Flash Web Design Tips

2009-01-13T02:27:00.001-08:00

ULTIMATE XML TEMPLATE V1

CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW THIS TEMPLATE

What do I get when I purchase this?

A complete fully XML driven website package
7 individually configurable externally loaded modules
A quick and easy setup: Everything from text to images and colors can be changed via XML without knowing Action Script
A step by step documentation on how to setup your content
More than 70$ worth of modules
Your way to your own company/personal website with a quick and easy XML driven setup so you don’t have to edit any action script code!

With this package you will recieve a full-blown XML template including the template core and all modules, XML -files, source files (FLASH 8 and higher AS2 )
An extensive documentation is also included which will guide you through all necessary steps in configuring this template to suit your needs!

NOTE : EVERYTHING YOU SEE CAN BE CHANGED EXTERNALLY THROUGH XML INCLUDING THE COLORS . MODULES ARE EXTERNALLY LOADED SWF ’S.

General Features:

Fully XML driven website template
All text content/images/music/colors are changable via XML
Optimized for users with resolutions of 1024×768 and higher (97.5% of all internet users)
Convenient module system (each module can be used as many times as needed with different configurations)
7 different modules for all kinds of content displaying purposes
Automatically generated Main- & Submenus
Custom menu selection color via XML
Externally loaded company logo
Freely configurable footer text
Background image selector (images are smoothed and scaled proportionally)
Fullscreen funcitonality
MP3 -Player with editable ticker text supporting links
Very lightweight template core, just 24kb published!

7 Unique Modules:

Slideshow
HTML /CSS Text Area
Staff Viewer
Fullsize Image Gallery
Video Gallery
News
Contact Form

The modules can be loaded as many times as needed with different configuration presets.
This allows for multicategory Fullsize Image Galleries/Video Galleries, as many HTML text areas as you want, etc… The possibilities are limitless!
Adding a new page or main-/submenu buttons is incredibly easy!
An “item” tag defines a main menu button.
The attributes are:

title – the button title
color – the button selection color
module – the module you want to load
modulexml – the XML file you want to load for this module (you can use different XML files for one module in order to reuse it with different content as another main menu or submenu page)

A “subitem” tag defines a submenu button for the corresponding main menu button.
The attributes are title, module and modulexml like above. The color is taken from the related main menu button.

The modules in detail:

Slideshow:

A fully XML customizable slideshow module with individual slide timing and horizontal or vertical sliding.

Features:

Highly customizable slideshow
All options configurable via XML
Horizontal or vertical sliding
Individual sliding times for each slide in milliseconds
URL link on slide press (can be deactivated for each slide, no hand cursor shown then)
URL target for each slide
Caption text HTML formattable
Numbered Slide position/selection buttons
Sliding time progress bars
Play/Pause function to start/stop the auto slideshow

HTML /CSS Text Area:

A scrollable XML textfield formattable with HTML /CSS and an image with caption text in one simple, convenient and easy to use module.

Features:

Textbox & Image module
All options configurable via XML
Textbox (CSS formatted)
Smooth mousescroll
Picture with hover caption (CSS formatted)
Picture can have optional URL link
Lightweight just 4kb!

Staff Viewer:

A complete XML gallery with thumbnails, large size pictures and an any size description textbox (CSS/HTML-tag formatted). Can be used as a company staff viewer or as a regular gallery.

Features:

Fully XML driven auto generated gallery
Image description textbox (CSS formatted)
Smooth mousescroll
Scrollbars autohide
Lightweight just 7kb!

Fullsize Image Gallery:

An XML gallery with thumbnails, a fullsize image view and captions of any length (CSS/HTML formatted).

Features:

Fully XML driven auto generated gallery
Smooth image resizing
Fullsize image navigation
Dynamic image description (CSS/HTML formatted)
Smooth mousescroll
Scrollbar autohide
Lightweight just 7kb!

Video Gallery:

An XML driven Flash Video Gallery offering everything you need to display your video collection online.

Features:

Fully XML driven video gallery
Everything configurable via one XML file
Unlimited videos
Video streaming with buffer
Preview thumbnails
Video description texts (CSS/HTML formatted)
Draggable playhead bar
Smooth mousescroll
Scrollbar autohide
Lightweight just 8kb!

News:

A fully XML configurable News module supporting unlimited entries.

