Building Flash Web Sites For Dummies

by Sahlin, Doug

• ISBN13: 9780471792208
• ISBN10: 0471792209
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-08
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

You can get Flash-y with your Web site -- here's how! Know your audience, plan your site, and make it both interactive and cool Gone are the days when you could get by with a boring Web site. With Flash, you can add interactivity, video, an exciting and easy-to-navigate interface, and eye candy like custom cursors and flying text. This friendly guide makes Flash fun and easy, so you can have your site up and running in no time. Discover how to * Build an interface with custom buttons and menus * Include animation and soundtracks * Dress up your text * Create tween animations * Create ActionScript objects * Test and publish your site

Author Biography

Doug Sahlin is a photographer, videographer, and Web designer living in Lakeland, Florida. He has written 16 books on computer graphics and office applications and co-authored 3 books on Photoshop and 1 book on digital video. Recent titles include Digital Photography QuickSteps and How To Do Everything with Adobe Acrobat 7.0. Many of his books have been bestsellers at Amazon.com. Doug’s books have been translated into five languages. He uses Flash 8.0 Professional to create Web sites and multimedia presentations for his clients.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(1)
About This Book	1	(1)
Foolish Assumptions	1	(1)
Conventions Used in This Book	2	(1)
What You Don't Have to Read	2	(1)
How This Book Is Organized	3	(2)
Part I: Building the Perfect Beast	3	(1)
Part II: Fleshing Out Your Design	3	(1)
Part III: Adding Bells and Whistles	3	(1)
Part IV: Sharing Your Site with the World	4	(1)
Part V: The Part of Tens	4	(1)
The appendix	4	(1)
The color insert	4	(1)
The companion Web site	5	(1)
Icons Used in This Book	5	(1)
Where to Go from Here	6	(1)
Part I: Building the Perfect Beast	7	(32)
Creating the Perfect Flash Site	9	(12)
Flash versus HTML . . . The Winner Is?	9	(2)
Setting Goals for the Design	11	(1)
Planning Your Site	11	(1)
Gathering Assets for Your Site	12	(1)
Building the Interface	12	(3)
Simplifying your workflow with symbols	13	(1)
A tall tale of buttons and navigation menus	14	(1)
Adding text and other delights	14	(1)
Adding the WOW Factor	15	(3)
Making your site interactive with ActionScript	16	(1)
Get a move on with animation	17	(1)
Soundtracks and other operatic delights	18	(1)
Optimizing and Publishing Your Site	18	(3)
Testing your design	19	(1)
Getting the bugs out	19	(1)
Optimizing the beast	20	(1)
Publishing and uploading your brainchild	20	(1)
Before You Build Your Site	21	(18)
Knowing Your Mission	21	(3)
Working with clients	22	(1)
Making it crystal clear with a client questionnaire	23	(1)
Defining your target audience	24	(1)
What's the Bandwidth, Kenneth?	24	(2)
A tale of two bandwidths	24	(1)
Do you need Freddy the Preloader?	25	(1)
Put Your Ideas Down on Paper	26	(4)
Mind mapping your brainstorm	26	(1)
Creating a storyboard	27	(3)
Gathering Your Assets (Or, Wool Gathering)	30	(9)
Creating and optimizing your images	30	(3)
Rounding up sound bites for your site	33	(1)
Adding vexing video	34	(5)
Part II: Fleshing Out Your Design	39	(90)
Creating the Interface	41	(24)
Creating a Bandwidth-Friendly Flash Site	41	(4)
Creating Symbols	45	(4)
Flash symbols 101	45	(1)
Creating new symbols	46	(1)
Converting objects to symbols	47	(1)
Creating instances of symbols	48	(1)
Editing symbols	49	(1)
Working with Color	49	(5)
Mixing solid colors	49	(1)
