http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Design/Multimedia/Web-Design/Flash A listing of the most recently indexed works about Design and Multimedia and Web Design and Flash in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Design/Multimedia/Web-Design/Flash http://tc.eserver.org/35568.html http://tc.eserver.org/35568.html Adobe AIR has grown immensely popular over the past months. With its popularity, many new applications have been released. During this period, the following 10 issues have been the mistakes I have seen most often among developers. Hopefully, this list can help you avoid the same mistakes when building your next AIR application. http://tc.eserver.org/35569.html http://tc.eserver.org/35569.html I get to see and play with a lot of really cool AIR applications (even when they’re still being developed). Every now and then I come across an app that totally ignores any best practices or usability rules. AIR provides developers with a lot of features that could potentially annoy users if not used wisely. I thought it was a good idea to write this article. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use these features, I just want you to think about them before you add them to your application. http://tc.eserver.org/28708.html http://tc.eserver.org/28708.html 'How can you best embed Flash content?' It should be a simple question, but is likely to evoke a lot of different opinions and arguments, as each of the many available embedding techniques have their own pros and cons. In this article, I will look into the complexities and subtleties of embedding Flash content and examine the most popular embedding methods to see how good they really are. http://tc.eserver.org/28706.html http://tc.eserver.org/28706.html There's a belief within the web standards community that Flash is part of a different world. While all approaches have limitations and drawbacks, Flash has been scorned to the point that many refuse to acknowledge its benefits. Ultimately, this has led to the creation of a virtual separation among web designers; those who use Flash use it exclusively (leading to a saturation of full-screen, 'Skip Intro'-rich Flash sites on the web) and those who don't ever give it a second thought. Although the brilliant option of the hybrid (part Flash, part HTML) site had always existed, it's never really made it far past the typical Flash intro on a corporate homepage. Throughout the history of Flash on the web, the technology has always been intended to be embedded within HTML. Yet it has often seemed a foreign concept to use the two technologies to complement one another. http://tc.eserver.org/28484.html http://tc.eserver.org/28484.html Rich Internet Applications is the new buzz-phrase for Web 2.0, and a key component of the substance behind Web 2.0 is Adobe Flash. Learn how to integrate Flash movies into your application and generate Flash movies dynamically using the Ming library. http://tc.eserver.org/25980.html http://tc.eserver.org/25980.html The maturation of digital asset management technology and products has enabled on-demand DAM services to emerge as an attractive alternative to on-premises installation. Organizations facing a variety of problems and constraints, such as speed to market and scalability, are finding software services models to be the most cost effective approach to digital asset management. This paper identifies the four key factors in making the decision between a services model and on-premises installation. It also argues that the decision should be analyzed in terms of discounted cash flows and presents examples of such calculations. http://tc.eserver.org/25550.html http://tc.eserver.org/25550.html If Flash is indeed a cancer on the Web, how come so many artists (and viewers) adore it? The much-maligned multimedia plug-in bites back, with help from Flash artist Peter Balogh. http://tc.eserver.org/25359.html http://tc.eserver.org/25359.html Many Websites that use Flash could be optimized to load much more quickly than they currently do. By breaking up one large .swf into multiple smaller .swf files, you can decrease the time it takes your site to load, while at the same time making the site easier to manage. This article will look at how to break your Website into multiple .swf files, and discuss why it's a good idea. http://tc.eserver.org/25358.html http://tc.eserver.org/25358.html In this article we will look at the strengths and weaknesses of one of the most controversial products in the web development world, Macromedia Flash. We will take a close look at what Flash can do and what Flash can't or shouldn't do. And while in the process we will be comparing Flash to its counterparts HTML and CSS. http://tc.eserver.org/24830.html http://tc.eserver.org/24830.html Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using flash for their needs. But the majority sites are not in this list. Let's summarize some facts about flash usage on YOUR web site. After that it's you will have to decide: to use or not to use. http://tc.eserver.org/24495.html http://tc.eserver.org/24495.html When you're ready to deliver your Flash movie to your audience, use the Publish Settings or Export Movie option to export the Flash FLA file to a format for the Web. http://tc.eserver.org/24483.html http://tc.eserver.org/24483.html Use the Sound Object to control sounds that are stored in the Flash Library as well as load sounds that reside outside the Flash movie. Controlling sounds includes starting and stopping the sound, adjusting the volume or the right and left balance while a sound is playing. http://tc.eserver.org/24486.html http://tc.eserver.org/24486.html Transitions are a very popular technique used in Flash, and they're typically used to let your audience know that a change in content or scenery is coming. They're usually displayed using fading effects and dissolves, and there are two ways to implement this type of effect: an alpha tween and a brightness tween. Let's take a look at both of these