Features:

Unlimited entries
Full XML setup
All visible text XML driven
HTML /CSS style formatting
Supports Images and .swf clips in text area
Autohide scrollbars
Hover tooltips
Easy setup within minutes!
File size is WITH embedded font (Arial)

Contact Form:

A multilingual fully XML /CSS configurable contact form. With E-mail/form validation and customizable e-mail layout.

Features:

Externally configurable with XML /CSS/PHP
Name, email, message fields
Form & email validation
Required fields
Text colors and style easily editable
All texts changable for multilanguage support
Custom error and success messages
Company information text area

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
Thank you for buying and have lots of fun with this template.

CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW THIS TEMPLATE

Flash Design 101 (SEO & Flash)

2008-08-26T00:29:00.000-07:00

Most sites have at least one goal in mind. It is nice if the phone number looks great, but far better if the merchant site ACTUALLY SELLS SOMETHING OR GETS PEOPLE TO CALL.
Placing all text in images generally is bad usability and SEO.
Just because a feature is available does not mean it needs to be used.
Don't disable the browser back button without contacting the merchant and marketer unless you want shot with a shotgun full of rock salt.
Have enough decency and self respect to create a descriptive page title for each page. Running all the words together is no good. If you a making a site for Bob Ross you may even be able to work Happy Little Trees into one of the page titles, but creating a title like BobRossFlash with all words ran together is just no good. In that case the trees are not happy.
If you test to see if a visitor has flash and they do not maybe, just maybe a one image error page with an image full of text telling them they are all screwed up is a bad call?
If your site design is good and the content is of merit some people may want to bookmark the site or pages from the site. Why not embed the flash into html so that the site has multiple pages with unique page titles and textual content?
MacroMedia has an SDK which makes flash easier for search engines to spider, but flash still lacks content. add some content in

Great Flash Templates, Components & Effects!

2008-08-21T00:19:00.000-07:00

Go over to FLASHDEN now and sign up to buy some awesome Flash Templates, Components & Effects. Prices start as low as only 1$ per item so feel free to browse through the files and buy whatever you could use in your commercial or non-commercial projects. I bet you that you can find something useful just go and see for yourself!

"Files on FlashDen are made by users who have joined our authoring program. The author program lets anyone with the skills necessary to make high quality files, sell their work and profit through the site." source: FLASHDEN

If you decide to sign up for FLASHDEN and deposit some money please use this link.

Right here you can see my portfolio with the files I uploaded. If you like something I would be very happy about a purchase or two. You can sign up and deposit funds here!

Thank you for reading and good luck with your flash projects,

your Maurice

Pros and Cons of Flash-based Sites

2008-08-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

Flash-based sites have been a craze since the past few years, and as Macromedia compiles more and more great features into Flash, we can only predict there will be more and more flash sites around the Internet. However, Flash based sites have been disputed to be bloated and unnecessary. Where exactly do we draw the line?

Here's a simple breakdown. The good:

Interactivity

Flash's Actionscript opens up a vast field of possibilities. Programmers and designers have used Flash to create interactve features ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive Flash-based games. This whole new level of interactivity will always leave visitors coming back for more. A standardized siteWith Flash, you do not have to worry about cross-browser compatibility. No more woes over how a certain css code displays differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. When you position your site elements in Flash, they will always appear as they are as long as the user has Flash Player installed. Better expression through animationIn Flash, one can make use of its animating features to convey a message in a much more efficient and effective way. Flash is a lightweight option for animation because it is vector based (and hence smaller file sizes) as opposed to real "movie files" that are raster based and hence much larger in size.

The bad and the ugly:

The Flash player

People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can view Flash movies, so by using Flash your visitor range will decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your site. You'll also have to put in additional work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she doesn't have the player installed. Site optimizationIf your content was presented in Flash, most search engines wouldn't be able to index your content. Hence, you will not be able to rank well in search engines and there will be less traffic heading to your site. Loading timeUsers have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to regular text and images, and some visitors might just lose their patience and click the Back button. The longer your Flash takes to load, the more you risk losing visitors. The best way to go is to use Flash only when you absolutely need the interactivity and motion that comes with it. Otherwise, use a mixture of Flash and HTML or use pure text if your site is purely to present simple textual and graphical information.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

Optimizing Flash. Can it be Done?

