Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Using Flash Publish Settings

The easiest way to get your SWF files on the Web is to let the Flash authoring tool do the work for you. Flash 4 introduced the Publish feature for exporting movies along with automatically generated HTML for placing the Flash (.swf) file in an HTML document.

The Publish Settings dialog box also allows you to select the export format of the movie (whether it’s to be a Flash movie, Standalone Projector, static graphic format, and so on) and control the variables of the export. For now, I’ll focus on the HTML settings that are relevant to placing an SWF movie on a page.

The most welcomed feature of the HTML Publish Settings is the collection of preformatted templates that generate object and embed elements tailored to specific uses. The Flash Only (Default) template generates bare minimum code. Other templates generate HTML code with extra functionality, including:

• Flash for Pocket PC 2003

• Flash HTTPS

• Flash Only

• Flash with AICC Tracking

• Flash with FSCommand

• Flash with Named Anchors

• Flash with SCORM 1.2 Tracking

• Flash with SCORM 2004 Tracking

• Image Map

• QuickTime

The HTML Publish Settings also allow you to fine-tune various parameters and attributes in the code with simple checkbox and menu options. Upon export, the resulting HTML file can be brought into an HTML editor or authoring tool for integration with the rest of the page or for additional manual tweaking.