Re: FLASH: your advice

[Simon williams]

Got a "Can't get page" error - BT Internet UK Corporate connection.


Laters


Si



----- Original Message -----

From: Christian Young <

cyoungcommerce [dot] com

>

To: <

flashershocker [dot] com

>

Sent: 10 May 1999 20:25

Subject: FLASH: your advice



> hey if anyone gets bored could they take a look at my site please

>

> www.geocities.com/~c_young    it is my first full flash website

>

> Thanks and I would appreciate any feedback positive or negative :)

>

> > -----Original Message-----

>

> From: ownershocker [dot] com [ownershocker [dot] com]On">mailto:ownershocker [dot] com]On Behalf Of Jefferis

> > Sent: Monday, May 10, 1999 1:05 PM

> > To: Flash MailList

> > Subject: Re: FLASH: load url or movie better?

> >

> >

> >

>

> >From: Marc Hoffman <marcdartfrogmedia [dot] com>

> >

> >

> > Thanks for the input Marc...

> > >

> > >

> > >Hi Jeff,

> > >I had to look  at the site to see what you were referring to. It is

> > >confusing to talk about "pages in Flash" since Flash doesn't contain

html

> > >pages but rather is contained within html pages.

> >

> > Doyou think his suggestion of the last frame loading another html page

> > then was legitimate or off?

> >

> > >  I think the

> > >criticism you received is that when entering the Flash introduction

page

> > >for a repeat visit, the viewer must wait through the "ship arrival"

> > >sequence, which is too slow even the first time through.

> > >

> > >I see you already have a preloader with an If Frame Is Loaded loop to

> > >control it.  What you need is a second If Frame Is Loaded loop before

the

> > >existing one.  It would test to see if the movie has been loaded

> > up to the

> > >point where the menu has been presented ( or perhaps check to see if

the

> > >last frame of the movie has been loaded) -- if that condition is met,

the

> > >movie should go right to where the menu is visible.  If not, it should

go

> > >to the existing preload loop which will hold things up until

> > enough of the

> > >movie has loaded to show the "ship arrives" sequence smoothly.

> >

> > I currently have the up to the last scene loaded before the play command

> > is given, so to do what your suggesting, If Frame Is Loaded #1 will only

> > work if the entire movie has already been seen? Right now I have the

ship

> > and waves preloaded before the play begins, but it still doesn't seem to

> > help the choppiness that is seen.

> > >

> > >On a 56k connection (in reality, 48k), the ship arrival sequence is not

> > >smooth because you haven't preloaded enough frames.

> >

> > Right now I have the ship and waves preloaded before the play begins,

but

> > it still doesn't seem to help the choppiness that is seen. In other

> > words, all the ship and wave motion should be preloaded!!

> >

> > >But I would not hold

> > >up the preload longer if I were you -- instead, I would optimize

> > the movie.

> > > The water motion is very file size and processor intensive.

> >

> > I gotcha here...

> > > I'm sure it's

> > >lovely viewed locally on a fast machine, but it's deadly for web usage.

> > >Make the water image a whole lot less detailed, and just have a little

> > >movie clip with a few ripples of light that dance on the surface,

instead

> > >of varying the entire image.

> > >

> > >The ship could also be simplified to tween

> > >faster. Then you can add more frames to the tween to reduce

> > jerkiness.  As

> > >it is,  the complexity of the tween (and the resulting processor

demands)

> > >is slowing things down as well as the fact that download isn't keeping

up

> > >with the frame rate.  A fast connection compensate for bandwidth

problems

> > >but not for the complexity of tween. That is, even if the whole

> > thing were

> > >loaded it would still be jerky on slower machines -- I viewed this on a

> > >P166 and modest 2-meg video card.

> >

> > Okay, here is where I had the problem.  I found the only way I could get

> > the sails to move independently of the ship and billow in the wind was

to

> > create 3 separate movie clips of the 3 mail sails. and then link them to

> > the ship as another movie clip.... and then to tween the single

resulting

> > clip in scaling motion on the timeline... There seems to be no other way

> > to do that.

> >

> > How can I simplify it to make it more acceptable?  Do I need to remove

> > details from the ship itself? I tried to optimise the curves, but it

> > seems to work only on the sea and sky, not on the ship or clips.

> > >

> > >If you can handle a bit more critiquing -- although the little toggle

> > >switches on the menu are nifty, they don't relate to the

> > nautical theme and

> > >are not intuitive.  Usually I expect to click right on the text to make

> > >something happen. Perhaps the items could be contained in a

> > series of flags

> > >or smaller sails, something to integrate it with the ship theme

> > and also to

> > >give a larger hit area.

> >

> > I was checking this out today, since he also mentioned the toggle

> > switches. Right now, all the words were part of a single text box.  To

do

> > this, I need to create 5 different text boxes and make them button

> > symbols?  Perhaps if I just use the words as links, I can dispense with

> > the buttons all together... eh?

> >

> > >The frog, too, is cute but not relevant to your site or theme.  I think

> > >your visitors will be better rewarded, and more inclined to wait, if

you

> > >give them some material that increases their knowledge of the company.

> >

> > Good idea,  I was just playing...and having some fun...

> >

> > >Text, if you limit the number of fonts used, consumes very little file

> > >size.  If you stick with the frog, give the viewer a way to turn off

the

> > >sound, or have the sound fade and disappear after the first three or

four

> > >"boings."

> >

> > If you loop the sequence, the sounds auto restart... right? So if an IF

> > Frame Is Loaded loop is taking place, how do you avoid the sound

> > restating?

> >

> > >

> > >Hope this helps.  What you are doing is complex and requires a

> > lot of tools

> > >and tricks, so keep at it.

> > >

> > Thanks again.

> >

> > Jeff

> >

> >

> > Peterson Sales

> > Web Design and Marketing

> > 410 Woodland Ave.

> > Grove City, PA 16127-1824

> > http://www.PetersonSales.net

> >

> > Tel. 724-458-4160

> > Fax. 724-458-7169

> >

> > ICQ 19112253

> >

> >

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