Flash Interface 101
standoutawards.com
scifi.com/tinman/oz
citycenter.com
icebreakers.la
lipsum.org
be careful of making the interface 100% of screen...it will scale down, but scaling up may distort the rasterized images*** see below
Font choice- Technic
make text into a movie clip so that you can add layer effects- drop shadow, glow, etc
change the text on a layer above the color of the button in the button menu (double click the button then edit the button)
hold alt to make duplicate buttons on the scene, then duplicate them in the library and change ea button's text independently
now you can select ea button on the stage and swapped them out for the duplicate buttons on the stage by clicking swap down in properties
ccreate new layer called load area on main stage
if you make the load are 300 x 300 then turn it into a movie clip and change the size to 250x250, it will scale down the content to fit the new load area (remember the content was already 300x300)
say you make another load area next to it at 450x250 for the text
make a new document at 450x250 and paste in the text you want. you can adjust the line spacing/ leading by clicking the p (paragragh) symbol in properties panel save this and publish it out.
Now load this text movie into the content box.
In order to target it, you have to give it an instance name in properties. Name it loadbox since it is not specific to the content rather just to the instance.
now call it
on(release) {
loadbox.loadMovie("what.swf");
}
they will load at the registration point referenced by the cross-haired circle
now you can switch out the content
paste the new text into the original new text document and resave it with a new name (where.fla)and test that out(to get a .swf published)
now make a new layer and add action to that layer same as the first but now change the new swf name
on(release) {
loadbox.loadMovie("where.swf");
}
again, the movies will take on the bg color of the root movie. if you want it a diff color than the bg of the main movie, add a coloerd box to the bottom layer of the movie you are calling in.
loading images
make sure all of the elements that are dynamically loading in the same root folder as the flash movie itself
you dont have to import them into the library because they are rather large and the loading box is actually scaled down so it will also scale down any content
***is is one way to compensate for the scaling in a larger browser window...
name the movie clip loader box for the photos photobox in the properties menu
now add
photobox.loadMovie("photo1.jpg")
to the actions for one of the navigation buttons so theat it now reads
on(release) {
loadbox.loadMovie("where.swf");
photobox.loadMovie("photo1.jpg");
}
you can mask the edges of the photobox to round the corners by adding a mask layer above the layer on the scene in the shape you want
in ordre to make the load area just a reference rather than visible, you go into the photobox movie clip(double click it) and turn it into a guide