Using the Ink Bottle and Paint Bucket tools	50	(1)
Creating colorful gradients	51	(1)
Using the Color Mixer	51	(2)
Using the Gradient Transform tool	53	(1)
Fleshing Out the Interface	54	(11)
Creating Symbols for Content	55	(4)
Creating a template for content	59	(1)
Working with layers	59	(6)
Getting the Word Out	65	(18)
Using the Text Tool	65	(10)
Creating static text	66	(1)
Making text pretty	67	(2)
Formatting paragraph text	69	(1)
Checking your spelling, Aaron	70	(3)
Adding text hyperlinks	73	(1)
Creating an e-mail link	74	(1)
Active Text for Fun and Profit	75	(4)
Breaking text apart	75	(2)
Creating input text boxes	77	(1)
Creating dynamic text	78	(1)
Stuffing 50 Pounds of Text in a 30-Pound Bag	79	(4)
Adding Site Navigation	83	(22)
Button, Button, Build Me a Button	83	(5)
Building a basic button	83	(2)
A button with many states	85	(3)
Saying Goodbye to Boring Buttons	88	(4)
Creating animated buttons	88	(1)
Building a noisy button	89	(1)
Creating an invisible button	90	(2)
Hanging Out at the Navigation Bar	92	(13)
Bellying up to the nav bar	92	(1)
Duplicating buttons	93	(1)
Building a navigation bar	94	(2)
Assigning actions to buttons	96	(2)
Assigning the proper event to a button action	98	(1)
Creating a drop-down menu	99	(6)
Get a Move On and Animate the Site	105	(24)
Animation 101: A Tale of Frames and Keyframes and Blank Keyframes	105	(3)
Working with frames	106	(1)
Working with keyframes	107	(1)
Animating Symbols with Motion Tweening	108	(7)
Removing a motion tween	111	(1)
In search of the perfect motion tween	111	(1)
Creating custom easing	112	(2)
Taking an object for a spin	114	(1)
Editing your animation	114	(1)
Animating along a Motion Path	115	(4)
Creating a guide layer	115	(1)
Creating a motion path	116	(1)
Getting objects to follow a motion path	116	(1)
Orienting a symbol instance to its motion path	117	(1)
Linking additional motion tween animations to a layer guide	118	(1)
Animating Objects with Shape Tweening	119	(6)
Removing a shape tween	121	(1)
Modifying a shape tween animation	121	(2)
Creating a shape tween animation for complex objects	123	(2)
Animating Image Sequences	125	(4)
Part III: Adding Bells and Whistles	129	(122)
Making Your Site Interactive	131	(24)
Adding Sizzle to the Steak with ActionScript	131	(10)
Introducing ActionScript classes, objects, and methods	132	(2)
Using the Actions panel	134	(7)
Loading External Movies into Your Flash Site	141	(3)
Understanding levels	141	(1)
Loading movies into targets	141	(2)
Unloading movies	143	(1)
Giving Flash a Brain (Variables 101)	144	(11)
Understanding variable data types	144	(1)
Vive la difference between string data and numeric data	145	(2)
Creating mathematical expressions	147	(1)
Understanding operator precedence	148	(1)
Christening a variable	149	(1)
Declaring a variable	150	(2)
Passing the variable baton to other objects	152	(1)
Resetting a variable	153	(2)
Creating ActionScript Objects	155	(26)
Telling Time with a Digital Clock	155	(6)
Using the Date object	156	(1)
Making the clock tick tock	156	(2)
Displaying the current time	158	(3)
Adding Background Music	161	(7)
Controlling the volume with a sound controller	162	(5)
Creating a soundtrack movie	167	(1)
Creating a Preloader	168	(4)
Using the Bandwith profiler	168	(1)
Scripting a one-act preloader	169	(3)
Hiding Objects with an ActionScript Mask	172	(3)
Creating Drag-and-Drop Elements	175	(6)
Creating an element that can be dragged	176	(1)
Using the startDrag action	177	(2)
Using the stopDrag action	179	(2)
Going Visual	181	(36)
Adding Tool Tips to Your Web Site	181	(7)
Creating the tool tips	182	(3)
