Flash Instructions

We've included VERY detailed instructions on this page, so PLEASE read everything carefully!

Without Flash MX, you may:

Choose the color - blue, orange, or green Flash movie.
Change the image for each different page that has a Flash movie.
Change the title and description text for each different page that has a Flash movie.

With Flash MX, you may also:

Change the color of the Flash movie.
Change the positioning or animation effects of elements in the Flash movie.
Change the fonts or text size of the text in the Flash movie.
Add more elements to the Flash movie.
(You are expected to be familiar with Flash MX.)

How the movies work:

Text file
There is a text file called "variables.txt" in your web folder. This is where you specify the title and description text for your movies. When you first open the variables.txt, you should see:

title1=The Wave of the Future...

				&text1=This template is clean and professional, featuring three 
				different colors . . . .

				&title2=About [Your Company Name]

				&text2=Use this page to talk about your company's history, your 
				staff, . . . .

				&title3=Products (or Services)

				&text3=This page provides a catalog layout. If you don't need a 
				catalog layout, . . . .

				&title4=Your Title Here

				&text4=You can put your text here. This space is limited, but . 
				. . .

As you can see, there are two lines of variables for each movie -- title1 and text1, title2 and text2, etc. Currently 1 corresponds with the home page, 2 with the About page, 3 with the Products page, and 4 with the Template 1 page. You may modify those lines immediately as you need to.

When you create a new page with the Flash movie (using Template 1), you may add more lines to the text field. Simply carriage return after the last line and follow the format of the other lines. For example, if we were to add more lines to the text file, we would type:

&title5=This is the title for the new page.

				&text5=This is the text for the new page's movie.

Both of the text areas are limited, so you'll have to experiment to see what fits in those areas.

Now, simply adding more lines to the text file won't change anything in the movies. We'll get to that AFTER we discuss the image in the movie...

Image
The images used are named "picture1.jpg," "picture2.jpg," "picture3.jpg," etc. The number of the picture corresponds with the text and title numbers. If you wish to replace one of the existing pictures, you MUST replace it with a file of the same name.

Also note that the image MUST be in "jpg" format.

If you wish to add another picture to use on a new page, you MUST name it "picture[#].jpg," where [#] is the number corresponding to the text and title numbers. For example, if we were adding a new page corresponding to the title5 and text5 variables, we would create a new picture and name it "picture5.jpg."

Secondly, you should be aware that the location of the picture will ALWAYS start at the top left corner. If your image is too wide, it will overlap the text.

The Final Step
BEFORE you continue to this step, make SURE that you have:

A new page created with the Template 1 page.
Two more lines in the "variables.txt" file for the new movie text.
A picture that corresponds with the new variables.

Now, open the new page in FrontPage. Click ONCE on the Flash movie and switch to HTML view. You should see highlighted code like this:

<OBJECT ... WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="280" id="movie1" ALIGN="">

				<PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="movie1.swf?varNumber=4">
				

				<PARAM NAME=flashvars VALUE="varNumber=4">

				<PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high> > <PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#FFFFFF>
				

				<EMBED flashvars="varNumber=4" 
				src="movie1.swf?varNumber=4" 
				quality=high ...></EMBED>

				</OBJECT>

Note the two areas where you see "movie1.swf" and the four areas where you see "varNumber=4."

You will want to change the movie number to the number corresponding to the color of the movie that you want:

movie1.swf = blue
movie2.swf = green
movie3.swf = orange

So, if you want the blue movie, you don't need to change the movie number. If you want green or orange, change the code to be "movie2.swf" or "movie3.swf." Once again, there are TWO places where you will have to change the movie number.

Next, change the varNumber to be the number corresponding to the picture and text/title numbers. In our example, we'll be changing varNumber=4 to varNumber=5. The easiest way to change this in the code is to run a "Find and Replace." Go to Edit > Replace. Type "varNumber=4" in the "Find" box. Type "varNumber=5" (or whatever your new number is) in the "Replace With" box. Check "Find in Source Code," and click "Replace All."

As you may have deduced, because the varNumber can be changed for each page, you have unlimited choices for the picture and text! Just add more lines to the variables.txt file, and refer to the number by changing the varNumber in the HTML code!

Following these steps will allow you to change the color of the movie (choice of blue, green, or orange), the picture, and the text.