Advice / opinions on new Flash project I am starting

Question

Hello, I am an occasional Flash user but a full time website
designer. I have a new project that requires me to learn a bit more
about using Flash. I am looking for advice on which way to proceed
with this since I am sure there are different avenues I could take.
The best way to describe what I want is to show you.
Basically my end product would look and feel much like what you see
at the top left of this website (
http://www.baltimoreravens.com/)
where large photos scroll and give headlines to news and or events
information. I like the way this works and the way the photos
continue to roll yet you can select any of the other headlines if
youlike. I am very impressed that there doesnt seem to be much
download time (very important of course)
Secondly, the following website (www.slate.com) gives what
seems like a simpler option to my above request and also enlists
another feature that I would like to incorporate below the main
photograph which allows you to flip through a reel of thumnails to
find a story or interest to click on.
So here I am with Flash MX and wondering what is the best way
to do something very similar to this. I am an .ASP developer using
SQL Server DB. Another big thing here is I would like to build an
admin where the client could update the photos, text, URL's,
display order, for bothof the above projects.
I know this is very broad, just looking for general
directions.
Thanks so much for your time in advance.

Answer 1

slate is nice, but uses no Flash to get the effect - all
JavaScript.
The Ravens site is all Flash, and fairly easy to build.
Essentially, you want to build a MovieClip that holds empty
MovieClip containers - which you will load the images into. (You
can use the Loader component, but I wouldn't if you are worried
about file-size)
Then, you build the navigation, and a timer, to scroll that
main MovieClip across the stage (move its x position)
It becomes a bit more complicated than that, but that is the
gist of it.
As for updateability - typically this type of thing is XML
driven. You will want to build an XML that holds the image paths,
text, and all else, to power this. || BUT - you are a database
user, so you might find it simpler to build a database solution to
hold the images and text, and use an automatic XML generator to
pull the information out for Flash. Of course, you don't need to
use XML, but it is likely the easiest and fastest method.
Give it a shot, see what you come up with, and come back with
questions/problems.