2008-08-20T03:42:00.000-07:00

Since the inception of Flash, it has been the programming medium of choice for many companies. Most professionals recognize the superior visual aspects that Flash has to offer. Unfortunately, Flashis also very hard to optimize. Many SEO firms would rather tell you Flash can’t be optimized than to try and optimize it. No, optimizing a Flash site is not simple by any means, but it is entirely possible. The absence of quality content that cannot be indexed is a huge factor regarding any flash presentation. You can add META and keyword tags. Unfortunately, many search engines such as Google do not use these tags.

Large companies shell out big bucks for Flash sites. They don’t want to hear that their site can’t be optimized because of the format. They love the effects of Flash, but more importantly require SEO for their content. Here are some things you can do to increase a sites ranking when dealing with a flash format:

Ideally, you want to get in on the ground floor of a Flash site being developed. Try to persuade the client to have flash headers and the rest of the site HTML based. This would be the most cost effective option. The other option is to create a duplicated HTML. If neither of these is an option, move on to the next step.

Add your META, keyword and description tags to the opening page to be displayed while flash is running. While some may feel that it can clutter a page, the results are hard to argue with. Follow standard SEO protocol. Use keywords in your TITLE tag. Build your link popularity to boost your client in the search engines. Try to link with sites that are pr 4 or more. Never link to sites that have more than 100 links on their link pages. Also, link to sites that allow you to use descriptions. Use keywords in your description. Stay away from sites that only allow banners or no description in linking. Those types of links do not help at all. Remember, links pointing to your site are more important then links going out, so concentrate on those first and foremost.

The next and final tip is controversial. The infamous page re-direct. There are some re-directs that work better than others. My understanding is that Google allows redirects. Google states on their site that a using a "301" code in HTTP headers site direct is recommended if you have moved your site. So, using this to redirect an HTML page to a Flash site should not be a problem. In other words create an HTML page. Fill it with relevant content. Do not stuff it full of keywords. You will then need to create an .htaccess file. To learn more visit http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/htaccess/

and follow the directions. You will need to download the .htaccess file in the root directory of the location where all your web pages are stored.

redirect 301 /old/old.htm http://www.you.com/new.htm

That is all you need to do. Save the file and upload it. Typically you would type in the old url (old domain name) and it would take you to the new url (new domain). But, in this case we will change the old index file to another name. Create a new optimized HTML page. Then, name it as the old index page. Google will index the new page that is redirected to the flash page. It will look like this

redirect 301 (the instruction that the page has moved)

/old/old.htm (the original folder path and file name)

http://www.you.com/new.htm (new path and file name)

Basically, we are just forwarding one page directly to another. Not to another domain name. This sounds more complicated than it actually is. This is usually the best way to utilize a redirect. You could also use a java script redirect.

Never use the META tag redirect. Those have already been recognized as a blacklisted move.

I cannot guarantee that these will not get you banned. But, from my research, the 301 re-direct is the best bet. If your site is 100% Flash and you need to rank higher, this will get you results. These are your SEO options for clients with Flash sites.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

Flash Web Design Tip: Flash and the Timeline

2008-08-15T02:34:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few developers out there that will say that Flash designers and developers should never manually use the timeline - basing this rule on the claim that they will have less control over it in a project. The other extreme are those designers that will use minimum ActionScript to manipulate the timeline playhead, and try to accomplish complex interactivity manually.

I’m going to give a slight nod to the designers on this one because less and less of them seem to be practicing the latter, albeit, because of the influence of the former group. The position I take on the matter is this: The timeline is great aspect of Flash that should never be discounted as an archaic tool left over from the application’s early days.

The claim that everything should be placed on the stage using ActionScript sounds great in theory, but in practice falls short on several points. There are certain artistic attributes that simply cannot be reproduced efficiently and effectively with ActionScript. I’m not going to go into all of the specifics here, but by using the timeline for artwork, positioning, and certain animation techniques designers and developers can free themselves of trying to accomplish the same things (unsuccessfully on many occasion) through code.

It seems like some people have forgotten or maybe never realized that Flash (or FutureSplash for those of us who have been around long enough) began as a vector animation tool. The timeline has always been essential to the application. If there is anything that Macromedia and now Adobe have fallen short on regarding the IDE, it’s that they haven’t continued to enhance the timeline capabilities enough with subsequent releases.

