From the category archives:
Flash MX +
Very First Template Ever (Made With The PaperVision 3D Engine)
For example, you can now add as many pages to the Flash site as you wish - This feature is identical to the method used in their XMl Flash Site Template that allows your content to be loaded onto Flash via an XML file. Similarly, this also lets you circumvent the need to modify FLA source files whenever you need to change some text or move some pictures around.
Besides the fact that it looks very cool due to the 3D interface the ActionScript3 also provides a set of additional functional features. For example, you dont need to understand Flash/ActionScript you simply edit the website’s content in Notepad and you never worry about not having the Adobe Flash software because you’ll never have to recompile the swf file again. Another thing that comes is handy is that all of the sounds are stored as .mp3 files.
As always just to make the template customization part easier they have allocated all symbols in individual folders with appropriate names. For example jpeg and or png files would be within a folder named “bitmaps”. Likewise, you will find a “buttons” folder also for buttons symbols and so forth.
TemplateMonster says this is the first and only template made with ActionScript3 and PaperVision 3D in their collection. But there will be tons more to follow.
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Flash Technology Enhances Search Results (I Don’t Think So!)
Up till now search engines (Google, Yahoo! etc) weren’t ever able to crawl Flash files and when they did end up indexing some it was never completely free from error. So if you wanted to built a website and actually have people find it, then it made sense to do without the Flash. Nonetheless Flash still became very trendy among developers because of its knack for, shall we say, overlooking the obvious and putting together very unusual websites.
Adobe also says it’s “providing optimized Adobe® Flash® Player technology to Google and Yahoo! to enhance search engine indexing of the Flash file format (SWF) and uncover information that is currently UNDISCOVERABLE by search engines.”
Sweet! Now that Adobe has finally admitted (despite arguments to the contrary) that SWF format has never been properly index by anyone of the search engines (or that its always been pretty much crap) that should finally shut up all you evangelical Flash pushers and feens clamming Flash is the holy grail of the Internet. Shouldn’t?
So has Adobe really done what its says its done? Frankly I’m not sure. Adobe claims that this stuff will provide more relevant search results and rankings for RIA content. And in a separate blog post, Google also seems to affirm that claim stating that they’ve already launched a “Flash indexing algorithm”, which will result in better search results. Well, before you all start heading to Starbucks and buying each other those skinny soy decaf lattes, the real questions is, how much better is this as opposed to plain old static HTML text and what are the confines?
They say that in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king, similarly if up till now flash files were not being indexed whatsoever, then the fact that there’s been a little progress may indeed be called “better”, but Flash indexing algorithm or not there’s still a lot of reasons why you should never go for a 100% flash-based website.
Yes Google can now discover and index text content in SWF files of all kinds etcetera, etcetera, but there’s some limitations. For example, Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript. Which means that if your webpage uses JavaScript to load a Flash file. Guess what? They may not be able to discover and index the contents of that file.
Google has also admitted they “can’t attach content from external resources that are loaded by your Flash files.” In other words so if your Flash file loads another file - such as an HTML file, an XML file, or another SWF file – what their saying is that they might index the contents of those files, but they won’t consider that content to be part of the content in your Flash files. That doesn’t sound very impressive, does it? What then? The Flash indexing algorithm does exactly what it sounds like it does NOTHING, other than the rendering of incomplete documents and the dramatic equivalent of inaccessibility.
Generally speaking when designing sites for my clients, I tend to make my content driven Flash applications run off of external XML files that are read at runtime. That way even a novice web developer with no understanding of Flash can have the functionality of editing their website’s content in notepad, and not have to recompile the swf file. Are you seriously suggesting not attaching the contents of those files to the rest of my Flash file? Seriously? Are you kidding? What the f$#@ are you talking about!
Does Adobe really expect us to believe that this will provide more relevant organic search rankings? Listen, I want my Flash files to be indexed just as much as the next guy and while this is a welcomed and important step in the right direction on the part of Adobe there’s still a lot of work to do.
So, if you do decide to use Flash (God help us all), do it in moderation and remember while Google can index the content of Flash files, other search engines wont. On that note, don’t forget to provide text equivalents of these files to help other search engines crawl and index your content.
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Should I go for a Flash based Website
There are now a myriad of platforms, applications and programs used in making our website templates dynamic. In addition to plain old HTML there are also CSS(Cascading Style Sheets), SSI(Server Side Includes) and PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) just to name a few. In addition Flash animation is also used to accentuate the elegance of our Flash site templates. Making the decision to use our template customization services will definitely save you a lot of cost and effort however there is one other thing you’ll want to consider. And that is, which customization package should you choose? In other words should you go for a Flash based Website or is it more practical to stay with HTML? In the following article the author examines some of the pros and cons of using Flash vs HTML. For a more in-depth discussion on this particular matter see also - Top 10 things Flash developers don’t want you to hear
Flash-based sites have been a craze since the past few years, and as Adobe 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 interactive 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 site
With 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 animation
In 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 optimization
If 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 time
Users 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.
