Part III: Making It Cool with Multimedia and JavaScript in Java

Drawing QR in Java Part III: Making It Cool with Multimedia and JavaScript

One of the best places to read more about creating Flash files is on the Internet, where a wide range of Web sites offers everything from predesigned Flash files you can easily customize to great ideas for getting the most from this award-winning technology You may find these Web sites useful if you want to find out more about Flash: Adobe (wwwadobecom): You find loads of tips and tricks for creating and using Flash files (as well as many inspiring examples of Flash in action) Swish (wwwswishzonecom): If you re looking for an alternative to Adobe Flash, Swish is a great little program that s more reasonably priced Flash Kit (wwwflashkitcom): You find a wide range of resources for Flash developers Flash Arcade (wwwflasharcade com): This site has some of the best interactive games created in Flash

Default (show all): This option enables the entire movie to appear in the specified area The width and height proportions of the original movie are maintained and no distortion occurs, but borders may appear on two sides of the movie to fill the space No Border: This option enables you to scale a Flash movie to fill a specified area No borders appear and the original aspect ratio is maintained, but some cropping may occur Exact Fit: The Flash movie is the exact width and height that are set, but the original aspect ratio may not be maintained and the movie may look squished Align: This option controls the alignment of the file on the page This setting works the same for plug-in files as for images Wmode: Specify Window to display the flash file in a rectangular window on a Web page Specify Opaque to hide everything behind a Flash file when you move or resize it using JavaScript Specify Transparent to show the background of the HTML page though any transparent portions of the Flash file Play button: Click the green Play button to play a Flash file in Dreamweaver Note that when the Play button is activated, the button changes to Stop (refer to Figure 11-2) Parameters: This button provides access to a dialog box where you can enter parameters specific to your Flash files

When you insert Flash or other multimedia files with Dreamweaver CS4, the program creates a collection of JavaScript files that help the Flash file play properly The files are named things like, AC_RunActiveContentjs, and are stored in a Scripts folder, which Dreamweaver automatically creates inside your root site folder The first time Dreamweaver creates this file, a dialog box alerts you that you need to upload the script for your multimedia file to work properly Make sure you include this script when you publish your site on your Web server If you don t include the script, your multimedia file may not play properly, or your visitors may be required to click the play button twice before the file begins to play

As bandwidth has grown on the Web, the use of video files has grown more dramatically than almost any other multimedia file type From YouTube to Google Video and MySpace to small personal Web sites, millions of video files are added to the Web every day Adding a video file to a Web page with Dreamweaver is relatively easy, especially if you use the Flash video format described in the Adding Flash audio and video files section later in this chapter If you use another video format, such as Windows Media Video or QuickTime, you find instructions for adding files in those formats in the following section, Adding Audio and Video Files to Web Pages You can specify video and audio settings, such as Autoplay, by changing setting parameters, an option that is a little more complicated if you use any format other than Flash video You find instructions for managing these settings in Dreamweaver in the Setting options for audio and video files, later in this chapter Instead of hosting your video on your own Web server, an alternative is to upload video files to the YouTube site and then include special code from the YouTube site in the HTML code of your Web pages so that the video plays within your pages, even though it s hosted on YouTube Visit YouTube com and follow their instructions for uploading video files To learn how to add code from sites like YouTube to your own pages, visit my site at www DigitalFamilycom/dreamweaver and read the tutorial on adding code from Google, YouTube, and other sites in Dreamweaver