December 2001 DEB Tip: Tips For Optimizing Flash Movies

Last update: 20-jan-04

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December 2001 DEB Tip

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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.
NOTE: The Flash FLA format is NOT a Web-ready format for the Web. the Flash FLA format is a master format that can only be viewed/edited within the Flash program.

Flash SWF SETTINGS
SWF: Shockwave format for the Web
Load Order: Choose a Load Order to set the order in which Flash loads a movie's layers for displaying the first frame of your movie: Bottom Up or Top Down
Protect from Import: Prevents others from importing the Flash SWF file and converting it back into a Flash movie (warning: this is not 100% effective)

HTML SETTINGS
HTML settings determine where the Flash movie appears in the window, the background color, the size of the movie, etc., and sets attributes for the OBJECT and EMBED tags.

Templates
Your HTML settings are inserted in a template document. The template document can be any text file that contains a plain HTML file, one that includes code for ColdFusion or Active Server Pages (ASP), or a template included with Flash. Many of the templates contain Flash plug-in detection scripts that will automatically detect if the user does not have the Flash player plug-in, and will auto-install the plug-in for them.
TIP: Download the Accessibililty Template from the Flash Exchange Web site: www.macromedia.com/exchange/flash

PLAYBACK SETTINGS
Display Menu: The Display Menu contains playback options for the visitor when he or she right-clicks their mouse on the Flash movie: zoom, play, stop, rewind, etc.. These settings may be essential for user control, so be sure to keep this option selected when publishing.

Device Font: Fonts are embedded in Flash movies by default, and excessive text and fonts can be processor-intensive, especially on slower/older computers. For text-heavy movies (and slower dial-up connections) don't embed fonts in the movie--use the Device Font instead. This will prevent fonts from being embedded in the Flash movie, which means that the font(s) must be installed on the user's machine, or the user's default browser font will be used. The text-intensive movie should now playback seamlessly.

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIMIZATION TIPS
-Fonts are embedded in Flash movies. Text-intensive movies and several fonts can be processor-intensive. Use text and fonts sparingly (no more than 3 fonts max.).
-Alpha settings can also be processor-intensive. Use alpha settings sparingly.
-Tweens can be processor-intensive. Use blank keyframes to create motion rather than extensive tweens.
-Be sure to use Flash's MP3 compression tools to make your sound clips smaller in file size.
-Bitmap images can be optimized in Flash from the Bitmap Properties window. Use the Library panel to optimize bitmaps when the file size generally exceeds 10KB.

Source: This lesson was developed especially for YOU by Debbie Berg :-)

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