About the Author
About Design9x.com
With extensive experience Design9x a leading Professional Web Design Studio delivering high Quality and Affordable Web-based Solutions. Design9x specialize in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Internet Marketing Website Development and Consulting to increase Traf
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Why Design Matters
In addition we gave you 5 already functioning examples of the ideal Web 2.0 designed site and introduced our Web 2.0 templates and how this new product category features all of these characteristics and more.
Further we entreated you to consider the convenience and practicality of obtaining professional template customization.
So why should your small business website design matter? In this article Louise Meers uncovers a number of reasons why fundamentally sound design principles like contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity are so instrumental to retaining new business.
Article: Flashing before your eyes is a fluro green background teamed with red writing, white borders, a cutesy cursor graphic and the promise of ten free CD’s. No, it’s not Christmas. It’s bad design. Let’s face it, in the day and age where people are more likely to search for your business online than pick up the Yellow Pages - design matters. But why?
The consumer will judge you
Type “badly designed websites” into Google and you will understand immediately. There are pages and pages on this subject citing some very worthy examples. A badly designed website can say a lot to the consumer about your business. Potential customers or clients may think a badly structured website means a badly structured business.
An unprofessional design could prove exactly that - the consumer may think your business is unprofessional or untrustworthy, especially if your website doesn’t exhibit clear authenticity. Consumer judgement can cost you. Not only could your website be shamed for employing bad design, but you will inevitably lose business as well.
Bad design is bad for business
Websites with bad design will lose hits. Online businesses with bad design will lose customers. Ever logged on to a website which was hard to navigate or was bad on the eyes? Chances are you closed it, frustrated because you couldn’t find what you were looking for. Now imagine how many times that website would have been closed because no one had the patience to find badly placed information or that elusive home button.
Or it could have been that the website was just a huge visual turn-off. Whatever the reason, it will not reflect highly on your business. Today’s average person doesn’t have the time or the patience to decipher his or her way through a poor layout. Most likely they will take their business elsewhere.
So how do I know if it’s good?
Good website design is intuitive - it knows where the user wants to go and allows them to get there with ease. It has accessibility for all groups. It’s inoffensive both visually and in content. But most importantly, it doesn’t get in the way of you selling your product.
Graphic designer Robin Williams says contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity are crucial to any good design:
Contrast: website content needs to be distinct and shouldn’t just blend into the background. Professionals in the design industry are very aware and able in this area, creating websites for you that will meet your criteria, as well as that of your customers.
Repetition: like store design, where you place items is extremely important. For example, if your company logo is at the top of the page, it needs to be at the top on every page. Design professionals know exactly when and where to repeat important information on your website so that it will successfully promote your business.
Alignment: every element on the page should be there for a purpose. It can be tricky to figure out what information to include and how it should appear on your website. Again, this is where the professionals can really help.
Proximity: information that is similar should be grouped together, also like store design. This is good for organisation, and for business. Professionals can design a website for you that looks great and gets you those sales with cleverly placed text, graphics and links
Without the CRAP principle (bad acronym but good theory) and other design techniques that professionals incorporate into their work, a website will sink, not swim. There is a definite art to website design and getting contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity, as well as other essential design criteria, to all work harmoniously is no easy feat.
Okay, it does matter
Design matters because it’s going to positively promote your business and help you make those all-important sales. Don’t let your website end up on webpagesthatsuck.com and don’t let it drive potential customers and clients away. Leave it to the professionals who know exactly what is good for you and your business.
About the Author
Louise Meers is a guest writer and media advisor for Bergan Blue. She comes from a journalistic background while having a strong love for the web - a perfect combination for Bergan Blue, a small creative web development firm focused on bridging the gap between the online world of the web and the traditionally offline world of marketing.
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A Closer Look at Flash: When Use It?
In a previous post, Top 10 Things Flash Developers Don’t Want You to Hear“, I discussed a number of reasons why I thought it might be wise to reconsider the whole idea of having an all Flash website. One of my biggest concerns had to do with Flash inhibiting Google’s ability to crawl the content. While I have never argued the possibility of making Flash content search engine friendly I do appose the notion that this is some how not even a problem nor that meeting all of these extra hurtles is worth the amount of time and extra money you’ll spend on optimizing Flash sites the right way vs plain old HTML. Notwithstanding in this article we will discuss a number of cases where it is actually practical to utilize this technology.
Article: When Use Flash? The following question is the sorest and the most disputable as for the usage of Flash. So, let us discuss how this technology is applicable for creating Flash sites. At first we have to define the purposes of a site, because they are to determine the choice of technology for creating the site. If your site is intended for selling some product or service, especially, if competition is intense, creating a Flash site is not cost-effective.
This is due to that reason that Flash is not indexed in full by search engines, that is why it will be just impossible or it will cost big money to make these sites occupy the first positions by specific keywords. In such a case an html site is much better suited. Therefore, a Flash Internet shop selling lots of various products is nonsense and rival non-Flash sites with correct search engine optimization will easily overcome regarding the traffic and hence regarding the volume of sales.
Of course, there are Flash Internet shops which function effectively, but most often these are the shops selling specialized products and belonging to large and well-known companies, which do not need heavy advertising. For instance, there is the site adobe.com, which has the like narrow specialization of its products, and those who use their products, as a matter of fact, already know where to buy them.
