Stephen Hawking and Me - Flash MX Accessibility

An article that features tips on building accessible sites in Flash MX.

evolt (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Flash

The Structure of FlashHelp Skins

The real magic of FlashHelp, however, lies in its Flash-based presentation layer, or 'skin.' You can completely customize FlashHelp skins to match the look and feel of any application, no matter how unique.

Joseph, Amar 'AJ'. Adobe (2004). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia>Flash

Suggerimenti per un Flash Accessibile

Realizzare siti usabili in Flash è una questione di mentalità e non di prodotto. L'autore ci indica 10 suggerimenti per rendere le animazioni Flash più usabili ed accessibili.

Volpon, Antonio. FucinaWeb (2002). (Italian) Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Flash

SWFnews

A site with news about new products and techniques for Flash development.

SWFnews (1997). Resources>Web Design>Software>Flash

Sympathy for the Plug-in

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.

Balogh, Peter. List Apart, A (2000). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Tabbing Through Flash

A way of avoiding the problem with embedding Flash on a web page (which you cannot tab out of).

Norgaard, John. Sonokids (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Flash

De Terreur van Skip Intro

Wie zich onder de eerste lichting world wide web-surfers bevond rond 1994, toen de eerste NetScape-browser de Mosaic-browser vervangen had, kan zich waarschijnlijk herinneren dat webpagina's uit niet veel meer bestonden dan tekst met hyperlinks en een lullig patroontje als achtergrond. Er werd nauwlijks gebruik gemaakt van visuele elementen. Helaas kwam daar snel een eind aan.

Massee, Door Laurens. de Lijst (2002). (Dutch) Design>Web Design>Interaction Design>Flash

Text in Motion With the Wiggler

When you start using After Effects, there will come a time when you look at the presets and think, 'Gosh, I am bored with these.' That will be the point where you discover Adobe has a wonderful sense of humor and you start using the Wiggler. In the text options, on the timeline, the Wiggly selector can be added to a chunk of text to randomize the values of any of the properties associated with that group. That description may sound rather formal, but when it comes to adding effects, randomness can lead to some happy surprises. Essentially you can have text bend, move, blur, spin, and so on by simply giving it some parameters for the effect.

Green, Tom. Community MX (2006). Design>Web Design>Interaction Design>Flash

Tips For Optimizing Flash Movies

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.

Berg, Debbie. WebDeb (2001). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

To Flash or Not To Flash? - Usability and User Engagement of HTML vs. Flash

Of the many challenges facing developers of museum Web sites, usability and engagement rank high. Many developers have adopted Macromedia Flash as a useful tool that allows greater interactivity and multimedia compared to HTML pages. This paper reports on a comparative evaluation of Flash and HTML versions of a single site, focusing on user information-seeking goals, behavior, and responses to each version of the site. We then compare the two versions based on holding power, time on task, user satisfaction, and qualitative interviews. Testing found notable differences between the two versions of the site, and between youth and adult tester groups. The results provide valuable insights into the relative strengths and weaknesses of Flash and HTML. While we cannot draw broad conclusions from a single case study, these data can help us begin the discussion around developing preliminary standards and basic frameworks for suggesting rationales for choosing Flash or HTML in a number of typical situations facing museum Web developers.

Schaller, David T., Steven Allison-Bunnell, Anthony Chow, Paul Marty and Misook Heo. uiGarden (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability>Flash

Una Perspectiva Global de Flash

Salta a la vista que Flash en la web tiene muchos problemas de usabilidad y accesibilidad pero hay que juzgarlo por lo que es, y no por el buen o mal uso que se hace de él. Antes de poner mala cara ante todo lo que huele a Flash, como hacen muchos desarrolladores, hay que ver la herramienta desde un punto de vista global, con más perspectiva.

Garcia, Joaquin Marti. 7bytes (2003). (Spanish) Design>Web Design>Software>Flash

Usability Heuristics for Rich Internet Applications

Over the coming months and years, RIAs will move from cutting edge to mainstream. That transformation will accelerate with the Flash and user experience communities working together to understand and develop best practices and shared knowledge.

McMullin, Jess and Grant Skinner. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Interactive>Flash

Usability SIG Web Site Tests Macromedia FlashPaper

The Usability SIG is always interested in new ways to put publish our newsletter on the Web. When an upgrade to Macromedia’s Contribute 2.0 included a new program called FlashPaper, we decided to give it a try.

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Document Design>Software>Flash

Use Gradients to Give Objects a 3- Dimensional Appearance

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.

Berg, Debbie. WebDeb (2002). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Using ActionScript in Macromedia Flash MX 2004: Best Practices

Code it right: Use these best practices as you write your ActionScript.

deHaan, Jen. Adobe (2004). Design>Web Design>Programming>Flash

Using Flash for the First Time, Part 1: Building a Banner

This is part one of a three-part article on how to build a simple animated banner in Flash and add it to a web page using Macromedia Dreamweaver. You'll learn how to create a file and modify its settings, import and add graphics to the Stage from the library, and create layers in part one. In parts two and three you'll add an animation and create a button that opens a browser window. Then you'll specify publish settings, and add the banner to a web page.

deHaan, Jen. Adobe (2005). Design>Web Design>Interactive>Flash

Using Flash for the First Time, Part 2: Adding Symbols, Animation, and ActionScript

How to create symbols, animation, and even write some simple ActionScript to make a banner function.

deHaan, Jen. Adobe (2005). Design>Web Design>Interactive>Flash

Using Flash for the First Time, Part 3: Publishing and Adding the Flash File to a Web Page

This is part three of a three-part article on how to build a simple animated banner in Macromedia Flash and add it to a web page using Macromedia Dreamweaver. In this final part, you learn about file size, banner standards, how to set publish settings, how to add the banner to a Dreamweaver web page, and how to add Macromedia Flash Player detection.

deHaan, Jen. Adobe (2005). Design>Web Design>Interactive>Flash

Using Macromedia Flash MX as a Multilingual Authoring Tool

This tutorial offers procedures and strategies that allow you to adapt a Macromedia Flash MX movie to the language and culture of a target audience. Macromedia Flash MX supports localization through Unicode and the various ways in which you can include different languages in a movie.

Adobe (2004). Design>Web Design>Localization>Flash

Web Clients Fatten Up with OpenLaszlo

OpenLaszlo is a rich client application architecture that uses Macromedia Flash as a deployment vehicle. Declarative in design, OpenLaszlo relies upon JavaScript for logic and offers advantages over traditional Flash development, including an advanced UI constraints system, an object-oriented design methodology, and built-in support for Web services and a variety of flavors of Remote Procedure Call (RPC). This article details the basic concepts of OpenLaszlo, and gives examples of situations in which an OpenLaszlo solution might be beneficial.

Woods, Joshua M. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Standards>Flash

Why Flash Will Never Die

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.

Angeletti, Mark. Search-This (2003). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Will Macromedia's Flash Plans Cripple the Web?

Macromedia's Flash-everywhere approach brings new innovations to Web design but carries hidden potential liabilities that could negate its benefits.

Becker, David. ZDNet (1997). Articles>Web Design>Software>Flash