Start to build my first flash website

I've learned actionscript form resources like video and
books. i read some serious tutorials and did many practices and
small projects. I'm trying to build my first flash website. do i
need to learn Flex? or anything else? do i need to study some other
courses? My problem is where to start. what's a structure of a
professional and serious full flash website? links? components (if
any)? and ... yes i've worked on small swf files. creating
actionscript effects, building some easy components before but i'm
sure they are not enough. and one more thing! is there any good
practical (and specially free!) tutorials based on this concept?
(i've already reviewed actionscript.org and kirupa.com, thx!)

Your first question: subjective to your skillset. http://Zen-Cart.com has their own tutorials/FAQ/Forum that has plenty of information on the subject. Make your determination from the information they provide. It's free... download it and try it yourself to find out, perhaps?
Second question: you would not build additional product pages. There's only one product page that is populated with data from, wait for it... you guessed it, a database. If you're unfamiliar with working with database data then familiarize yourself with it if you wish to work on dynamic shopping carts.
I recommend http://Cartweaver.com if you want to work in Dreamweaver on the design and coding of the cart. It is very easy to implement your design into a cartweaver shopping cart.

Similar Messages

Building your first dynamic website – Part 1: Setting up the site and database by David Powers

Hi all,
I have just gone through this tutorial http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/first_dynamic_site_pt1.html and i have managed to get it to work but im trying to adapt it to a few pages with images and content but cant figure out how to add images to the page through pypmyadmin and mysql (im not sure if this is the correct place to look) and i was hoping that someone could shed some light on this for me please. Any help would be much appreciated.
Kind regards
Marcus

This page isnt but i was using the "news" php page:
this is the php at the top of the page:
<?php require_once('Connections/check_mag.php'); ?>
<?php
if (!function_exists("GetSQLValueString")) {
function GetSQLValueString($theValue, $theType, $theDefinedValue = "", $theNotDefinedValue = "")
if (PHP_VERSION < 6) {
    $theValue = get_magic_quotes_gpc() ? stripslashes($theValue) : $theValue;
$theValue = function_exists("mysql_real_escape_string") ? mysql_real_escape_string($theValue) : mysql_escape_string($theValue);
switch ($theType) {
    case "text":
      $theValue = ($theValue != "") ? "'" . $theValue . "'" : "NULL";
      break;
    case "long":
    case "int":
      $theValue = ($theValue != "") ? intval($theValue) : "NULL";
      break;
    case "double":
      $theValue = ($theValue != "") ? doubleval($theValue) : "NULL";
      break;
    case "date":
      $theValue = ($theValue != "") ? "'" . $theValue . "'" : "NULL";
      break;
    case "defined":
      $theValue = ($theValue != "") ? $theDefinedValue : $theNotDefinedValue;
      break;
return $theValue;
mysql_select_db($database_check_mag, $check_mag);
$query_getArchives = "SELECT DISTINCT DATE_FORMAT(news.updated, '%M %Y') AS archive, DATE_FORMAT(news.updated, '%Y-%m') AS link FROM news ORDER BY news.updated DESC";
$getArchives = mysql_query($query_getArchives, $check_mag) or die(mysql_error());
$row_getArchives = mysql_fetch_assoc($getArchives);
$totalRows_getArchives = mysql_num_rows($getArchives);
mysql_select_db($database_check_mag, $check_mag);
$query_getRecent = "SELECT news.post_id, news.title FROM news ORDER BY news.updated DESC LIMIT 10";
$getRecent = mysql_query($query_getRecent, $check_mag) or die(mysql_error());
$row_getRecent = mysql_fetch_assoc($getRecent);
$totalRows_getRecent = mysql_num_rows($getRecent);
mysql_select_db($database_check_mag, $check_mag);
$query_getDisplay = "SELECT news.title, news.blog_entry, DATE_FORMAT(news.updated, '%M %e, %Y') AS formatted FROM news ORDER BY news.updated DESC LIMIT 2";
$getDisplay = mysql_query($query_getDisplay, $check_mag) or die(mysql_error());
$row_getDisplay = mysql_fetch_assoc($getDisplay);
$totalRows_getDisplay = mysql_num_rows($getDisplay);
$var1_getDisplay2 = "-1";
if (isset($_GET['archive'])) {
$var1_getDisplay2 = $_GET['archive'];
$query_getDisplay = sprintf("SELECT news.title, news.blog_entry, DATE_FORMAT(news.updated, '%%M %%e, %%Y') AS formatted FROM news WHERE DATE_FORMAT(news.updated, '%%Y-%%m') = %s ORDER BY news.updated DESC", GetSQLValueString($var1_getDisplay2, "text"));
} elseif (isset($_GET['post_id'])) {
$var2_getDisplay3 = $_GET['post_id'];
$query_getDisplay = sprintf("SELECT news.title, news.blog_entry, DATE_FORMAT(news.updated, '%%M %%e, %%Y') AS formatted FROM news WHERE news.post_id = %s", GetSQLValueString($var2_getDisplay3, "int"));
} else {
$query_getDisplay = "SELECT news.title, news.blog_entry, DATE_FORMAT(news.updated, '%M %e, %Y') AS formatted FROM news ORDER BY news.updated DESC LIMIT 2";
$getDisplay = mysql_query($query_getDisplay, $check_mag) or die(mysql_error());
$row_getDisplay = mysql_fetch_assoc($getDisplay);
$totalRows_getDisplay = mysql_num_rows($getDisplay);
?>
this is the other code:

<div class="col_1_5 archivesColor">
<h2 class="silver">Archives</h2>
    <div class="line"></div>
    <ul>
      <?php do { ?>
        <li><a href="news.php?archive=<?php echo $row_getArchives['link']; ?>"><?php echo $row_getArchives['archive']; ?></a></li>
        <?php } while ($row_getArchives = mysql_fetch_assoc($getArchives)); ?>
    </ul>
    <div class="clear"></div>
    <div class="clear padding10"></div>
</div>

<div class="col_1_5 recentPostsColor">
    <h2 class="silver">Recent Posts</h2>
    <div class="line"></div>
    <ul>
      <?php do { ?>
        <li><a href="news.php?post_id=<?php echo $row_getRecent['post_id']; ?>"><?php echo $row_getRecent['title']; ?></a><div class="line"></div></li>
        <?php } while ($row_getRecent = mysql_fetch_assoc($getRecent)); ?>
    </ul>
<div class="clear"></div>
    <div class="clear padding10"></div>
</div>

<div class="col_2_3 last blogPostsColor">
<?php do { ?>
    <h2 class="pink"><?php echo $row_getDisplay['title']; ?></h2>
    <div class="line"></div>
    <p class="align_justify"><?php echo nl2br($row_getDisplay['blog_entry']); ?></p>
      <div class="line"></div>
    <p class="updated silver">Updated on
      <?php echo $row_getDisplay['formatted']; ?><div class="line"></div><div class="clear padding40"></div></p>
      </li>
    <?php } while ($row_getDisplay = mysql_fetch_assoc($getDisplay)); ?>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
    <div class="clear padding10"></div>
</div>
</div>
</section>

Advice needed for beginner to Flash website building

Help!
I have zero knowledge about using Flash. I am being asked by my boss to build a flash web site for our music and video game stores. I built our old site in Dreamweaver.
Does anyone have advice on where i should start? A suggested book that will walk me through beginning to end. I've worked through a few tutiorials but I feel lost as far at the time line and actions.
Any expert advice is appreciated. I need to get started in the next month. I'd like to build it myself instead of outsourcing to someone else.
Know where I should start?