This doesn’t mean that people should always forgo ActionScript for use of the timeline either. As a matter of fact the more complex, dynamic and intriguing interactive pieces can only be achieved by using ActionScript. Flash expands the interactive capabilities exponentially with each version of the language, and ActionScript 3.0 with Flash Player 9 has been a huge leap forward in further expanding those capabilities.

In the end most work that relies solely on ActionScript will have dynamics and smart interaction, but can usually feel cold and hard. Work that relies completely on the timeline can be incredibly artistic and the motion inspiring, but the shelf life isn’t very long. Repeat visits don’t have the same impact because the results are already known and even expected - the initial luster fizzles.

Browsing around the web today shows countless examples of inspiring interactive Flash work. More often than not the great pieces that leave an impact on their audience are combining the two aspects of Flash harmoniously.

Both designers and developers should be using a thoughtful, creative combination of both the timeline and ActionScript to accomplish things that even Adobe themselves couldn’t have imagined.

Flash Web Design Tip: 12 Websites To Help You Learn Flash/ActionScript

2008-08-14T01:02:00.000-07:00

Adobe Flash is an excellent technology that allows developers to add interactivity and smooth animations to web pages. Its popularity is so immense that you’ll find many websites dedicated to helping developers interested in Flash.

In this article, you’ll find 12 wonderful websites that’s worth a bookmark if you’re looking into sharpening your Flash development skills. For each entry, you’ll find three tutorials from the website so that you can see what’s in store for you.

1. kirupa.com

kirupa.com is a site that features excellent Flash
tutorials (as well as Silverlight, ASP.net, PHP, and Photoshop). There
are plenty of well-written, detailed tutorials and articles pertaining
to Flash sectioned into seven categories including Basic Drawing, Special Effects, Server-side Flash, and Game Development.

Tutorial examples:

2. gotoandlearn.com

Some people learn best by visualization and following along with the
instructor step-by-step in real-time. If you’re the type that prefers
to learn by watching instructional videos, check out gotoandlearn.com – a website by Lee Brimelow that offers free Flash video tutorials.

Tutorial examples:

3. gotoAndPlay()

gotoAndPlay() is dedicated to providing resources for Flash
game developers. It’s a community that has a forum, interviews from
professional developers, and reviews of books and resources. It also
has tutorials and articles about Flash game development that can be
filtered by topic, expertise, and type.

Tutorial examples:

4. Adobe - Flash Developer Center

Adobe’s Flash Developer Center is a community for Flash
developers. Here, you’ll find tutorials, articles, and related
resources about Flash. You should also check out the ActionScript Technology Center for articles on specifically about ActionScript.

Tutorial examples:

5. Flash Kit

Flash Kit is one of the biggest and oldest community
dedicated to Flash development. With over 600,000 members, you won’t
have a hard time finding people with a similar interest in Flash.
There’s a forums section, free resources that you can download and use
in your Flash projects, and a large tutorials section that includes 18
categories.

Tutorial examples:

6. ActionScript.org

ActionScript.org is a site that provides resources and information pertaining to Flash, Flex, and ActionScript. They have a fairly active Forums section as well as an ActionScript Library that currently has over 700 objects you can download.

Tutorial examples:

7. Flash and Math ActionScript 3 Tutorials

Flash and Math has a great collection of tutorials on AS3.
They cover basic to advanced topics so that Flash developers of any
level can find something they can read and learn from. Many of the
tutorials include the source files for download.

Tutorial examples:

8. Flash Tutorials on Pixel2Life

Pixel2Life, according to the site, is the “largest tutorial
index catering to graphic designers, webmasters and programmers”. With
over 40,000 indexed tutorials, you’ll find many links to tutorials in
their Flash Tutorials section.

Indexed tutorial examples:

9. Flash Perfection

Flash Perfection is a website with a large collection of
Flash tutorials, tips, and tricks from various websites. Flash
Perfection has 23 categories to help you find information more quickly.

Indexed tutorial examples:

10. metah.ch

metah.ch has some awesome video tutorials on Flash,
ActionScript, Flex, and AIR. Files associated with the tutorials can be
downloaded and used in your own projects.