There is one more type of sites, which offer users a specific product; these are promo-sites (sites designed to present some concrete product or service). There both Flash and html can be used. Again everything depends on the purposes. Let us assume that we want to advertise a new brand of a cellular telephone and we want to do it extremely elegantly. In such a case we need a Flash site, but only on condition that our Flash promo-site will have visitors, but they are evidently not going to come to us from search engines. That is why users are often stimulated to visit a promo-site from producers’ websites or by means of advertising.
This type of sites has a small life-cycle, because they are most often created to demonstrate new features of a definite product. Since new models are continually being created, the old promo websites lose their significance, that is why a website must get its visitors as much as possible interested. This can be achieved most impressively by creating a Flash promo website.
The following type of sites is a forum. The situation with forums is very similar to the situation with internet shops. If a forum does not belong to the company producing a specific product (such forums are very scarce) or it is not created for a very limited number of individuals, but created to attract as many people as possible, there is no need to create a Flash forum. This also concerns blogs.
I am not going to divide websites into groups, I will just do their very brief survey and say from my personal point of view where else it is appropriate to use Flash:
* Chats, because chats are often tied to definite resources and they do not need any additional promotion, and if it is an avatar chat, using Flash is the most suitable choice.
* Galleries, if this gallery belongs to one definite artist, has a small amount of text information and directed at a select circle of users.
* Business card site usually has minimum information content, most often there are the address of the company, contact information (telephone number) and some general information about the activities of the company, that is why original decoration made using Flash will be quite to the point.
* Online portfolio, because this will give an opportunity to make its appearance very bright and make it more dynamic and interesting.
* Guestbooks can also be made with the help of Flash.
I have listed the main things, but there are many more hybrid websites, which combine in themselves various features. The major point to be taken into consideration here is the following: if you want to attract a lot visitors to your resources (especially if your website is developed for selling some products or services) sparing the expenses or completely avoiding them, it is better to make such websites without using Flash or using Flash partially (use html for all text information and Flash for some elements).
Anyway, whatever your website’s purpose is - portfolio, gallery, business website, ecommerce shop, etc. - it is not necessary to order custom web design and hire a flash programmer. There are much simpler and modern solutions nowadays. I am talking about Flash Templates and Flash CMS templates. They are pre-made Flash web pages that require making additional changes to suit your needs and preferences. As a rule, flash web templates are easy-to-use, suitable both for newbies and professionals, and allow launching a website in no time. I recommend a large gallery of Flash web templates at FlashMint.
About the Author
Trenty Fox - Marketing Assistant at FlashMint.com. FlashMint is a leader in an industry which offers Flash Web Templates with high-grade graphics, thought-out structure, remarkable flash and sound effects.
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Adobe CS3: What’s New?
Adobe CS3 (Creative Suite 3) is a suite of products that combines traditional Adobe programs with programs that Adobe acquired and has since rebranded from Macromedia. The suite includes Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks, as well as Illustrator and Photoshop. All of the programs in Adobe CS3 that were formerly Macromedia have been streamlined and given Adobe-like functionality. The entire suite now works seamlessly as a complete family of Adobe programs for designers and developers.
Dreamweaver
Adobe CS3 includes an upgraded version of Dreamweaver, formerly a Macromedia program. Not only is Dreamweaver now more readily compatible with other Adobe programs, but it also has the addition of the Spry framework providing Ajax capability. This enables designers to incorporate sophisticated functionality without the need for complicated programming skills by simply taking advantage of the built-in features of Dreamweaver CS3. Dreamweaver CS3 also has new standards capability with cascading style sheets.
In addition, Dreamweaver CS3 now has Adobe Device Central incorporated within the program. This allows users to preview and test Web pages on multiple devices with ease. The Adobe CS3 program also has advanced integration with Photoshop CS3 and can support multiple layers. Finally, designers and developers using Dreamweaver CS3 can perform easy browser compatibility checks and can check for cross-browser cascading style sheet rendering issues.
Flash
Another one of the new Adobe programs acquired from Macromedia is Flash. Flash CS3 is now using Action Script 3.0, an update and modification of Action Script 2.0. While 3.0 is backwards compatible, this portion of Adobe CS3 is also 30 times faster and has more object-oriented capabilities than 2.0, which is of great benefit for developers.
For designers, Flash in Adobe CS3 is easier to work with and has more streamlined panels. The program incorporates new drawing tools, including a new and enhanced pen tool that is more like that used in Illustrator. Flash CS3 also allows more control with corners when creating rectangular objects and easier creation of pie and donut shapes. The program as a whole is more intuitive and is easier to control with new object primitives. Additionally, Flash CS3 works with other Adobe programs and allows designers to copy and paste filters and motion tweens from one object to another without the need to reapply them. Flash CS3 also offers nine-slice scaling, offering users the ability to scale objects more intuitively and without distortion.
Finally, Flash CS3 incorporates Adobe Device Central and allows users to check applications on different devices. And Flash now has import support for Adobe programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, which can lead to enhanced image fidelity and editability that designers may have wished for in the past.