Lindsay,
Last month I built my first Flash website after following this tutorial on Lynda.com:
http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourseN.aspx?lpk2=735
Needless to say the concept behind the tutorial was mind-opening, at least for me: I have a HTML/CSS background and I always used Flash almost only for banners, headers and simple animations.
Hope this helps...
JC

First Flash Site

Calling Flash Gurus-
I am building my FIRST flash site. I have been doing effects,
headers, and basic flash elements for websites now for almost 2
years. I have MX 2004, but have just bought (today) Studio 8. I am
scared to death, but sometime I have to jump head first into flash
site design. I am excited. However, I am also scared out of my
mind. I have a few questions:
#1-Is a site set to the size of 780 W by 480 H a good size? I
see so many TINY flash sites, and that is not something I want. How
can I optimize it for the fastest load time at that size? Any
tutorials or books that can help me there?
#2-Navigation-I wanted to build a nav that slide out from the
side of the site like on the Gucci site, I know it is javascript,
but I have seen this done with Flash before (
http://www.gucci.com/us/index2.html),
and instead of rollovers, there is a tsunami effect that I like
that could be found here:
http://www.actionscripts.org/tutorials/advanced/Building_a_tsunami/index.shtml.
HOW would I create buttons? Invisible buttons? How can I get them
to move out with the menu?
#3-Am I biting of more than I can chew?
#4-Where can I get the advice I need that explains the basic
actionscript and standards of flash site design? I just need
something to help me along. I am determined and will work day and
night to make this happen. I have a VERY basic understanding
already, I bought a flash template and looked at all the code to
see how everything worked. I need something a little beyond basic
that give comprehensive explanations about the actionscripting
behind all the effects. I am not a copy and paste guy, I need to
understand what is going on.
That is it for now, I am sure here in the next few weeks, you
will all be so sick of seeing my posts here that you may even avoid
the forums until I finish my site. Lol. Seriously though, thanks in
advance for all the help. I need every bit I can get.

First when you finish with the site, go to publish
settings> HTML tab> Dimensions> Percent (width and Height
must be 100)
Then go down to scale> No scale (from drop down menu).
Select publish. Now when you go to publish preview select
view>source. In the code insert the following in the head tab.
<style type="text/css">

</style>
Save and refresh the page. This makes the window fill without
you having to resize your fla file. I usually make mine 800/600. On
the other stuff, I'm gonna have to get back with you,

Adding payPal shopping cart to a Flash website?

Hi there,
I'm a newbie, creating my first flash website and my first shopping cart, so be easy on me.
I've done a lot of research, however was unable to find any tutorials on how to set up a Paypal shopping cart or any other secured shopping cart in a website that was created in Flash professional CS5, actionscript 3.0. Paypal's tutorial is only for html (copy/paste the code in your html website and voila) but how to integrate shopping cart in Flash website? Any help would be appreciated.
This is my first time setting up a cart on a website. I have a "shop" button on my site (see picture below) that I would like linked to an external page preferably with my items that I would like to sale. Not sure if paypal's shopping cart can do what I want it to do. Once the user clicks on the "Shop" button, I'd like for my customer to be able to see a picture of the items I have for sale, price for each item, a box where the buyer can write quantity of item desired, add to cart button and then check out button. With paypal shopping cart, can I add pictures beside each item I am selling when entering the price on paypal's website or I have to add the pictures of the items I am selling directly in my shop section of my website and add a buy now button for each individual item and then copy/paste the email link provided by Paypal to each of my buy now buttons and add that code to my "Actions" layer within Flash? How would the script look like? And what if later on I want to add additional info to an item, change price or delete it completely...would I have to make the changes everytime within paypal only or I'd have to make the changes on both paypal and my flash file and upload new copy to server? I'd like for my cart to integrate with my site (keep the same look and feel, same layout/background color) preferably but what ever way is the easiest. Thanks for your help.

Any source that provides embed code to add to your webpage should work. So in other words if E-Junkie provides the HTML code that you simply embed in your own code it will work. If it requires a certain plugin be installed it may or may not.