Tutorial examples:

11. LukaMaras.com

LukaMaras.com offers detailed Flash tutorials and resources designed to help you learn Flash. There’s also a small forums section with over 3,000 registered users where you can discuss anything related to Flash.

Tutorial examples:

12. Flashmagazine

Flashmagazine is an online magazine dedicated to Flash news, reviews, information, and resources. The Tutorials section has some excellent tutorials for Flash developers.

Tutorial examples:

I hope you found this article useful! Since there’s so many websites
out there dedicated to Flash development, I can’t include them all, so if you didn’t see your favorite – please share it with all of us in the comments.

Flash Web Design Tip: Intro to Actionscript 3.0 Tweening

2008-08-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

I am going to talk about how to animate using Tween objects in ActionScript. Tween objects are enormously useful. They can change any numeric property of any object over time.

For example one of the most common uses of Tween objects in ActionScript is to fade an image out as another fades in. The advantage of using a Tween object to do this instead of any of your other options is

* 1.) it is easy to understand
* 2.) it is the easiest to code
* 3.) it generally looks the best.

It’s fairly easy to write a bit of code that will change the X position of a movieClip by 2 every frame, but that will be very linear and boring. Also when does it stop? and how? You would have to create a lot of if() statements that just take forever to think through and would make your code harder to read. (VQ: lots of nested if statements are usually a thing to avoid)

With a Tween object you can use Easing methods. In the example that follows I used the Easing method Regular.easeInOut to start the motion with a little acceleration and then bring it to a stop in the same way.

package classes {
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import fl.transitions.Tween;
import fl.transitions.TweenEvent;
import fl.transitions.easing.*; //I like to import them all so it’s easy to play with later.

public class Oscillator extends MovieClip{
/*These constants allow me to change the tween without
digging through my code to find it. It’s just good practice*/
private const ANCHOR1:Number = 5;
private const ANCHOR2:Number = 565;
private const TIME:Number = 1.5;

private var myTweenX:Tween; //ALWAYS declare tweens as globals or properties

public function Oscillator() {
myTweenX = new Tween(this, "x", Regular.easeInOut, ANCHOR1, ANCHOR2, TIME, true);
myTweenX.start();
myTweenX.addEventListener(TweenEvent.MOTION_FINISH, yoyoTween);
}

//Yoyo simply runs the Tween in reverse. And then reverse of the reverse (forward).
private function yoyoTween(event:TweenEvent):void {
event.currentTarget.yoyo();
}
}
}

I would recommend downloading the source code for this movie at the bottom of the post and playing with some of the other Easing methods such as, Elastic, Strong, Bounce, Back, and None.

Alright! Before you go off and try to use Tweens all over the place I need to tell you about the most common mistake people make when using Tween objects. You must ALWAYS declare you Tween variables as globals (outside of any function) or properties (outside of any method).

If ever I see someone complaining about their Tween being buggy and cutting out halfway through the animation (and I see that complaint a LOT) it’s because they declared and ran their Tween from within a function or method. What happens (and this doesn’t ALWAYS happen, but it will eventually) is that the function finishes running before the Tween does. Then the Flash Run-Time Environment cleans up the memory (called garbage collecting) and your tween gets deleted! before it finishes. This might not happen while you are testing it yourself, but it will happen eventually while someone else is using it.

If you have Adobe Flash CS3 then you should type the word “Tween” in the ‘action’ panel then right click it and pick the bottom option on the drop down menu ‘View Help’. That will show you the EXCELLENT help files on tweens that come along with Flash. I’m just trying to introduce you to an incredibly useful tool… there really isn’t too much to teach about how to use it. You just need to play and experiment with it yourself.

Flash Web Design Tip: Flash Movie Production

2008-08-11T05:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some assorted things i've found valuable to know when producing flash movies.

In addition, a very helpful "Getting started" video on Adobe Flash (3 parts).
This should provide you with enough useful startup information to get you going on your flash web design.
Enjoy! ;)

Adobe (Macromedia) Flash - Getting Started [PART 2/3]
Adobe (Macromedia) Flash - Getting Started [PART 3/3]

1. keep .swfs in same folder as .html files. on mac ie 4.5, links followed through "geturl" are relative to the .swf file, while in all other browsers, links are relative to the html file.

2. keep each symbol on its own layer. at the very most, only group like-symbols on a layer, eg. "buttons".