Creating the tool tip functions	185	(2)
Programming the buttons	187	(1)
Creating a Moving Navigation Menu	188	(5)
Creating an endless menu	189	(2)
Putting the menu in motion	191	(2)
Creating a Flash Photo Gallery	193	(9)
Preparing images for the gallery	193	(1)
Laying out the gallery	194	(2)
Creating the XML document	196	(1)
Scripting the gallery	197	(2)
Dissecting the code	199	(3)
Importing Full-Motion Video --- A Moving Tale	202	(8)
Encoding the video in Flash	202	(5)
Linking encoded video to a Flash document	207	(3)
Modifying video playback control parameters	210	(1)
Adding Pop-ups	210	(7)
Going Commercial	217	(16)
Creating Flashy Forms	217	(5)
Creating form elements	218	(1)
Scripting the form	218	(1)
Creating ActionScript for the Reset button	219	(1)
Creating ActionScript for the Submit button	220	(2)
Creating a Printable Page	222	(2)
Designing a Flash Catalog	224	(3)
Creating an E-Commerce Shopping Cart	227	(6)
Creating Flash Eye Candy	233	(18)
Creating a Mouse Chaser	233	(2)
Creating a Custom Cursor	235	(2)
Building a Moving Backdrop	237	(4)
Creating a Ticker Tape Marquee	241	(5)
Creating Flying Text	246	(5)
Part IV: Sharing Your Site with the World	251	(22)
Optimizing Your Site	253	(10)
Optimizing Your Site	253	(3)
Test Each Web Site Movie	256	(1)
Debugging the Site	257	(2)
Adding Breakpoints	259	(4)
Publishing the Site	263	(10)
Setting Publish Settings	263	(8)
Specifying Flash settings	264	(4)
Specifying HTML settings	268	(3)
Publishing Your Site	271	(2)
Part V: The Part of Tens	273	(22)
Ten Tips for Creating Flash Sites That Work	275	(8)
Optimize Images Before Building the Flash Site	275	(1)
Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket	276	(1)
Get the Bugs Out of Your Scripts	277	(1)
Label Your Frames and Scenes	278	(1)
Use Named Anchors	278	(1)
Create Linkage	279	(1)
Make Your Site Skinny with Symbols	279	(1)
Create a Separate Layer for Your ActionScript	280	(1)
Use Comments	280	(1)
Think Modular	281	(2)
Ten Tips for Working with Clients	283	(6)
Create a Client Survey	283	(1)
Create a Static Mock-up	284	(1)
Get the Client to Sign Off on the Design	285	(1)
Dot the Eyes and Cross the Tees	285	(1)
Cover the Bases	286	(1)
Get It in Writing	287	(1)
Get an Initial Payment	287	(1)
Get Frequent Feedback	287	(1)
Get Feedback in Writing	288	(1)
Bill for Extras	288	(1)
Ten Tips for Promoting the Site	289	(6)
Choose a Meaningful Domain Name	289	(1)
Optimize the HTML Page in Which Your Flash Site Is Embedded	290	(1)
Add Meta Tags	290	(1)
Research High-Ranking Web Sites	291	(1)
Add Alt Text	291	(1)
Add Text to the HTML Page in Which Your Flash Site Is Embedded	292	(1)
Tell the World	293	(1)
Get Web Sites to Link to You	293	(1)
Promote the Site in Blogs and Forums	293	(1)
Submit Your Site	294	(1)
Appendix: Flash Internet Resources	295	(6)
Flash Training and Tutorial Resources	295	(3)
www.computerarts.co.uk	295	(1)
www.ultrashock.com	295	(1)
www.EchoEcho.com	296	(1)
www.ellenfinkelstein.com/flashtips.html	296	(1)
www.swift3d.com	296	(1)
www.actionscripts.org	296	(1)
www.flash-creations.com	296	(1)
www.communitymx.com	296	(1)
www.flashstreamworks.com	297	(1)
www.were-here.com	297	(1)
www.flashkit.com	297	(1)
www.lynda.com	297	(1)
www.flzone.net	297	(1)
www.moock.org	297	(1)
www.macromedia.com	298	(1)
Flash Animation	298	(1)
www.coolhomepages.com	298	(1)
www.bestflashanimationsite.com	298	(1)
www.melondezign.com	298	(1)
www.webmonkey.com	298	(1)
www.djojostudios.com/flash	299	(1)
Sound	299	(2)
www.soundshopper.com	299	(1)
www.flashkit.com	299	(1)
www.sonymediasoftware.com	299	(1)
www.groovemaker.com	299	(2)
Index	301