Class overview :

Class goals :

• Build and deploy cross-platform Rich Internet Applications (RIA) and content with Adobe Flash
• Create engaging animations to attract and retain users
• Generate interactive dynamic content and special effects with ActionScript
• Connect to relational databases and XML datasets to build real-time, data-driven applications
• Encode and deliver streaming video to create innovative, mixed-media content
• Integrate and distribute Flash content on multiple platforms, including DVD, Web and Mobile

Content of Adobe Flash: Developing Interactive Web Content

Fundamentals of Adobe Flash

• Requirements of Rich Internet Applications
• Navigating the Flash IDE
• Exploring Flash capabilities

Building Flash Content

Analyzing the interface

• Investigating toolbar functionality
• Synchronizing content with the timeline
• Adjusting interface parameters with the properties window

Creating and importing assets

• Graphics
• Movie clips
• Buttons
• Constructing navigation menus
• Utilizing the built-in tools to create content
• Importing video, graphics and audio
• Leveraging Photoshop for graphic manipulation

Configuring Flash components

• Enhancing the user interface with the Component Library
• Extending Flash capabilities with third-party components

Bringing Flash to Life with Animation

Creating motion in scenes

• Producing movement with Shape and Motion Tweens
• Adding a motion path to control location
• Synchronizing motion with sound

Achieving special effects

• Masking
• Dropshadows
• Explosions
• Silhouette
• Fading between multiple photographs

Building complex animation structures

• Creating nested movie clips
• Developing multiple scenes
• Forming animated buttons
• Animating in 3-D

Additional Animation Techniques

• Saving and reusing Motion Paths
• Utilizing the Motion Editor and masking MovieClips

Developing Interactivity with ActionScript

Core language fundamentals

• Variables
• Objects
• Functions
• Making decisions and iterating through data
• Controlling application navigation

Handling application interaction

• Responding to user requests
• Gathering and validating user input
• Reacting to video and data events

Animating and styling content

• Creating motion without the timeline
• Adding a timed photo fade
• Formatting user interface components with CSS

Connecting to Data Sources

Working with XML

• Reading and parsing XML data with E4X
• Building a user interface with XML data
• Populating content areas

Accessing databases

• Receiving data through server-side scripts
• Populating the user interface with dynamic data
• Storing user input from a Flash application

Enhancing Flash Sites with Video

Encoding video for delivery

• Defining accepted video encoding formats
• Handling standards and bandwidth issues
• Transcoding video with multiple tools

Controlling playback

• Dynamically interacting with video
• Creating a full set of video playback options
• Building and loading video playlists
• Applying closed-captioning to online videos

Serving video content

• Comparing progressive downloading and streaming
• Delivering from a standard Web server
• Evaluating alternative open-source servers
• Inserting and reading video cue points

Deploying Flash

Standard delivery methods

• Publishing to the Web
• Distributing by physical media

Detecting Flash-capable devices

• Utilizing the SWFObject JavaScript library
• Offering alternative content