Fireworks
Fireworks has also been given a makeover as one of the new Adobe programs. The new Adobe CS3 version makes it easier to control and share symbols, to give them more robust attributes with Javascript, and to swap them. Plus, scaling has been enhanced in Fireworks CS3 so that you can now intelligently scale symbols with a nine-point system.
Additionally, in Fireworks CS3, you can add multiple pages to a single document for ease in mocking up Web sites. You can also have hierarchical layers in much the same way as is allowed in Adobe programs such as Photoshop. And it is much easier to bring files between Fireworks and Flash or Illustrator and Fireworks than ever before.
Photoshop
Photoshop CS3 has also been given a makeover and upgrade. The new version of one of the best-known Adobe programs now offers the ability to export an HTML file that the user can zoom in and out of (the “zoomify” feature). It also has new smart filters that can preserve data integrity and allow for nondestructive flexible modification of the images. Designers using Adobe CS3 can also convert images to monochrome with more control than before.
Plus, Photoshop can now analyze images and make recommendations for settings. It also offers an enhanced version of cloning and healing and also has updated color correction options. And there are many new tools in Adobe CS3 that designers can use to more finely tune images, from photo merge with advanced alignment bleeding to a refined edge feature. Photoshop also now has DICOM support and allows users to open, edit, and annotate single frames of radiological images. Finally, as with other Adobe programs, Photoshop also incorporates Adobe Device Central for easy previewing and testing of images on other devices.
Illustrator
Last but not least, Adobe CS3 includes an upgrade of Illustrator that offers important new features for designers and developers as well. As previously mentioned, Illustrator CS3 now has seamless integration with Adobe programs such as Flash CS3 and includes Symbols for easy animation. The program also offers new, upgraded drawing tools and a new vector tool. Illustrator CS3 also features “Live Color,” which allows the designer or developer to edit colors directly within the image.
Conclusion
Adobe CS3 is an important upgrade for designers and developers who were users of previous versions of Macromedia and Adobe programs. It brings all of these well-known programs together in a single package under a single brand. Users are likely to see immediate benefits with Adobe CS3, and the new features of the individual programs add even more functionality than existed in previous editions.
About the Author
Ramon M. de la Paz is a full-time instructor of information technology training courses for WestLake Training and Development. In his 20-year career in the computer industry, in addition to delivering training, he has handled Web design and multimedia production for a number of government and non-government agencies.
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Stylesheets, Flash and XML for Dummies
This tutorial will show you how to include an external XML text file into Flash using external Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) to get crisp, clean and elegantly styled text within your text boxes. The latter serves two primary advantages over any other approach… (1) XML allows you to populate Flash content-driven applications with data from a simple text file. This is perfect for designing reusable application where’s nobody has to come into the Flash file again; all they have to do is add new entries to the XML file. (2) Cascading Style Sheets can be used to group style rules, which can be applied to XML elements allowing you to format all of your text boxes quickly and easily by editing just one single text file.
So before you go bold, refer back to this article and try some of this code. To write my XML, I generally use Notepad++, which it’s just a nicer version of the typical Notepad that comes with Windows; but you can use any text editor doesn’t have to be this one. Here’s the XML file we start with.
<mynursery_rhymes>
<itsybitsy>The Itsy Bitsy Spider</itsybitsy>
<foofoo>Little Bunny Foo Foo</foofoo>
<littlelamb>Mary had a little lamb</littlelamb>
</mynursery_rhymes>
It looks like plain old HTML doesn’t it? Absolutely, XML is very similar in many ways to traditional HTML - the difference being is that you are no longer restricted by a predefined list of tags; you can actually makeup the tag names yourself. Nevertheless don’t get too carried away, there are certain rules to naming your tags, such as not including spaces in the names, keeping your names short, simple, descriptive and all lower case. And always remembering to close your tags, every opening tag must have a matching closing tag.
The above XML reads as follow - the first line in any XML file is this XML declaration, HTML also has something like this and it’s basically just saying that this is an XML document and it should be treated as such. This is generally required but technically Flash will work either way. The next line is the root element or parent node, node is just another word for element, again this is very similar to the html tag in HTML in that every other tag will have to be nested between these two tags.
I will explain about the stylesheet in a minute, for now lets save this as “rhymes.xml” and head on over to Flash and create the code and visual elements needed to read our XML document. Open a new movie (.fla) - add two layers an Actions layers and a Visuals layer. Highlight the first frame in the Visuals layer then selects the text tool in the tools bar and drag it along the stage to create your text filed. Finally, in the text Property inspector (Ctrl F3 to access), resize it to about 400*350 pixels and set the follow options:
1. Select “Dynamic Text” from the Text Type drop-down menu. 2. In the Instance Name text box of the Property inspector, give it an instance name of “content_txt”. 3. For Line Type, select “Multiline” to ensure the text wraps correctly. 4. Select “Render text as HTML” and “Selectable” from the Properties inspector
With that out of the way, select the first frame on your Actions layer and opening the Actions panel (F9 to access) paste this code.