3. name your layers intelligently. when you have 75 layers, "layer 63" becomes quite useless as a name.

4. always make shapes or groups into movie clips before tweening. if you see a symbol named "tween1" (or some other number) in your library, you've forgotten to convert shapes to symbols before tweening so flash did it for you. fix the tweened shape immediately by deleting it, creating the symbol in advance, and recreating the tween. otherwise you'll have a bunch of symbols named "tween13" etc, which gets unmanageable.

5. make all artwork into symbols (movie clips, unless you specifically require graphics)

6. to force animation to play back at a consistent speed on all machines, you can add a silent streamed sound that loops for as long as the movie plays here's a single second of silent sound you can use. when a movie has a streamed sound playing in it, the animation will drop frames to keep up, so things may look choppy, but you get the synch in return. use this if you need to match specific frames of animation to sound, or to prevent unwanted sudden drops in framerate for complex sequences.

7. keep all actions on a single layer. name that layer "actions".

8. keep all labels on a single layer. name that layer "labels".

9. keep sounds on separate sound layers.

10. keep all reusable actionscript in a movie clip called "subroutines".

11. leave a few empty frames at the beginning of all your movies. this makes adding frames before your intro easier, and prevents flash from occassionally skipping actions on the first frame of your movie.

12. don't initialize a sound on the same frame as a major change in animated content. sounds take a little while to initialize so your animation won't play smoothly if it starts when your sound does.

13. don't use tell target to communicate with a movie clip that is initialized on the same frame as the tell target action. put the clip on the frame prior to the tell target action so it fully registers before you target it. (otherwise flash will sometimes ignores play actions).

14. import all sounds and images as high quality originals: 44hz/16bit wavs, full res bitmaps. flash will do the compression on export and you don't want to compress twice or you'll end up with lower quality output that is the same size as it would have been if you had started with high quality originals.

15. if a streamed sound is crackling or poorer quality than the same sound exported as event, reduce the original sound in a sound editor by de-amplifying, mixing to mono, and normalizing. flash seems to have trouble with streaming wide range sounds.

16. build preloaders into all your movies destined for web use. learn to love preloading. here are some instructions on adding preloaders to your movies. always test how your movie feels when it loads over a 56k connection by using "control>>show streaming" while in "test movie" mode.

17. remember that movie clips play and loop by default. you probably want a stop on the first and last frames of most movie clips.

18. a symbol with alpha set to 0% (fully transparent) will still show up as a faint shadow of itself in 16bit colour mode. make sure to put a blank keyframe after fade sequences that end with a symbol disappearing.

19. when exporting non-mp3 sounds, use 11/22 as a starting sample rate. if you can bear it, go lower. only go higher when absolutely necessary. for mp3, start with 16 kbps (default).

20. to test the exact effect of sounds, symbols, and bitmaps on the file size of your movie, check the box that says "generate size report" under publish settings>>flash. this option makes a text file that lists each component's weight. the text file will be in the same directory as your .swf.

21. if you use the "publish" command in flash 4 to create your html pages for your flash movies, make sure you have the latest publish templates from macromedia.

22. if you use a set of special colours in a movie, you can save the palette and import it into other movies. in flash 4, click the colour chooser, then click the little swatches button to manage your colours, then click the little painter's palette icon in the bottom left of that dialog to "save", "load", etc. your palettes.

23. to move an entire sequence of animation, click the "edit multiple frames" button (in flash 4, it's at the bottom of the timeline, four buttons right of the layer trash icon). move the little onion skin markers that show up to the right and left of the playhead in the timeline to span the number of frames you want to move. select all the layers you want to move by control-clicking or shift-clicking on them, then do edit>>select all. you can now move all the artwork on all the frames you've selected by picking it up with the mouse, or nudging it with the arrow keys,. click "edit multiple frames" again when you're done to return to normal editing mode.

24. you can change the placement and range of a gradient you've applied with the "transform fill" tool. fill a shape with a gradient, then press the button with the vertical gradient and two arrows on it. you're now in "transform fill" mode. click on the gradient you want to change and you'll see some handles appear. use the centre circle handle to move the whole gradient, the edge circle handle to rotate it, and the square handle to resize it.

25. you can prevent your movie from scaling up to fit your "test movie" window by setting an fs command action on the first frame to "allowscale = false". note that this won't prevent your movie from changing sizes in the browser...just in the standalone player.

