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Flash Reference Guide

Aug 22, 2003

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The only limits you have with Flash are those of your imagination. The following examples give you an idea of where you can take Flash:

Web sites
Interactive learning
Game development
Marketing

Online advertising

Web Sites

The first place you will use Flash is in your web sites. When you begin introducing your first Flash movies to your sites, my recommendation is to start small. Do not start with a massive project, spending months tweaking and reassessing it, as Disney originally did with Go.com. The site was in production for more than 18 months (it was a mammoth project). When it finally launched, the style was out-of-date. If you start small, you can quickly move and adapt.

Almost every site out there is applying the "baby-steps" approach to Flash development. From stodgy corporate sites to cutting-edge designer sites (yes, I too get lost in their deeply intelligent navigation systems), you will see Flash being used.

A site that leverages Flash effectively is Launch. When you go to the Launch site, you see that Flash is used for the ratings system for all the songs. This is great because you can rate a song without having to click to another web page—which could not be done previously with HTML.

I am beginning to find that a lot of companies are making the big plunge to create 100% Flash sites. One example is the web site of Robbie Williams, who is currently Britain's #1 artist. (I think he is fab.) Another excellent 100% Flash web site is 2Advanced Studios. Tony Novak, who runs that site, helped write Flash MX Magic. Finally, check out Electric Rain for a visually stunning 3D Flash site.

Interactive Learning

An area that Macromedia is keen on is the area of eLearning, which is the capability to take courses online from an institute or private trainer. The benefits include immediately reducing the cost of having to send someone to take training.

Interactive learning is the concept of interacting with your computer. Yes, I know that sounds a little redundant, but this is where you go with it. If you are "doing," or interacting, you will learn much faster. With Flash, you can leverage the built-in Learning Interaction Components to quickly and easily build online training.

There are many companies using Flash for training. There are also companies that make it easier for you to build your online training with Flash. TechSmith, makers of Camatasia, now let you take videos and save them directly as Flash movies for export to the Web. RoboHelp, the tool used to create Help files for computer programs, now supports Flash. So you can now tie in interactive training with your help system.

Game Development

An area that I am very interested in is game development with Flash. You can see games popping up all over the place. Whether they are developed as games for a site or they are part of an online ad campaign, Flash games are as addictive as full throttle games developed with Shockwave.

You can find online games at the following web sites:

All of these games were developed with Flash. The great thing about developing games with Flash is that the game runs on any system. It does not matter whether it is Windows, Mac OS X, a hand-held device, or PlayStation II. It runs.

Because of this important capability, you reduce the development time for the game on different systems.

Marketing

Without a doubt, Flash is the marketing director's dream come true. For the first time, you are not limited by HTML. In the world of HTML, you are frequently limited to a collection of only three to seven fonts, positioning is a pain, and good layout programs are few and far between.

With Flash, you have no problems with using any font on your computer. Layout applies the same rules you find in programs such as Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia FreeHand. You can even set up Flash to print out PDF-like files to your printer.

On top of this, you can create files that be easily distributed over the Internet. Check out the Volkswagen, Jaguar, and Aston Martin sites to see how marketing with Flash can give you the edge over your competition.

Online Advertising

Online advertising hit a wall about three years ago. The annoying animated GIF banners with the inviting words "Click me!" just weren't cutting it. In short, click-through rates for online advertising were falling through the floor.

Today, online advertising is beginning what will later be known as the Renaissance for online ads. What is happening is that the format for presenting online ads and the way in which advertisers are interacting with viewers is different. The tool to produce the online ads is (as you might have guessed) Flash. The approach, however, is not the same as the "click-me" ads of old. The approach adopts that traditional online advertising methodology: Keep your brand in front of the viewer for as long as possible.

You can see on certain web sites—such as Amazon.com, Yahoo! and MSN—that the Flash-based ads entertain you. This entertainment may be through a game, a short movie, sound clips, or any type of interaction. The whole point, however, is to keep the brand image in front of you; you do not need to click through to the brand's web site.

A good example is VW's successful Beetle ad campaign, in which the ads were designed with Flash. You can interact with the ad to build a custom Beetle, find out more information about the car, and even read custom testimonials. All this information is shared through the ad; you never have to leave the page you are currently on, and there is always a button to click to the web site. The approach of the ad is to make you informed and aware of features of the car, and the result is that you are more likely to go out and purchase the car.

With the advent of broadband access, faster computers, and more advances being made by Macromedia with Flash, I am expecting big things with online advertising. Commercials have never been so good!

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