Flash

I intended to use the Major Project as an opportunity to push boundaries and learn new software. I am aware that Flash has limited use, and its popularity is declining somewhat. However, I felt that I needed to add a dynamic element to the site, as well as learn more about how other programs can plug into Dreamweaver.

Like CSS, I learnt simple Flash by following online tutorials on YouTube, as well as seeking help from tutors at college. I quickly became used to the interface and was able to produce a banner.















The storyboard above was my original plan, however I've discovered it is a little ambitious! I need more time to develop skills in Flash before I'm able to work out more complicated animations, but I have been able to use the motion tweens to create an animation sequence where elements fly onto the stage.

I have created two banners, both relatively similar. These can be seen embedded on the final website. I have resolved a few technical problems I had with the Flash banners. The first was that it snapped to 900px wide on every Dreamweaver page. I noticed that all elements did this when I added them, so assumed there was an overarching command to go to 900px wide. I found this in '*' and deleted it. The second problem was that the banner did not appear when I previewed the page on other computers. There was simply a small bit of script missing that needed inserting into the CSS page.

One technical problem, which is also a design problem, is that the banner is not clickable. I discovered that it was not possible to make Flash banners clickable in the same way images are clickable. Dreamweaver also wouldn't allow me to use hotspots over it. The solutions to this problem seemed rather complicated, so I have had to accept they are not clickable unfortunately.