Advice on how to keep Flash website small & fast

Hi, I'm developing my first Flash website (I know, I know, there are plenty of reasons to use other development products, but for now it will be Flash), and I envision a site with several pages and needing to load some large graphics. I'm doing the main design work in Illustrator and importing it into Flash. I'm not too concerned with animation except perhaps moving some buttons around. My plan so far is to use a lot of UI loaders to keep the main .swf small and to really try to keep the coding pretty simple as I'm a newbie anyway. I'm looking for general advice on how to prevent the main site from loading quickly - for example, I don't have a good sense of the best format to use for graphics, or which makes the site slower: using several UI loaders or just keeping the content in the main site? Is a lot of code or large graphics more draining on the load time? Any thoughts on what you think I can do or not do to keep it lean would be super appreciated, or any other resources you might be able to point me to.
Thanks in advance!

Nah... really really stupid questions only get asked in non-Flash forums. The size of the swf is not tied tot the size of the fla. The fla has alot more baggage that inflates its size greatly compared to the swf it creates. The swf will end up bearing the weight of whatever content you put in it.
If you want to see what's adding weight to your swf, go into your Flash Publish Settings and select the option to Generate Size Report. When you publish the file it will display a detailed report of each element and the weight it contributes to the swf.
As far as dynamically loading swf's, it is often a necessity, unless the swf is strictly an animation. If you import an swf into an fla file, all of the actionscript that might have been in it is stripped out.
Code will have negligible weight in a file. Images (large/heavy ones) can put lead shoes on a file, along with video and sound files.

NEWBIE - Best Practices for FLash Website Development

I've decided to try and build my own flash website, so to help me learn the basics I downloaded the following sample Dynamic Flash Template: http://info.template-help.com/pre-sale_questions/about_web_design_templates/article25.html.
I've been playing around with it a little bit, and feel like I definitely know a lot more than I did previously, but also feel like I may learning the most efficient and effective methods.
Basically, my questions are what's the best software / methods to do the following, as it relates to the template described above.
1) I want the site able to be viewed by people who have flash enabled and those who don't. I'd like for the default website to be flash oriented, but of the browser doesn't support flash or if there are no flash plug-ins installed, I want the HTML version of the site to display. What the best way to make this happen?
2) If I use the dynamic text option for the flash site, all text is pulled from the tfile_main.html file. Is this the best way to embed dynamic text into my flash file? Is it the most efficient way or should the dynamic text be embedded from the HTML pages of the Non-Flash site?
3) Is it possible to have the flash and non-flash versions overlay each other, where if flash is supported, the flash content is displayed, but if flash is not supported, only the non-flash versions are displayed?
4) What the best way of optimizing a site of this nature for search engines? If I were to upload only the flash version of the site, embedded in the index.html file, I think that the search engines would interpret my whole site as simply being one page, which I do not want. I want them to recognize each distinct page.
5) Should I use Static or Dynamic text? Should I insert any outgoing links with the flash file itself, or within the html files?
6) I've read alot about SWFObject2.x and it seems like it would help me do a lot of the things I'm wanting to do, but I have no idea how to use it. I downloaded the .zip file, but have no clue what to do with it from there.
7) I have Flash CS3, but also currently have a free trial of the Adobe Creative Suite Premium CS5, so I have FLash CS5, Dreamweaver CS5, etc. Should I use Flash CS3 or CS5?
8) How should I set-up my Publish Settings in FLash?
Sorry for such a long message and requesting so much info. If you can only help out or provide guidance on 1 of the above questions it would be very beneficial to me and greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for everyone's help and let me know if you need additional information.

No one is going to answer 8 questions, I certainly can't be bothered.
Cut them down in to different threads, in the relavent Adobe forum
But:
Use CS5.
You can use JS to determine if they have flash and show a style sheet/site accordingly, google it.
You can optimise flash sites too

Adobe muse (Tutorial) how to build your first website isn't right?

hi there,
I have a question i was trying to follow the tutorials from Katys bakery (how to build your first website in adobe muse )
now im following it, ant some things aren't right, i think so.
im from holland (so my english isn't that good, but good enough to read it, i hope so, or my english really sucks..
My next question is: wil some one do te tutorial 2, and discus this project with me?
i need to be sure if im wrong of the maker of the tutorial, It's just frustation u get, i want to learn something and i do only sometimes i can't get further and then im looking at the screen for a hour
U can fint the tutorial here http://helpx.adobe.com/pdf/muse_reference.pdf
Let me now soon
tnx

Please let us know if there is anything you need help with.
Thanks,
Sanjit

Starting A Flash Website

I want to create a Flash site related to the space tourism industry. I'm looking for some good ideas on the best way to develop an introductory page using Flash. Any suggestions?

