Re: FLASH: Flash 5; new player install necessary?

[John Dowdell]

At 10:48 AM 7/25/0, Thorsten Schmiedel wrote:

> ...how much of the actionscript-based gets lost when I export a

> MMF5 project as MMF4-swf...


Generally, things that exist today will be supported by the old players.


Hold it, that's complicated too.... ;-)


Here, try this, keep this rule in mind: Things that are already available

will still be available when you export from Macromedia Flash 5 as a SWF4

file. New features generally require the new player to interpret them.


(The trig stuff is an exception, because from what I understand it's almost

like a function call in the authoring environment, and it produces the same

bytecode in the SWF file that would have been used by hand in the

Macromedia Flash 4 authoring environment. From what I understand, the trig

is more an authoring convenience than a new feature... the math gets

compiled to the same instructions across versions.)


The Macromedia Flash 5 authoring environment has some color coding so you

can see which script commands are not available in older players. I haven't

put this section through its paces myself, and so can't comment deeply on

it, sorry.




My personal recommendations:


--  Keep doing what you're doing, in Macromedia Flash 4... this will work

as it always has, and if you're on deadline, then nothing beats polished

familiarity.


--  Please do install the current beta Macromedia Flash 5 Player and make

sure that your current work plays identically... if there's any divergence,

we need to know it now!!  It's at

http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/alternates/ , and I think the

current feedback address may be

wish-flashmacromedia [dot] com

.


--  When the Macromedia Flash 5 authoring environment arrives towards

September, take some time to play with it, run it through some test work,

before taking on a job with it. If you'll be using the new features, then

great, make sure your audience has the Macromedia Flash 5 Player. If you'll

not be using new features, then using either the 4.0 or 5.0 authoring

environments... the 5.0 is easier to use, but you'll have to check your

feature choices, so 4.0 may be faster to develop old files in, your call

though.


How do these angles sound to folks on the list...?


jd








John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US

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