var format = new TextField.StyleSheet();
var path = "crisp_styles.css";
format.load(path);
content_txt.styleSheet = format;
// Load XML source
xmlData = new XML();
// ignore any white spaces in the XML content
xmlData.ignoreWhite = true;
// load our XML file into our XMl object
xmlData.load("rhymes.xml");
// check that the XML file has been loaded successfully
xmlData.onLoad = loadXML;
What the hell? Right lets go over this. What we’ve done is, create an instance of the StyleSheet class, load our stylesheet using the ‘load’ method and then associate it with our text field. Also, load our XML into Flash using the XML object and call our loadXML function to determine if our XML file loaded successfully. It seems now is a good time, or as good time as any to write our loadXML function so, open the Actions panel again and enter the following.
if (loaded) {
content_txt.condenseWhite = true;
content_txt.htmlText = xmlData;
} else {
content_txt.text = "Error while loading XML document";
}
}
That’s it! Make sure to save your .fla file in the same folder as the rhymes.xml file and press Ctrl+Enter to test your movie, if you’ve followed the instructions correctly you should see some thing like this.
By George, I think we’ve got it! Though the text still seems a little dull and out of focus. Lets cut to the chase, shall we? I’m hoping you know something about stylesheets already, hopefully from working with HTML and stylesheets (CSS). If not, it’s no biggie. CSS in ActionScript is somewhat limited. The properties listed bellow are all you have access to.
display;
font-family;
font-size;
margin-left;
margin-right;
text-align;
text-decoration;
To make this a bit easier for you. I’ve already created the stylesheet for you. Feel free to use it or create your own.
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 12px;
color: #689891;
display: inline;
}
foofoo {
font-family:arial, lucida console, sans-serif;
font-size: 11px;
color: #C1C6E3;
display: inline;
}
littlelamb {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10px;
color: #000000;
display: inline;
}
Save the stylesheet as “crisp_styles.css” in the same folder as your other files and, switch back to Flash to display the movie.
Not bad! But, how about adding a little more text between our XML tags to see what a real paragraph might look like. Heck, lets also add an image while we’re at it and amend the stylesheet by adding a class to give emphasis to special words within the paragraph then, we’ll return to the XML document and apply our new class to any word withing our tags as follows.
(1) Open the XML file and add this.
<mynursery_rhymes>
<itsybitsy><img align="left" src="rhymes.jpg" width="156" height="165" hspace="10" vspace="10"/>The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Climed up the water spout;
Down came the rain
And washed poor the Spider out</itsybitsy>
<foofoo>Little Bunny Foo Foo
hoppin’ through the forest,
scoopin’ up the field mice
and boppin’ em on the head.</foofoo>
<littlelamb>Mary had a little lamb,
little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.</littlelamb>
</mynursery_rhymes>
(2) Go to the stylesheet and paste this chunk of code.
color: #FCB6B8;
}
(3) Return to the XML to apply our new class.
<mynursery_rhymes>
<itsybitsy><img align="left" src="rhymes.jpg" width="156" height="165" hspace="10" vspace="10"/>The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Climed up the water spout;
Down came the rain
And <span class="note">washed</span> the Spider out</itsybitsy>
<foofoo>Little Bunny Foo Foo
hoppin’ through the forest,
scoopin’ up the field mice
and <span class="note">boppin</span>‘ em on the head.</foofoo>
<littlelamb>Mary had a little lamb,
little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was <span class="note">white</span> as snow.</littlelamb>
</mynursery_rhymes>
Needless to say you’ll need to make your own image, also I should point out that the Flash Player does not support progressive JPEG files. Now, if all is well the Flash should look like this.
That’s basically it-it might seem like a lot at first but it really isn’t all that difficult. If you still find this hard to understand, leave a reply.
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Top 10 Flash Questions and Answers for Newbies & Wannabies
This is an opportunity to share some tips with beginning to intermediate Flashers who want a quick, friendly way to get that Flash on. The code samples in here are actual working chunks of code. I assume you already know something about ActionScript and Flash (or Cut and Paste, if you know what I mean). If you don’t know what trace() is, point that cursor away before you hurt somebody. I’m not kidding. Right now!
10- Q: How can I make my Flash site display current time and date?
A: You can do it with the help of the Date() class available in Action Script. This class has all the necessary methods to retrieve full information about the current time. Before using these methods you need to create a date “object” in the class, this is because the methods are not static and they can only be applied to a single object. To create a Date object please, use the following syntax:
After that you can use different methods for this object getDate(), getDay(), getFullYear(), getHours(), getMilliseconds(), getMonth() and so on). Use Flash Help documentation to learn more about the Date() class and its methods.