You can go to www.flashmo.com and download the ready made free templates and you can edit as per your need only thing require is to have some knowledge of flash actionscript and you can easily create the flash website with the help of that templates
And you can learn also from that templates.

Creating a flash website to work with php & MYSQL for MMORPG

Hi i have a website which is a gangster MMORPG, it using PHP,
CSS, HTML and some javascript but however with the amount of game
similar to mine i want to make it unique so i bought "building
flash websites for dummies" i have read must of it and understand
most of it. but however don't really have a clue i it could
actually work with my website.
what i want to know is can it work with my current PHP &
MYSQL, so for example i want to create a logging page with flash to
replace my old PHP/HTML one this will be my first crack at it. but
will flash be able to check the MYSQL database and send error
messages back to the view etc.

Yeah, this can work... My recommendations would be to read a
couple articles in the dev center on this topic, that should get
you started...
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/flash_databases.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/datawizards.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/ria_dataservices.html

Flash Websites - content panel

Hi There
I am new to flash and am looking for a tutorial which will help me create a specific end product. I am trying to make a flash website (which i have the designs for) which will have links down the right hand side, but when the link is clicked a content panel apears in the middle of the screen with the correct text in it and maybe a link to download a PDF, there will be a few links down the right hand of the screen and therefore different content for each link. the site will only consit of 1 page and the only thing which will change is this content panel which is centralised.
Any help would be very appreciated.
Thanks

I don't know of any specific tutorials for what you want to build, but it sounds like you should be able to create each section as a movieclip and use the buttons to make the current section invisible and the called section visible. What you might try doing to get started is to use Google and search for code related to whatever version of actionscript you'll be using in terms of making buttons work.

Help finishing up my first flash site - using navigation to display different sections of the site?

Thanks for looking! i am making my first flash site, and im
not sure what to do next in regards to navigating through the site.
I have different sections, home, info, hardware, equipment, etc,
but im not sure how to make each section appear when you click the
corresponding navigation link. i have an idea but im not sure how
to execute it.
Should i make a movie clip for each section (home, info,
hardware, contact), then place each movie clip in its own frame on
the main time line, and on each navigation link button (each one is
a movie clip) use action script and put a gotoAndPlay() code with
the frame number of the corresponding section? so when you click
it, it goes to that frame which has the movie clip that has the
content for that part of site, say contact, or info?? if so how can
i do this?
that sounds really confusing and im sorry but please help out
a beginner! Thank you and happy halloween!
-Matt
here is a link so you can see the.swf
[url]http://www.filedorm.com/show.php/7839_INTOUCH.swf.html[/url]
and also here is a link for the .fla
[url]http://public.me.com/mattsh*t[/url]
your going to have to copy and paste that in your browser
since the world filter on here. just repleace the " * " with an " i
"

Targeting specific timelines in a flash movie can be daunting
in the beginning. But if you start from the main timeline (_root)
and build brom there, it becomes easier to understand.
For eg:
If you have 2 movieclips on your main timeline (_root).
Navigation and Pages.
Inside Navigation you have the buttons, and each button is a
separate movieclip.
Inside Pages you have each page, each a separate movieclip.
to target a specific page number, from a button, there are 2
ways you can go about it. The method that Ned suggested is called
RELATIVE.
-meaning that you target FROM WHERE YOU ARE.
the second method is ABSOLUTE.
-meaning you target FROM MAIN TIMELINE.
Relative is good, but can be confusing when using dot syntax.
Absolute is straight forward and easy to understand, and can
be used from anywhere in the whole movie. The downside, is that it
generally requires a bit more typing.
In the example I stated above, it does not require more
typing. simply say:
_root.page.gotoAndStop(number);
This line can be used from anywhere in your movie, at any
timeline depth, and will work with no worries.
You can also have ALL navigation code on the main timeline on
the first frame. Simply designate the path to the specific button
like so:
navigation.home_btn.onPress = function(){
doSomething;
this tells Flash that the button named "home_btn" located
inside the movieclip called "navigation" will have to doSomething
when Pressed.
I hope this helps you understand targeting a bit more.
Good Luck.

