Designing a Flash Site

[ericmcfadden]

I'm no stranger to html, actionscript, dreamweaver, or flash, but I seem to be in a bit of a rut, here.

Note: I'm not asking anyone do do the work for me. it would just be really helpful to have access to source fla's, templates, tutorials, etc.

Basically, I want to make an animated, dynamic-width flash site to show off my projects, portfolio, and company information, but I'm absolutely overwhelmed. D:

Here's the concept I've come up with:

As you can see, the idea is a simple monochrome layout with a top and bottom bar, and a "moving" sidebar. Regardless of window-size, I want to make the bars stretch all the way across the screen, except for the bottom one, which will only go 100-200 pixels away from the right edge.


So my question(s) is(are) basically, where do I begin?

• Should I use xml or just flash?
• Should it be broken up into small swf files or be one big one
• One swf file per page, or one for the whole site?
• How do I go about making a dynamic width layout in flash?
• What's the best method to make animation "transitions" between pages?
• Do I need a preloader, and how do I make one?
• Is there anything else I should know (tips, advice) before I start?

I'm not sure if I missed anything or not... ^_^;

I know I'm asking a LOT, but answers to any (or all) of these questions would be greatly appreciated, and I'd be forevereverever in your eternal debt.

thanks for everyone's time!

Sincerely,
Eric

[Mack]

1. you should use XML to control your content. This makes it easier to update later.
2. You should use a BASE swf which holds your navigation, and then load in separate swfs whos content is controlled via xml for each section of your site.
3. There is actionscript available for making your flash resize per the width of the browser. Just google "full screen flash" kirupa.com - Full Screen Flash Page (this is an example, kirupa is a great site, but ignore their methods for flash embed, you should use javascript to embed flash on the page.
4. Best practices for transitions... is something youll need to work out on your own.
5. Always should use a preloader, and should preload all your content whether its "visible" or not. This is also something you can google: here is an example off of actionscript.org, another great resource: Here is a very simple AS3 preloader - ActionScript.org Forums
6. My advice is to build it in as3.

[Acuity]

- depending on the siz eof your portfolio and of your images: you may want to use XML to pull your images into flash dynamically - so that ppl arent sitting there for ages waiting for your site to load
- if you do not use xml - it might be worth breaking it into smaller swfs
- have one main swf for the site - then as ppl navigate and interact - load small swfs of tcertain sections (e.g about page/images) within a movieclipinside the main swf.
- completely dependant on the transition... for something liek your sweep - that also needs to resize with the browser - you would need to AS the start and end co-ordinates maybe, with some easing aswell to make it look smooth ---- or you could do it really simply through a motion tween
- preloaders are needed - otherwise when things rae loading ppl wont know whats happening and will assume your site does not work
- for your first flash site - i would not create a resizeable site - as it will force you to learn some hard AS... drop yourself in with a simple 960x600 site thats fixed and you can do everything simply and achieve the same effect..

tutorials that might help you out right now:

kirupa.com - Percentage Preloader with Load Bar
Flash - Contact Flash Form - Navigation - FlashValue.net
Flash Animated Rollover Video Tutorial | Acuity Designs
Flash - AS2 Tutorials - How to create a dynamic Flash website - Swinburne Faculty of Design Tutorials - free video tutorials

[Euphorix^]

• Should I use xml or just flash?
• Should it be broken up into small swf files or be one big one
• One swf file per page, or one for the whole site?
• How do I go about making a dynamic width layout in flash?
• What's the best method to make animation "transitions" between pages?
• Do I need a preloader, and how do I make one?
• Is there anything else I should know (tips, advice) before I start?

For my site I use just Flash then imported to dreamweaver. Yes it is a Flash portfolio and can be seen at Euphorix Design (if it appears or not i doesn't matter I'm having trouble with my host anyway).

In my opinion I think:
- It should be totally done in flash animated and imported into dreamweaver and tagged with a div table.
-Will be easier to do it as one big swf file
- Don't just 1024 * 768 or however long you want it BUT KEEP IT 1024 ACROSS THE SCREEN
- Motion tween with folders for easy to see
- Preloaders are easy to make I made my first one the other day with these easy to read tutorial Pre Loader Tutorial For Flash
- Um I guess make sure everything is set out nicely with folders etc labeled well so it can easily be edited.

Good Luck

[Acuity]

• Should I use xml or just flash?
• Should it be broken up into small swf files or be one big one
• One swf file per page, or one for the whole site?
• How do I go about making a dynamic width layout in flash?
• What's the best method to make animation "transitions" between pages?
• Do I need a preloader, and how do I make one?
• Is there anything else I should know (tips, advice) before I start?

For my site I use just Flash then imported to dreamweaver. Yes it is a Flash portfolio and can be seen at Euphorix Design (if it appears or not i doesn't matter I'm having trouble with my host anyway).

In my opinion I think:
- It should be totally done in flash animated and imported into dreamweaver and tagged with a div table.
-Will be easier to do it as one big swf file
- Don't just 1024 * 768 or however long you want it BUT KEEP IT 1024 ACROSS THE SCREEN
- Motion tween with folders for easy to see
- Preloaders are easy to make I made my first one the other day with these easy to read tutorial Pre Loader Tutorial For Flash
- Um I guess make sure everything is set out nicely with folders etc labeled well so it can easily be edited.

Good Luck

your gallery took a milennia to load, so yea change host! try varihost.net

using 1024 is not advisable as you don't have 1024 pixels across the screen when you add things like browser program borders, scrollbars etc tec - works just about for you (with some cut off), as by the looks of things you have scale turned on

[craba]

one question?
when a still a web site (save a swf file) and my second step is to convert a .swf to .flv and then a edit that file but when i export that i movie it's play like animation with out function that he have like swf..is this becouse action script that is not decod or what?? do you have solution for that problem?? and do you have some good program for decode swf. to .fla??

thank you :)