Flash web design is a mixture of art, creativity and animation. Advanced flash websites do not come about simply by mixing the above 3 however. A flash design that incorporates the use of interactivity, preloading and external loading of data not only has aesthetic value but at the same a functional website. While most flash novices may have a hard time understanding this flash jargon, the design process is no as hard as it sounds. A preloader for example, simply shows a visitor how far the loading process has gone while interactivity involves the use of clickable buttons and content on a website. While flash is capable of doing all the above effectively, it is usually not advisable to use flash entirely, especially if you are concerned with having your website indexed by a search engine.
Generally, flash design mixed with JavaScript works wonders on a website. Since flash websites can sometimes grow big in size and thus affect the loading times, JavaScript can be used to perform similar functions at no cost to size of the elements to be animated. Professional flash design however is able to create small-sized websites by use of ActionScript, the programming language used in flash. In fact, the secret to creating dynamic highly interactive flash designs is to leverage the power of ActionScript. Take time to learn how to add links to flash buttons, how to move objects across the screen when a mouse hovers over them and how to animate text to make them look more appealing.
Alternatively if you are in the habit of downloading stuff online and incorporating them on your projects, flash design is no different. There are hundreds if not thousands of sites where you get to download free flash designs, animated buttons and entire flash websites that can be customized to your needs. In order to use these, you need to have the flash application installed onto your computer. Create a folder where you save all your flash animations and raw flash data referred to as FLA files. These files contain all the elements that you will need and allow you to make changes after which you save the files as SWF files. SWF files can then be run either as stand alone animations on your computer or added to a website as animations. I bet the whole flash design sounds interesting, ha? Well dont sweat it, the fun begins when you start learning the amazing things you can do with flash. And it gets better as you become more and more proficient.
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