Content of Flash

Introduction of Macromedia Flash

Introduction

Flash is a program by Macromedia for creating interactive, animated online content. Animated simply means "to have movement" -- Flash content does not have to be a cartoon. It is commonly used to mimic software interface elements such as scroll bars, drop-down menus, buttons, and navigational systems. The term "Flash" has also come to mean the actual files created using Macromedia’s program of the same name.

Getting to know the Flash authoring environment makes you more effective and efficient as you create movies. You'll get to know the parts of the Flash window, which include the Toolbar, Timeline, Stage, panels, and Property Inspector.

The Toolbar, also known as the Tools panel, contains tools that you can use to draw, paint, select, and modify artwork. The Timeline represents the overall structure of a Flash document and controls the content. The Timeline consists of layers, frames, and scenes that make up a Flash document. Layers are like transparent sheets stacked on top of one another. Each layer can contain different images that appear on the Stage. A frame displays content at a specific moment on the Stage. The order in which frames appear in the Timeline determines the order in which they appear in the document. As you play a document, the playhead moves through the Timeline displaying the current frame with each layer on the Stage. If a project requires many animation sequences with hundreds of frames, you can organize the animations into scenes to make them easier to work with and manage. Below the Timeline is the Stage, which provides a place to compose the content for individual frames. Panels are windows that allow you to view, organize, and change elements and related options in a document. The Property Inspector is a specialize panel that allows you to change object specific attributes and options.

With Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004, you can author, preview, publish, and validate content for Flash Lite.

Flash MX Professional 2004 uses two versions of the Flash Player for authoring: the Flash MX Professional 2004 test movie player and the stand-alone player. Whenever you select the Control > Test Movie or Control > Test Scene menu commands in Flash MX Professional 2004, the test movie player is started. You can use the stand-alone player to view an existing Flash SWF movie after it has been published. Once you have set the publish settings for Flash Lite, you can preview SWF files using the test movie player and additional information, warning, and error messages will be displayed to let you know if there is any violation of Flash Lite rules and syntax. This helps you determine how to make the content Flash Lite compatible.