Publishing Your Flash Movie

Finally, after you’ve made the appropriate changes to the flash animated header of your web design template you should publish and update it. You may want to modify the publish settings to reduce the download time or increase the image quality. To do so, please, choose “File/Publish Settings…” from top menu. In “Publish Settings” window choose “Flash” tab. The main options that have significantly influenced the published “SWF” movie file size are Jpeg Quality, Audio Stream and Audio Event.

To change jpeg image compression ratio move “Jpeg Quality” slider or type it in the input box at the right of it. Low quality (high compression) extremely reduces download time by flash looses its professional look. Try to experiment with quality to get optimal size/quality balance.

Another way to affect movie size is to change Audio Stream and Event options. Press “Set” button on the right to change music quality options.

Actually, you can publish your movie directly from “Publish Settings” window, see “Publish” button at the bottom. Or you can publish it from every point of Macromedia Flash by pressing “SHIFT+F12” hotkey.

Published “SWF” file will appear in the folder were corresponding “FLA” file is located.

Note: If some fonts in your published “SWF” file differ from original it means that you have not installed all the appropriate fonts. For the instructions please, read  Font Installation section.

Replace old “SWF” file in “/site_flash/flash” folder with a new one. Now it’s time to check modifications you’ve made. Go to the “/site_flash” folder of your web design template and launch “index.html” file to see the changes.

Publishing Your Flash Movie