Making a "Flash" Website....confused

i admit im a complete amateur when it comes to building
websites. I went on template monster.com and saw a template that I
loved. I bought it and began using flash to edit it. Im ok
experienced in Flash but abd at actionscript. Anyway Im still in
the building phase of my website when I start thinking to my self,
How am I going to be able to let users register as members to my
website?
I go online and learn that im going to need a content
managment system which my webhost aready gave me. I also know that
when im done editing my Flash website I need to Publish it in HTML.
Heres where I get lost, after I publish the HTML in Flash and say I
open it up in Dreamweaver.....I cant do nothing to edit it in
dreamweaver its just an SWF File.
What if anything do I need to do to let open source software
work with my Flash website?

Hi,
If you are going to do your site with Flash, then I do not
think it is possible to use Opensource with it, because Open Source
CMSs is actually work on a template structure that is turn your
HTML code to PHP and embed in it PHP codes that call external
functions (Modules). If you like to use PHP with Flash, you will
need to do it manually without relay on an Open source CMS.
Hope this helps

Who makes the nicest, easiest to use Flash website design software?

Please forgive the beginner's question. I would like to build
a flash site like
http://www.hockaday.org from an
easy to use Flash template. You get what you pay for so my first
choice isn't something for free but a 30-day free trial version
would be nice.
What I like best about
http://www.hockaday.org is the
great menus and that pictures continually reload in interesting
ways.
Maybe a template is too restrictive. Who makes the nicest,
easiest to use Flash website design software that allows fast
creation of those fancy menus and with other fast features to do
nice things with pictures and motion?
I need to create a site like
http://www.hockaday.org
immediately so I don't have the time to learn Flash first. What's
my best bet?

you are in a catch 22 - you don't have time to learn flash -
yet you need to build an entire site
immediately - you can't - sure you can download a template
that is similar but if this forum is any
proof, you almost need more flash knowledge trying to
decipher most templates in order to edit them
- search this forum, there are several posts per week from
non-flash users who purchased templates
and have no clue how to edit them. Often times it is hard for
an educated flash user to
reverse-engineer a FLA made by somebody else - Flash
documents are blank canvases that can be setup
a myriad ways by different users making the same thing - some
developers are more organized than
others - most templates are not organized but rather thrown
together for a quick profit.
You will simply need to learn enough flash to understand how
it works or hire somebody to edit the
template for you.
hope this helps.
--> **Adobe Certified Expert**
--> www.mudbubble.com
--> www.keyframer.com
e.Shubee wrote:
> Please forgive the beginner's question. I would like to
build a flash site like
>
http://www.hockaday.org from an
easy to use Flash template. You get what you
> pay for so my first choice isn't something for free but
a 30-day free trial
> version would be nice.
>
> What I like best about
http://www.hockaday.org is the
great menus and that
> pictures continually reload in interesting ways.
>
> I need to create a site like that one immediately so I
don't have the time to
> learn Flash first. What's my best bet?
>
>
>

Can anyone contribute some inputs for creating flash website?

Basically Iam new to flash actionscript3.0, I am plannning to create Flash website. I need some help from anyone like creating button events, getting url, loading dynamic text etc. If you can pls share useful source file which is helpful for me.
Thanks,
Habib

As a relative newbie to Flash myself I'd simply recommend getting stuck in and messing about, find out how to do each individual thing as you come up against it. Don't be scared off by the new environment, if you just dive in you'll be up and running in no time Oh and don't expect the first thing you make to be of any real use - create something just to mess about in then start over once you know what you're doing a bit more.
I found this collection of videos very helpful in getting up and running:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-flash-professional-cs4/getting-started-01-understanding-fl ash/

Start to build my first flash website

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