 Flash - Changing Information |
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 Jan 10 2008, 07:54 PM
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 Distinguished Member  Group: Members Posts: 643 Joined: 24-October 06 From: Sydney, Australia Member No.: 91,867  |
Ive got myself a little project where im creating a web page for a band, entirely in flash. I want to have a page with information about upcoming gigs and stuff. so i would need the information to be changable easily. Is there a way to change the information without modifying the actual .fla file it was made in? I was thinking something like, the flash program draws the information from a text file located in my ftp or something, or maybe even from the HTML file itself, and places it where i say with actionscript. Now i dunno if that's possible, but hey its worth a shot. Just would make it so much easier if i could change the information without opening macromedia flash all the time.. Or what about, an admin login page, where an administrator logs in, would it be possible to give permissions to edit the swf/flv files text ? Im confusing myself so i'll leave it to the experts, good luck thanks  -------------------- |
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Jan 10 2008, 10:11 PM
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 Distinguished Member Group: Members Posts: 642 Joined: 4-November 07 From: The Great State of Disarray Member No.: 167,506 |
Hi Sp0nge,
It's great that you've got a site-building gig for a band, but I'd urge you to reconsider making it entirely of Flash. Here's a BC thread I participated in recently on that very subject. Now try to imagine threads like this appearing every 6 months or so in all kinds of forums around the world, and you'll get an idea of how annoying such sites can be to people, not to mention how difficult they are to access for those on slow dialup. How about just using it to post a really exciting short video of the band -- something so intriguing that folks just have to go to a concert or buy a DVD? Whichever route you take, I do wish you all the best with the site. -------------------- |
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Jan 11 2008, 12:20 AM
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#3
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Distinguished Member Group: Members Posts: 643 Joined: 24-October 06 From: Sydney, Australia Member No.: 91,867 |
hmm thanks for the input dialer.
i would much rather not make it entirely flash also, because im not too experience in it. But it's the customers wish. I see now that its not too popular either among viewers maybe if i made the header/navbar flash, and flash photo gallery or something:) That would solve my problem aswell haha ill have a talk to them. Cheers! Sp0nge This post has been edited by Sp0nge: Jan 11 2008, 12:20 AM -------------------- |
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Jan 11 2008, 09:57 AM
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 Hail Groovicus! Group: Site Admin Posts: 6,454 Joined: 5-June 04 From: Vermillion, SD Member No.: 689 |
QUOTE I was thinking something like, the flash program draws the information from a text file located in my ftp or something, or maybe even from the HTML file itself, and places it where i say with actionscript. That is almost exactly how dynamic web pages are done, except in most cases the data is pulled from a database. It does not have to be though. You could easily design a text file to hold your information, and then when the page is rendered, it could get the information that it needs from the file. I do not use flash or actionscript, so I do not know what file reading capabilities, or control structure abilities they have, but it should not be too bad to pull off. -------------------- |
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Jan 11 2008, 12:01 PM
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#5
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Distinguished Member Group: Members Posts: 642 Joined: 4-November 07 From: The Great State of Disarray Member No.: 167,506 |
QUOTE(Sp0nge @ Jan 10 2008, 10:20 PM)  maybe if i made the header/navbar flash, and flash photo gallery or something:) That would solve my problem aswell haha ill have a talk to them. You're welcome, Sp0nge. I'd recommend against the navbar being done in flash, because a lot of non-Flash users wouldn't be able to use it. The most important thing about a site is to make it as easy as possible for visitors to navigate it and stay there for a while. So what you want is a combo of easy, intuitive navigation and great content. You're already coming up with some creative solutions, so I'm sure you'll be able to make suggestions that will win over your clients.  -------------------- |
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Jan 11 2008, 02:11 PM
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#6
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 97 Joined: 14-July 07 From: Central New York Member No.: 143,655 |
Dynamic text is really easy and it allows you to not even have to open the .fla file at all. You just change the .txt file and then upload it and it'll change the text in your flash file.
Dynamic Text help That above site will explain how to use it. If you have any further questions on it, please feel free to ask. Now, as far as designing a site completely in flash, it depends on what your client is going for. Even though a completely flash site can be bothersome, it is also very popular. More and more people are moving towards using flash in their web sites. Youtube is a big example. It depends of course on what they want. If they want nothing more special that what you can do with HTML/CSS then I'd recommend using CSS. You could use dynamic text in areas they want changed constantly or like you mentioned, a neat header, with their name that does some kind of interesting animation. Flash sites, like I have mentioned are on an up and up, mostly because of the things you can do, animation wise, with Actionscript, so inform your clients that if they want Flash specifically, to ask what they want flash to do. What are they expecting to see? Just to make sure that spending all of your time creating a site that wouldn't be much more special than a regular site created out of HTML/CSS which would cause people to wait, regardless of time, to load just to see something they could normally see on any other site. Good luck!
--------------------  "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." E. B. White (1899 - 1985) |
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