For example:
current_time.getFullYear();
Note: You can retrieve both your operating system time and universal time - UTC (known before as GMT Greenwich mean time). To display UTC time you should use the methods that have “UTC” in their names (getUTCDate(), getUTCDay(), getUTCFullYear(), getUTCHours(), getUTCMilliseconds(), getUTCMonth() and so on)
See also:
How to set up the current time and date demo movie
Here’s the code used in the demo movie:
var minutes = today.getMinutes();
var hours = today.getHours();
var dat = today.getDate();
var month = today.getMonth()+1;
var year = today.getFullYear();
var dayN = today.getDay();
switch (dayN) {
case 0 :
day = "Sunday";
break;
case 1 :
day = "Monday";
break;
case 2 :
day = "Tuesday";
break;
case 3 :
day = "Wednesday";
break;
case 4 :
day = "Thursday";
break;
case 5 :
day = "Friday";
break;
case 6 :
day = "Saturday";
break;
}
if (hours>12) {
c_time = (hours-12);
AM_PM = "PM";
}
if (hours==12){
c_time = 12;
AM_PM = "PM";
}
if (hours<12){
c_time = hours;
AM_PM = "AM";
}
if (hours==0){
c_time = 12;
AM_PM = "AM";
}
if (minutes<10) {
is_zero_min = "0";
} else {
is_zero_min = "";
}
if (dat<10) {
is_zero_dat = "0";
} else {
is_zero_dat = "";
}
if (month<10) {
is_zero_mon = "0";
} else {
is_zero_mon = "";
}
output = c_time+":"+is_zero_min+minutes+" "+AM_PM+" "+day+" "+is_zero_dat+dat+"."+is_zero_mon+month+"."+year;
9- Q: How do I edit images on Flash?
A: Open your source “FLA” file in Adobe Flash and press “F11″ to launch symbols library. To perform search of a needed image symbol will be easier if you sort them “by kind” simply by pressing “kind” tab at the top of symbols list. You’ll see that all bitmap symbols are grouped now at the top of the whole symbols library.
Bitmap Symbols in Library
Browse these symbols to find symbol your want to substitute. You can see symbols preview at the top of symbols library. When you have found necessary bitmap symbol double click the icon on the left of it as to see the symbol properties window.
Bitmap Properties
You’ll see image preview and options there. Check the image size. It looks like 284 x 423 pixels at 32 bits per pixel. To make your image fit the original effects and animation the best way your image must be exactly the same size as in the original image.
You can resize or crop your image using Adobe Photoshop. Open your image in it using “File/Open…” from the top menu. To resize or crop choose “Image/Image Size…” or “Image/Canvas Size…” accordingly. Then save image using “File/Save As…”, for using it in flash choose one of the following image formats: “JPEG”, “GIF” or “PNG”.
Press “Import” button on the left and browse to location of your image file.
At the bitmap symbols properties window you can change the image quality. Make it lower to reduce published file size.
Now you should publish your flash movie.
8- Q: Can you give me a step by step explanation on how to publish my Flash site?
A: You may want to modify the publish settings to reduce the download time or increase the image quality. To do so, please, choose “File/Publish Settings…” from top menu. In “Publish Settings” window choose “Flash” tab. The main options that have significantly influenced the published “SWF” movie file size are Jpeg Quality, Audio Stream and Audio Event.
Publish Settings
To change jpeg image compression ratio move “Jpeg Quality” slider or type it in the input box at the right of it. Low quality (high compression) extremely reduces download time by flash looses its professional look. Try to experiment with quality to get optimal size/quality balance.
Another way to affect movie size is to change Audio Stream and Event options. Press “Set” button on the right to change music quality options.
Quick Tip! Actually, you can publish your movie directly from “Publish Settings” window, see “Publish” button at the bottom. Or you can publish it from every point of Adobe Flash by pressing “SHIFT+F12″ hotkey.
Published “SWF” file will appear in the folder were corresponding “FLA” file is located.
Replace old “SWF” file in “yourwebsite.com/flash” folder with a new one. Now it’s time to check modifications you’ve made. Go to the page on your website were you have embedded the movie and launch it to see the changes.
7- Q: How can I add a flash page to Favorites?
A: You should use the following Java script to bookmark the page:
getURL ("javascript:window.external.addFavorite(’http://www.website.com’,
‘Website<br />Title’)");
}
You can apply this script to any button (text, image). It should work.
6- Q: How can I can make a certain number of images display randomly?
A: In Flash (as well as in JavaScript) you can use the Math.random() function which generates pseudo-random numbers. This function can help you in making a slideshow when you need to use a large amount of images. You only have to store these images in the Flash library, convert them to slideshows, and give them names (that include the various numbers assigned to each slide). After that apply a code similar to the one shown in the following demonstration: How to make images display randomly demo movie
5- Q: How do I link a button to an Adobe PDF document?
A: In Flash MX as well as flash MX 2004 and Flash 8, a hyperlink is created through the getURL() command. The getURL() command provides a means for the browser to jump from one page to the other. The getURL() command can also be used to open an executable application like a PDF document. Click “Window” and choose “Actions” or press “F9″ on your keyboard to access the Actions panel. You should type the following action script provided below into the white space to open up an executable PDF file:
{
getURL("http://www.yoursitename.com/mydoc/doc1.pdf");
}
Now test your movie by pressing “CTRL+ENTER“.
4- Q: I would like to open new windows with just the images in them and certain options like no scrollbars, no toolbars, specific height and width, etc. Please, advise.
A: You can use Java script to do this.
In flash it should be assigned to the button (image, text etc.)
