Flash in FrontPage

Newer versions of both programs (as well as talented designers and programmers) have figured out easy and quick ways to seamlessly integrate the smooth flexibility of Flash with the easy familiarity of FrontPage

Publish Before You Publish

One of the difficulties in explaining the process lies in language. Most web designers are used to using the word "publish" to mean actually putting the finished files on the web server. However, in the world of Adobe Flash, "publish" is the generation of the Flash movie (or .SWF) that will then get uploaded (or "published") to the web server. Technically this .swf file is not viewable on its own, so there are further steps to put it into the web page.

First things first, however: start in Adobe Flash, with a .fla file open.

1. Click on "File→Publish Settings'" and select the ".swf" and "HTML" formats.
2. When you click "OK" it will "publish" the uneditable .swf file in the same directory as the original .fla file.
3. It will also generate the HTML file that would normally just be uploaded onto your server. However, when using FrontPage to manage your site, there are a few more complications.

It should be noted that the HTML file that is generated references the .swf file – it is not an integral part. This means that if the designer needs to go back and alter the .fla file, only the .swf "movie" file needs to be re-published (and then put on the server). As long as the name of the file doesn't change, the HTML will still point to it.

Publishing Your Flash in FrontPage

One of the frustrating aspects of earlier versions of FrontPage was the way the code was generated. Writing code is an art, and everyone does it a little differently. FrontPage was known for changing code that designers wanted to keep.

Thankfully, now there is a way around that, so that the embed code for the .swf movie can be put into FrontPage with the following steps:

1. Find the section of code in the Flash HTML between the <OBJECT> and <EMBED> tags and select and copy them.
2. In FrontPage programs past the 2002 version, simply paste that HTML into the FrontPage HTML and make sure the paths to all the directories are accurate. In FrontPage 2000 or 2002 it is necessary to select "Insert" from the file menu and use that selection to determine what kind of code you are inserting ( " Advanced | HTML" in the former, " Web Component | Advanced Controls | HTML" in the latter).
3. When the code is inserted, it can be edited using the "View→Reveal Tags" command in FrontPage. This allows you to right-click the embedded .swf (held between the "webbot" tags) and change things like the size by modifying the "HTML Markup Properties." The FrontPage toolbar can also be used to reposition the movie. In FrontPage 2003, the right click draws up dialogue with the "Movie in Flash Format Properties" tag, with has both general and appearance choices.
4. Upload (publish) that FrontPage HTML along with the original .swf (obviously, again paying attention to the file paths.)

When embedding, don't forget to be aware of the other properties of the movie to initialize, including loop, autoplay, or menu selection. Some of these can be specified back in Flash itself before generating the movie, but it is always a good idea to double check your work.

Other Ways to use Flash in Frontpage

In FrontPage 2003, Microsoft acknowledged the permeation of Flash on the web and included the option simply let the program generate the code for itself. However, once again the notoriously whimsical code generation of the FrontPage struck: the Flash movie would not play in Netscape. By manually adding <EMBED> tags you can fix this problem, but it is best to simply use the cut-and-paste method described to get your Flash into FrontPage.