26. if you want to make a shape that is disconnected from other shapes on the same layer, create a group before you start drawing. when you're finished drawing, double click the canvas to exit the group you've made. your new shape will now be in a group of its own.

27. if you want to rotate an editable text field, you have to make sure to export the font under the text field's properties.

28. by default, flash loads the first frame of your movie one layer at a time, from the bottom up. if you have visuals on that first frame, they appear to come in as a bunch of pieces, as the layers are loaded. here's quick way to bring them all in at once without using a preloader loop. 1) change the load order for your movie to "top down" (under file>>publish settings). 2) on the top layer of frame 1, create a solid rectangle that covers your entire canvas (and the contents loading underneath it) 3) at frame 2, put a blank keyframe on your top layer to get rid of the rectangle. presto, all the contents of your first frame are hidden while they load, but revealed simultaneously when the movie gets to frame 2. [tip suggested by steve husting]

Flash Web Design Tip: How to SEO Flash

2008-08-11T02:21:00.000-07:00

Flash gets a bad rap, undeserved in my opinion, for harming search engine visibility. Why are search engine optimization (SEO) practitioners concerned about Flash, and how can we SEO Flash content? Flash content is often heavy on images and interactive features, and light on text. As of 2008, the leading search engines are heavily dependant on text to understand the meaning of pages.

The leading web development tool, Adobe Dreamweaver, embeds Flash in web pages with code that fails to provide accessibility for visitors or search spiders who cannot handle Flash. Instead of using the default code, my recommendation is to hand code Flash pages with primary HTML content, and a method of automatically testing for Flash support before attempting to insert the movie. The primary HTML content can be search optimized as if the Flash wasn't there, while the Flash provides an enhanced user experience for those visitors who have the necessary Flash player.

The April 11, 2006 release of Microsoft's popular Internet Explorer (IE) browser includes an update ("Eolas") that prevents ActiveX-based Flash controls from working properly. When the user attempts to interact with the Flash, a tool tip appears, stating, "Click to activate and use this control." That extra click is an annoyance. In addition to helping search engines, the programming techniques described in this article solve the Flash Eolas problem.
Search Engines and Flash

Search engines have the ability to read Flash files and extract text and links. In particular, Google and Adobe announced a new algorithm for indexing textual Flash content on June 20, 2008. As explained by Rand Fishkin in Flash and SEO - Compelling Reasons Why Search Engines & Flash Still Don't Mix, and Vanessa Fox in Search-Friendly Flash?, hoping that search engines can decipher you Flash is not a substitute for providing indexable HTML content.
Requirements for Successful Use of Flash

Flash animation is a great way to present complex content because it allows the designer to put more content in a finite space, without wrecking page design. For technology sites, Flash is an ideal way to present a slide show or movie explaining a complex product. At the other end of the spectrum, art and entertainment sites have a real need for multimedia, and Flash is the perfect solution.

When using Flash, we'd like to satisfy each of these objectives:

* Clean design
* Search Engine Optimization
* Accessibility for a wide variety of browsers, including screen readers and mobile phones
* Code validation and standards compliance
* Correct functionality with IE

SEO Flash Programming

My recommended Flash SEO method uses a DIV with search-engine-accessible, primary content, and an open source Javascript function called swfobject() to detect when browsers are capable of viewing Flash. When an appropriate version of Flash player is present, the Javascript manipulates the page's document object model (DOM) to replace the primary content with the Flash movie. Most search engine spiders can't handle Flash, so they will elect to view the primary content. The primary content may contain links, headings, styled text, images—anything we can add to an ordinary HTML page. With SEO copyediting and coding skills applied to the primary content, Flash becomes a non-issue.

Flash accessibility programming isn't spamming, as long as the primary content and the visible movie are essentially the same. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) specifically states that multimedia content should have an alternative representation available. Accessibility programming creates the benefit of presenting visual information without losing the visitors and search engines who depend upon textual content.

