Using Flash technology with simpler, dedicated tools

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Taking advantage of Flash technology with easy-to-use, dedicated tools

by Rick Hendershot, Linknet Creative Resource Library

In the last few years Flash has become one of the most successful technologies for building web components that feature video and audio effects. Some things that make Flash so useful are

1) The amazing flexibility of this technology. Flash objects can include almost any sort of normal web component: text, images, audio, video. And these can be individually controlled within flash objects to create things like animations, media players, slide shows.

2) An incredible range of interactivity can be built into flash objects. Buttons can be included to control animations, or the playing of audio or video tracks. Interactive forms can be built right inside of flash objects. And of course hyperlinks can be added. All of which means that flash can be used to construct anything from relatively simple banners ads or special text effects to entire websites.

3) The ease with which flash objects can be integrated into regular html pages. Usually this just involves copying a .swf file to the website, and adding some controlling html code to a web page.

Unfortunately the versatility of flash and its wide range of capabilities mean that professional level tools for creating flash productions are quite difficult to learn. As with most creative tools, the process starts with ideas. But the tools also shape the ideas, because until the designer, artist, or animator knows what the tools are capable of doing, it is hard to visualize the end result. In other words, the learning curve for the legitimate flash designer is quite steep.

Dedicated tools for relatively simple tasks

For the rest of us, the complexity (and cost) of full bodied tools like Flash MX is why it might be better to stay away from them - at least until some of the basic techniques and vocabulary are learned. Fortunately there are dedicated tools for creating some of the more popular flash objects: animated text, media players, banners ads, and slide shows. And most of these relatively simple tools are quite inexpensive too.

Some of the other articles in this series have featured programs like Wimpy and Flix Pro which are both dedicated to a relatively narrow range of capabilities. Wimpy is a flash-based audio control "system" which is demonstrated in various places within the Linknet Library. Flix Pro is a tool for creating online video controls. It includes a video encoder for converting .avi, .mov, and other video formats into flash videos, and then packaging them into an object which can be simply placed on a web page.

Another type of flash object that is both useful and relatively simple to create is the banner ad or splash screen. Rather than just an image file with a hyperlink, your banner ads can include animation, and special text effects. Some programs for doing this include Anim-FX, Kool Moves, Swish FX, Amara Flash Intro & Banner Builder

Then there is the old fashioned "slide show". Slide shows are a good start for the budding flash designer for two reasons. On the one hand, there are many places a slide show can come in handy: for instance to display a series of product pictures, a historical overview of a person or place, or consider how a slide show might be used in real estate applications.

On the other hand a slide show illustrates some of the most basic animation techniques you can create with flash. In particular it demonstrates how specific components within an object can be assigned hyperlinks. So photo 1 can be linked to its own product page, photo 2 to its product page, and so on. It also shows how one component can be used to trigger a specific "event" involving other components - either within the object itself, or external to it. For instance, imagine a slide show in which the display of, say, slide 3 triggers a small external window containing a video of a talking head describing the product. Or we've all seen examples of how external buttons can be added to a show to allow the viewer to flip from one slide to the next.

Flash tools for building slide shows include Amara Flash SlideShow, Flash Slider, ImageMatics PE and WD, FH Slide, and many others.

In a series of articles in the Linknet Creative Resources Library we will look at each of these categories in more detail.

Rick Hendershot is the founding publisher of The Linknet Marketing Resource Library, and has been dabbling in online video and audio for a number of years.

The Linknet Network is a library of resource materials spread across more than 20 websites and a number of blogs. You can place your link text on 15 pages spread out over at least 15 different sites for one small annual fee. Sites that focus on Trade Show and Event Marketing include Vinyl Banners from America-Banners.com, Vinyl Banners from Banners-Canada.com, Low Cost PopUp Displays, Trade Show and Display Graphics.

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