Chapter 6

Preparing and Publishing Applications

Chapter 6 Lessons

1. Publish movies 2. Reduce file size to optimize a movie 3. Create a preloader4. Publish AIR applications5. Create and publish applications for mobile

devices

• Introduction– Flash provides several features that help you

generate the files that are necessary for delivering movies successfully to the target audience over the Internet

– Adobe provides you with Device Central, a program that allows you to preview and test mobile content on an assortment of mobile devices

Prepare and Publish Movies

• Introduction– It is important that you keep the file size down

when delivering content over the Internet, so that movies play smoothly regardless of the user’s connection speed

– Adobe provides a version of its Flash Player, called Flash Lite, that is specifically developed to optimize the playing of Flash movies using mobile devices

Prepare and Publish Movies

Publish Movies• The Flash Publish feature generates the files

necessary to deliver the movies on the web.• When you publish a movie using the default

settings, a Flash (.swf) file is created that can be viewed using the Flash Player.

• An HTML file is also created.

Flash Player version

Click to select a different profile

Selected formats

Publish Movies

Action Script version

• The GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats create still images that can be delivered on the web.

• The projector formats in the Publish Settings dialog box are executable files.

Publish Movies

Available Flash tab settings:– A profile which is a set of

selected settings– The target version of the Flash

Player– The version of ActionScript– The quality for JPEG images

and audio– Other options, such as

compressing the movie

Publish Movies

• The GIF tab settings allows you to change:• The dimensions in pixels• Playback as a static image or an

animated GIF• Loop options• Appearance settings

Publish Movies

• You can use the Publish Preview command on the File menu to publish a movie and display the movie in either your default browser or the Flash Player.

• You can use this command to view HTML, GIF, JPEG, PNG, and Projector files.

Publish Movies

Reduce File Size To Optimize a Movie

• Before you publish a movie, be sure you have maximized its optimization in order to improve its delivery.

• Remember that users are turned off by long waits to view content, jerky animations, and audio that skips.

• As you develop Flash movies, the following guidelines are good to keep in mind.– Use symbols and instances for every element

that appears in a movie more than once– Use tween animations rather than frame-by-

frame animations when possible

Reduce File Size To Optimize a Movie

– Use movie clips rather than graphic symbols for animation sequences

– Confine the area of change to a keyframe so that the action takes place in as small of an area as possible

– Use bitmap graphics as static elements rather than in animations

Reduce File Size To Optimize a Movie

– Group elements, such as related images– Limit the number of fonts and font styles– Use gradients and alpha transparencies

sparingly

Reduce File Size To Optimize a Movie

The Bandwidth Profiler

The Bandwidth Profiler allows you to view a graphical representation of the size of each frame

Playback head at frame 38

Stimulated bandwidthset in the View menu

Information on selected frame (38)

Reduce File Size To Optimize a Movie

• The Bandwidth Profiler provides information regarding:– Movie information: dimensions, frame rate, file

size, duration, and preload– Settings: simulated bandwidth (specified in the

View menu option)– State: number of the selected frame and size of

the contents in that frame

Reduce File Size To Optimize a Movie

• When testing a movie, you can simulate downloading Flash movies using different connection speeds.

– Dial-up: phone connection that provides a slow download speed– Broadband (DSL and cable): a type of data transmission in which a

wide band of frequencies is available to transmit more information at the same time

– T1: provides an extremely fast connection speed and is widely used in businesses

Reduce File Size To Optimize a Movie

Selecting the connection speed for a simulated download

Click, even if already checked

Reduce File Size To Optimize a Movie

• A preloader frame includes a simple animation that starts in frame 1 and loops until the rest of the movie has been downloaded.

• The purpose of the animation is to indicate to the viewer that the movie is being loaded.

Create a Preloader

The completed preloader with the animation and ActionScript

The preloader animation plays in frames 1 through 10

The startofMovie frame label in frame 11

The preloader ActionScript code in frames 1 and 10

Create a Preloader

Publish AIR Applications

• Flash provides another technology, AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), that creates applications that can be played without a browser.

An AIR app can be displayed on:• mobile device• stand-alone computers• the Internet and even on television sets

Publish AIR Applications

Publish Air Applications

AIR applications are cross-platform• Windows• Mac

The Publish Settings dialog box

Publish Air Applications

• Flash CS6 allows you to quickly and easily develop applications for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

• It specifically targets Android and iOS (Apple) devices.

Create and Publish Applications For Mobile Devices

There are five tabs in the Publish Settings dialog box:• General• Deployment• Icons• Permissions• Languages

Create and Publish Applications For Mobile Devices

While you can take an already developed Flash file and repurpose it for mobile devices by completing the AIR publishing process, it will not have any of the features users are accustomed to, such as pinch to zoom or swipe, unless you have specifically added these features, called gestures and events, to your Flash file.

Create and Publish Applications For Mobile Devices

• Gestures and events can be incorporated into a Flash file using Code Snippets.

• Code Snippets are small blocks of code that you apply to an object in your app or the app in general.

Create and Publish Applications For Mobile Devices

Create and Publish Applications For Mobile Devices

Code Snippets panel with the Pinch to Zoom Event