As of July 2007, I discussed this method with Dan Crow of Google. He warned that this programming method could draw attention because of the possibility for abuse. If you use this method, make sure the alternative content is a faithful representation of the Flash content, and avoid combining this with other coding methods that could be abused. While this SEO method is not abusive, it is aggressive because there is a small risk that the search engines could mistakenly decide that the primary content is a form of cloaking.
SWFObject 2.0

SWFObject 2.0 is an open source project based on Geoff Sterns' original SWFobject() and UFO (Unobtrusive Flash Objects) by Bobby van der Sluis. As reported at swfobject, Adobe is likely to include swfobject() in future releases of its web development tools.
Scalable Inman Flash Replacement

If you are only using Flash to enhance headings, quotes, or callout text, a method called Scalable Inman Flash Replacement is an excellent choice. SIFR automatically pulls text from an HTML document and modifies the Document Object Model to replace the text with a Flash rendering of the appropriate font. SIFR makes it easy to modify the text, and ensures that your Flash text always matches your HTML text, reducing the risk of abuse.

The drawback of SIFR is that it only handles the presentation of simple text. Complex Flash animations, such as menus, slide shows, and interactive presentations can not be programmed easily with SIFR. For these types of Flash, SWFOBJECT and UFO are more effective.
Example: Making Flash Home Page Spiderable

The sample code below is derived from the home page of TrueVector Technologies which includes two Flash objects. The content of that page can now be indexed because search engines can read the HTML-coded content, while visitors with Javascript and Flash can view enhanced visual content.

<head>

<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/swfobject.js">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var flashvars = {};
var params = {
wmode: "transparent"
};
var attributes = {};

var flashvars2 = {};
var params2 = {
wmode: "transparent"
};
var attributes2 = {};

swfobject.embedSWF("/flash/map_test.swf",
"myContent", "760", "350", "9.0.0",
"/flash/expressInstall.swf",
flashvars, params, attributes);

swfobject.embedSWF("/flash/homepage2.swf",
"headerbanner2", "760", "220", "9.0.0",
"/flash/expressInstall.swf",
flashvars2, params2, attributes2); </script>

</head>
<body>



<div id="myContent">
<img src="/images/home-top.jpg" border="0"
alt="TrueVector Technologies" height="350" width="760">
</div>


<div id="headerbanner2">
<h1>TrueVector <em>noun</em></h1>
<p>1) a tool designed to enhance web site navigation.
2) by eliminating clumsy dropdown boxes and checklists.
3) giving users easier access to data or inventory.
4) leading to an enjoyable surfing experience.
5) resulting in higher click-through rates and longer
site visits. 6) which lead to more return visits and
site referrals. 7) ultimately ending in trueVector's
customers suffering <strong>higher profits</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Syn:</strong>
Interactive Map/ Flash Map/ Zip Code Map/
Rate Center Map/ Store Locator Map/ Real Estate Map/
TrueVector Flash Map/ US Interactive Map</p>
</div>

Flash accessibility programming will not magically cause a site to rise to the top of the rankings, but this Flash SEO method will eliminate any ranking disadvantages associated with Flash.

We've used this Flash SEO method on many high traffic sites. The code has been served hundreds of thousands of times. Sites using this Flash SEO method have achieved top rankings for keywords found only in the Flash content.
All Flash Sites

A site built entirely with Flash suffers a great disadvantage because it lacks page structure to organize the content, internal linking, and unique page titles. One remedy is to create distinct HTML pages to represent each Flash "page," and install the Flash movie on each and every one of the HTML pages. When a visitor requests the page, they'll see Flash if they can handle it. Otherwise, a non-Flash visitor, such as a search engine, will be able to spider the site. If a user follows a search result onto one of the inner pages, they'll get the same Flash experience because the movie is available on every page. Another approach is to divide the Flash into pieces and put the relevant piece on each page.

Slicing up the Flash can result in page transitions that don't provide the seamless effect that you want to create. To get the best of both worlds, pass a parameter into the Flash movie using FlashVars. The same movie can appear on each HTML page, but depending on the parameter value, the movie can start at an appropriate point to show the Flash content that corresponds to that page. To get rid of all the extra pages, but still be able to reference different parts of the Flash piece, add a # and a tag to the end of each URL, and pass that tag into the Flash. This approach can make the back and forward buttons work properly, and allow people to bookmark specific parts of the Flash site.

It is also possible to use PHP scripts to pull both the primary HTML content, and the Flash content from a MySQL database. This approach would greatly simplify the maintenance of an accessible Flash site by storing only one representation of the content.