{
getURL("javascript:openNewWindow(’mypage.html’,'mypage’,
‘height=xx,width=xx,toolbar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes’)");
}
In index.html that relates to this flash you should write in the following java script, like this (don’t change anything):
function openNewWindow(URLtoOpen, windowName, windowFeatures) { newWindow=window.open(URLtoOpen, windowName, windowFeatures); }
</script>
Put it between
tags in index.html. Then add the following part to < embed> tag:(<embed src="yourmovie.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.Adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
width="xxx" height="xxx" swliveconnect=true name=yourmovie.swf></embed>)
It will work.
3- Q: How do I duplicate symbols?
A: Duplicating a symbol lets you use an existing symbol as a starting point for creating a symbol. Open your source “FLA” file in Adobe Flash and press “F11″ to launch symbols library. From library, what we need to do is right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the symbol, select Duplicate Symbol and give the duplicate symbol it’s name.
Next, drag the symbol unto the stage and give it an instance name. Note an instance name and a symbol name are tow totally different things. Meaning, that while there may be two or more instances of the same symbol with the same name “symbol 1”, each instance must have assigned a unique identifier (e.g. instance name) for all ActionScrip reference purposes.
To edit the symbol, you simply double click the symbol to access it in the Main Area. Then double click the text area and enter your own slogan. Once you edit a symbol, Flash updates all the instances of that symbol in your document. You can customize all other Flash elements by repeating these simple steps.
2- Q: Does Google index sites that use Adobe Flash and How do I use SEO for my flash website?
A: Yes, Google indexes pages that use Adobe Flash. However, their crawlers may experience problems indexing Flash pages. If you’re concerned that Flash content on your pages may be inhibiting Google’s ability to crawl your site, you may want to consider using a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site. If features such as Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site.
You may want to consider creating HTML copies of these Flash pages for the crawler. If you create HTML copies, please be sure to include a robots.txt file that disallows the Flash pages in order to ensure that their crawler doesn’t recognize these pages as duplicate content. A hybrid site such as this, works especially well, if your navigation uses traditional HTML links. You can use cascading style sheets to give the appearance of flash text links. This type of hybrid site will always rank better than an all Flash site - all other factors being equal. It’s also important to have your HTML page title correct, regardless of anything else. Several search engines look at meta titles first. In addition to the page title, you can add meta tags to the head of the file.
Outside of the actual HTML page, off page factors are important. One-way links (sometimes called inbound link) pointing to your site from highly relevant and high ranking pages will increase your page rank. In addition links from prominent directories, such as Yahoo and Business.com, placed in the most relevant categories will help. One-way inbound links from relevant sites is still the best way to increase your ranking with or without Flash.
Quick Tip! You might also want to consider creating and submitting a detailed site map of your pages using Sitemaps. Sitemaps are an easy way for you to submit all your URLs to the Google index and get detailed reports about the visibility of your pages on Google. With Sitemaps, you can automatically keep them informed of all of your current pages and of any updates you make to those pages.
To learn more about Google and how to optimize Flash for higher ranking, got to http://www.google.com/webmasters/
1 - Q: Does anyone know a free, easy way to create Flash for my website or to create a flash website?
A: Flash animation is a very attractive element of your website. You can easily created using Flash templates.
A Flash template is a complete site design that can be opened with Adobe Flash, filled with content and edited to suit particular needs. Flash templates will give your website a professional look with a minimal time and money expense.
Quick Tip! Most quality template shops will provide you with a free flash template so you can evaluate the quality of the product and try your skills before you buy.
How to create a Flash form to send email without any knowledge of ASP, PHP or any other programing languages?
A: If you have been searching around trying to figure out what is the easiest way to make a Flash contact form work, check out this post.
If you guys find these answers useful please make sure to give it a digg by clicking the digg button…. we really appreciate it! Also let us know what other questions you might have or any tutorials you think might be useful. Basically, help us help you.{ 3 comments }
Top 10 things Flash developers don’t want you to hear - by Dave Collado
So you want to spice up your website, add a splash page perhaps, maybe some video. Maybe you’ve thought about outsourcing the flash to someone else. Here are 10 things you’ll want to consider before you hire a Flash designer.
10. Flash requires quite a lot of bandwidth - Flash files, especially if they use sounds or embedded movies, will take a long time to load, and the visitor may not have the best connection and, obviously, the patience to wait.
9. You could be at the mercy of the Flash developers FOREVER! - if you use 3rd party Flash developers, they might code the project so that you won’t be able to make any changes and have to hire them again, and again even for the smallest modification.
8. The “Back” button is usually disabled - if the Flash designer has used some trick such as meta refresh in order to disable the browser’s Back button, it is highly probable that the visitors might get frustrated and not want to start browsing your site over and over again. So they will leave. Besides that, Google’s AdWords doesn’t approve pages that have the Back button disabled. So, beware of this if you intend to promote your web site by using a PPC campaign.
7. Flash doesn’t care about your visitors’ needs –silly Flash intros and dumb sounds that you cannot turn off will drive your visitors away. Moreover Splash Pages don’t favor your visibility - they lack the text that contains the keywords identified as pertinent to your services / products; they only include one outgoing link and, most of the times, no back-link from another page; they often include re-directions, and most of the search engines will not include re-directions in their page index.
