Flash Video / Layers

Question

Hey good people,
I'm running into a strange problem. I have a site built in
layers - there are rollovers buttones which show different bits of
work, the usual hide & show layer trick - nothing new there.
However I have added a Flash video file to a layer (which in the
layer panel is below the image ones) - However when checking the
site on Browsers Safari & IE the video layer file for some
reason jumps to the front and plays - rather than seeing the first
image layer. The video layer in DW is on the 5th hide & show
layer button - so shouldn't be the 1st thing you see when looking
at it in the browswer. The site works in Mozilla, Firefox and
Camino though. Any ideas anyone - this is a real head spinner..!!
For tech info I'm running DW2004 on OSX. I've check this on a
PC and the same thing happens.. any ideas??
Any help would be welcome as I hope to launch the site very
soon.
many thanks
T

Answer 1

Don't confuse using layers to add interactivity (what you
call using
Hide/Show), with using layers to layout the page. It's the
latter approach
that is not best practice.
If you need for something to appear when requested by the
user, then
revealing a previously hidden layer is one perfectly
acceptible way of doing
this. But by virtue of the use of layers at all, one is
buying into the
unique qualities that layers have, some of which can wreck a
carefully
crafted layout (even when only used in a Hide/Show mode). The
point here is
that as with anything else, the magnificent convenience of
layers extracts a
heavy price, one that you may not be prepared or willing to
accept. If you
don't know about what that price is, then you will be in for
some unpleasant
surprises.
By the way, magazine tutorials are not necessarily the most
authoritative
sources for 'best practice' tips. To be honest, most of those
I have
learned, have been learned right here on the DW forum.....
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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==================
"tommysauce" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:[email protected]...
> to Murray *Ace*
>
> Thanks for the advice, really didnt expect a fully
explained one, so many
> thanks for your time on that.
>
> But to your Q's getting into Web design os a slight
career shift, I'll
> still
> be doing print -but want as well as design for web I
want to know about
> the
> 'rights and wrongs'. I buy industry mags such as .Net
and Web Developer
> (UK
> based mags) So that I'm up to par and on the right lines
in all lastest
> issues.
> I am self taught using Peach Pit books and have been
dabbling since DW4.
>
> Also when I design, I always use 'split view' - contary
to belief even as
> a
> designer as prefer to 'see' what code is going on at the
same time - in
> addition to that I kind of know my way round HTML - well
I know the
> basics.
> Where I think I come unstuck is best practice scenarios
- like I mentioned
> I
> thought using 'Hide/Show layers' was a standard practice
- the above
> mentioned
> magazines always have tutorials and they don't mention
NOT to use this
> method -
> therefore I thought it was OK. I'm far from an expert in
DW or in fact
> HTML so
> I'm going on other peoples teachings to get things
right. And in using the
> 'Hide/Show' technique I wanted to move away from using
the old 'tables'
> method,
> which I'm sure I'd be beaten aroud the head for by you
guys! So in your
> opinon
> which is the best way forward for me to design the page
or in fact the
> site -
> what would be your suggesting. In designing websites
what I belief I need
> is
> some sort of guidance, just so that I know I'm on the
right(eous) path!
>
> My next stage is educating myself with CSS which
admittedly all I know are
> the
> real basics, such as linking, type styles and colours.
>
> Many thanks in advance again - I am truly indebted to
your time and
> efforts in
> this.
>
>
> Alan Smithee Jr.
> Thanks for your comments too - it's been taken on board
and the changes
> are in
> being undertaken as of this moment.
> many thanks for your time.
>