Flash Fanatic

First a new user has to learn about all the basics about the flash program and Flash website that come with it. We have many tools in flash for various purposes. Now let me tell you about all the tools in detail. Knowing about the tools is not enough; you must also know how to use the tools.

The drawing tools in Flash let you create and modify shapes for the artwork in your movies for Flash websites. The tools usually positioned at the left top of the flash screen are the Tools bar where the tools for painting are kept.

Before we go through the different tools to create flash files for Flash websites, we need to know the way the Flash handle drawings. The important thing that is to be remembered is the difference between the Outlines and fills. When you draw a line there is no fill, there is only the outline.

When you draw a rectangle or a circle or a square you are actually drawing two things: The outline, the border and the fill. You know the use of the pencils that we use in our life, the much same way the Pencil tool in flash is also used.A beginner should first practice how to draw a line and then proceed further to result in developing a Flash website.

Creating a java applet is complicated since it requires programming skills. By a poor programmer even there is a possibility of eating up of all the resources on the computer which results in freezing of the browser while loading the free website.

So we move to the flash concept. In many ways flash movies are similar to java applets. But it is fairly easy to create animation in flash without programming skills using Flash website builder. Small programs can be embedded into your HTML pages.
Applets have often been criticized for “killing” browsers. Some of the advantages of flash over java applets are.

• It is easier to create flash movies than java applets.
• The stability of flash movies is more in web browsers than java applets.

But all the programs that can be done in java cannot be done with flash. In order to create Flash movies you need a to buy the Flash program and then the finished movies can be added to your Flash websites.

It is being developed by Macromedia and the latest version is Flash Mx. Buying a flash program is a must for the Flash website developers. And anyone who has the free Flash plug-in Active-X installed with their browser can view flash movies. After getting installed with the flash program you can start creating flash movies, flash websites etc.

Before we go to the Flash website it is must to know about some basic concepts. We used HTML for creating websites before we started using Flash websites where the text and the images are static.HTML does not support dynamic websites like Flash websites where the images, text and animations are in motion.

Before using Flash websites we followed a traditional method animated GIF images or java applets in free websites. Animated GIF is a method or technology in which many images are saved in one.

But the great draw back of animated GIF is it takes a lot of time even for downloading a small animation. GIF images are limited to a 256 color palette. The main aspect is to program java applets we require a lot of programming skills and knowledge.

It’s very hard to create your own applets in java. We can simply use the already programmed applet.

In case of flash you can make a control over the animations, where you can even make the animation stop and wait till the user clicks a button to restart it and can be used in Flash websites. The main advantages of Flash are that:

• Flash movies or pictures load much faster than any other form of images.
• Flash movies or pictures allow interactivity.
• Flash movies or pictures can use more than 256 colors.