6. SWiSH is a heck of a lot less expensive than Adobe’s software. SWiSH is basically Flash for those without the wish/need/time and or finances to buy the actual software. And with all of its built in preset effects you’ll never need to understand concepts like frames, libraries, symbols etc.
5. Users recognize and are much more accustomed to using HTML form elements than they are of Flash form components hence less likely to understand how to use them. Seriously, how many different ways does there need to be to submit a form. Stop making me think already!
4. Whereas Adobe might have you believe that the obstacles for users with disabilities are derived from A. issues with the design or B. issues with the assistive technologies and not Flash, the truth is that this propaganda serves only to guide the spotlight away from major cross-browser accessibility issues encompassing Flash. The uses of wmode parameter for example, prevent assistive technologies from receiving information from a SWF. Meaning that a SWF will essentially be hidden from a screen reader. Yes, I know, this is not an issue in Internet Explorer, settle down, however true web accessibility can be best described as the ability of any user, regardless of disability and or web browser, to access the same content and information. The correct acronym for that is HTML.
3. Most search engines don’t like and don’t index Flash -not all the search engines can crawl and index the content of Flash, and if they do, it’s not free of errors. What is more they won’t be able to direct the visitors to the proper page. The truth is that without some type of clunky workaround, like creating HTML copies of all your Flash pages, Google wont index these pages.
2. Why even hire a flash designer? You can get a Flash template for less than sixty bucks- each Flash template is unique and completely customizable right out of the box. What is more, most quality template shops will provide you with a free sample template so you can evaluate the quality of the product and try your skills before you buy.
1. Don’t assume that everyone has the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player installed. While 90% of people do have the Flash plug-in installed, not everyone has the Flash 9 Player or even the Flash 5 Player installed. Should a user visit your site using an older, incompatible version of the Flash player, you could end up inconveniencing the viewer to the extent that she’ll never returns to your site again!
My point is – I don’t want anyone to tell you that Flash is the next best thing since sliced bread, and if you do decide to use it, do it in moderation everything in moderation, even moderation.
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Why is there such interest in Flash website Templates? - by Dave Collado
As it gets harder and harder to attract new customers and keep their interest. More and more designers and clients alike turn to Flash website templates in attempt to deal with the incursion of the short attention span generation. With bandwidth no longer an issue and armed with a powerful arsenal of rich media many say Flash is already perched and ready to become the industries weapon of choice.
Even so, those of us who may be closer to finding our inner geek (you know who your are) will be more familiar with the technical issues that surround Flash hence we may appear a little less (pardon the pun) “animated” by all that fancy schmancy. Granted, for every obstacle, and every shortcoming Flash may have had, still has, whatever the case may be, Flash still possess and promises to continue to bring some really amazing virtues to the table. But, there is no justifiable reason that dazzling special effect should ever take the place of good clean HTML content on a website, notwithstanding the majority of Flash antagonist become so, due to the many inaccuracies and misconceptions floating around all over the Net concerning Flash.
Misconception number one - ( The Flash SEO scandal )
The most widely spread misconception is search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine visibility as it pertains to Flash website templates. Sorry to burst your bubble but getting your site indexed on any search engine isn’t easy whatever the underlining technology; search engines are primarily design to index static pages while on the contrary Flash is inherently dynamic. The question then arises. Is the use of Flash website templates then present an insurmountable obstacles or irremediable technical issue to bar proper indexing of these pages. And, if so how is the use of other programming techniques such as dynamically driven database sites and complex URLs (a common practice also facing similar challenges) become such common place or differ when it all comes down to search engine ranking? The answer to these questions must necessarily come from the search engines themselves and the information they provide concerning dynamic Flash sites and complex URLs. See Google Webmaster Help Center answers to Does Google index sites that use Macromedia Flash? - Does Google index dynamic pages?
What are Complex URLs?
Generally complex URLs read as follows http://foamers.net/sample.php?type=flash&details=gallery. Pages or links used to access this kind of URLs are dynamic, meaning that the content of the page can vary based on the value of the data being passed to the script (script in this case refers to sample.php) creating the page. Notice the parameters (also called a query string) being passed as name=value pairs to this script beginning at the question mark (?) each pair is also separated by an ampersands (&). The script then parses these values to determined which content (or page) it should serve; if on the other hand the topic parameter were to change one could expect to see an entirely different page. As you might imagine these types of URLs could confuse or even momentarily trap the spider by looking as if there were an infinite number of pages within just the one site. Needless to say, me Google crawler no like.
Notwithstanding dynamic pages such as these are simply too useful to avoid. Moreover there are many simple ways to amend the dynamic URLs potential issue, such as through the use of https rewrites and the like… Likewise Flash interactivity is simply too functional to ignore, and any thing else you need to do to make your Flash website template more amicable for the search engine bots to traverse is well worth the extra effort. Why? Well, for starters Flash is capable of utilizing sever-side scripts, it can also be used to assure client-side data validation, make interactive games, embed movies, music and lots of other cool stuff… Listen, it’s perfectly natural to feel a little uncomfortable and even afraid around anything you may not easy get right away; but that’s no reason to call it evil. Case in point Google uses Flash to display users video search results, better still; the popular YouTube website which uses Flash to play movies uploaded by users.
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