techniques. http://tc.eserver.org/24488.html http://tc.eserver.org/24488.html Flash movies stream, so when the Flash movie contains several frames or scenes, the movie should be preloaded so that it will play back smoothly. Let's set up the animation that will play while the main movie (the presentation from a previous lesson) is loading behind the scenes. We'll create a movie clip for the preloader animation. http://tc.eserver.org/24490.html http://tc.eserver.org/24490.html Want to load one movie at a time into a main movie? With Flash MX, you can load a SWF or JPEG file into the Flash Player while the original movie is playing. The loadMovie action lets you display several movies at once and switch between movies without loading another HTML document or a separate Flash movie. http://tc.eserver.org/24485.html http://tc.eserver.org/24485.html Flash is a two-dimensional program. Using a gradient in Flash can give a two-dimensional object a third dimension. In this example, let's create a series of circular outlines, then add one of Flash's preset gradients to give the outlines a three-dimensional appearance. http://tc.eserver.org/23061.html http://tc.eserver.org/23061.html Some new, cutting-edge applications have demonstrated Flash's potential to surpass the power of traditional software applications. These web applications leverage the strengths of Flash to help users make better sense of large amounts of data, presenting information in an easily accessible, graphical visual representation. In this white paper, we will explore how Flash can help developers easily build the next generation of web applications. We will also look at several new applications that have recently appeared on the scene and talk about how they leverage the benefits of Flash. http://tc.eserver.org/20565.html http://tc.eserver.org/20565.html Macromedia Flash uses a movie-making metaphor in how they define their concepts and areas of their interface. The basic terms used to describe the animation are the movie, stage and motion. http://tc.eserver.org/20566.html http://tc.eserver.org/20566.html Only six years ago the web did not support graphics and CD-ROM based games asked users if they had 4Mb of memory on their computer with possible hard drive space of 20Mb to play any games. Today, oh heck, that seems archaic. http://tc.eserver.org/20563.html http://tc.eserver.org/20563.html Macromedia Flash is a popular animation application that can produce some striking special effects. In professional web sites, Flash must be used effectively instead of simply for novelty. Business applications of Flash can advertise a product or showcase a skill-set. Educational applications can use Flash to provide multimedia instruction. Entertainment applications of Flash include games and cartoons. http://tc.eserver.org/20564.html http://tc.eserver.org/20564.html The reason to use Macromedia Flash is usually to provide a solution or to satisfy the need of the Web site owner. Typically, Flash is used to create a company image through animations and special effects in the splash page or even throughout the site, establish better user understanding through demonstrations and simulated processes, and/or entertain or educate through animated cartoons and games. http://tc.eserver.org/20562.html http://tc.eserver.org/20562.html Macromedia Flash is primarily an animation development application. Its feature-set includes such things as vector-based drawing, Web animations and interactive effects. Drawing is required for animation, which in turn is part of interactive effects. http://tc.eserver.org/20232.html http://tc.eserver.org/20232.html Scaling, 2-D style, cycle-free motion, and heavy strokes. They’re not just web design trends any more. Join Olson on a cultural scavenger hunt as he tracks the ways Flash design techniques have crept into other media. http://tc.eserver.org/18426.html http://tc.eserver.org/18426.html The new Flash MX authoring environment and the equally new Flash Player 6 solve a few accessibility problems. Screen reader compatibility is the first Macromedia access milestone. Screen readers—which, by the way, are not called “voice browsers” or “text readers”—are software that reads web pages, and anything else on your computer, out loud. (I’d show you a picture, but apart from a few uninteresting configuration screens, these programs have no overt visible form.) http://tc.eserver.org/18380.html http://tc.eserver.org/18380.html Director, which hit the scene way back in 1988, was always considered the ultimate multimedia authoring tool. Then the Web came along and Shockwave, a format that translated Director projects for the Web, was born. It was pretty wowie in its day (circa 1995), but the size of Shockwave files, along with the browser plugin users needed to see them, really slowed Shockwave down. Enter Flash's SWF format, which was designed solely for the Web so it was faster and easier to use than Shockwave. And the rest is history: Flash is everywhere, and whipper-snapper Web developers are all, 'Shockwave who?' But Shockwave has its uses. Flash may be better than ever these days, but you can still outgrow it. Say you need better video performance, or you want to create a game or educational tool that uses a joy stick. Or maybe you're looking for the depth of 3D animation. When it comes to interactive projects in the non-Web world (yes, it's true, there is life outside the Web) — such as CD-ROM games, educational materials, reference books, and presentations — sometimes Flash just isn't enough. If you're tackling a big-league, off-Web project, or a particularly intricate website, then perhaps it's time to take another look at Macromedia's Director MX. http://tc.eserver.org/11866.html http://tc.eserver.org/11866.html Although multimedia has its role on the Web, current Flash technology tends to discourage usability for three reasons: it makes bad design more likely, it breaks with the Web's fundamental interaction style, and it consumes resources that would be better spent enhancing a site's core value.