go to the iDVD application menu and choose "Preferences…." Click the "Movies" icon at the top of the preferences window. Click the "Add…" button, then choose a folder containing movie files from the Open dialog box that appears. Or simply drag a folder of movie clips from any Finder window to the Movies list in the Media pane.

To add a movie or a slideshow to a drop zone, drag a movie file or a folder of photos on top of a drop zone. When the drop zone highlights with a striped border, let go. If part of the image area is cut off, press-and-drag on the movie or photo to move it around inside the drop zone.

Three ways to drag a movie from the Media pane or Finder window to a menu:

• Drag a movie from the pane and drop it onto the menu background. The movie becomes a button that links to that movie.

• Option-drag a movie and drop it onto the menu background. The current background is replaced, but the drop zone remains.

• Command-Optiondrag a movie to the menu background. The current background is replaced, and the drop zone disappears.