When you publish a movie for
the Web, Flash creates a SWF file and an HTML document that tells the
Web browser how to display your Flash content. You need to upload both
files to your Web server along with any other files your SWF file
references (such as FLV or F4V video files and skins). The Publish
command saves all the required files to the same folder.
You can specify
different options for publishing a movie, including whether to detect
the version of Flash Player installed on the viewer’s computer. When you
change the settings in the Publish Settings dialog box, they are saved
with the document.
Specifying Flash file settings
You can determine how Flash
publishes the SWF file, including which version of Flash Player it
requires, which version of ActionScript it uses, and how the movie is
displayed and plays.
1. | Choose File > Publish Settings.
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2. | Click the Formats tab and select Flash and HTML. You can also choose to publish the file in additional formats.
Note
You can change the name of the
published file by typing a different filename in the boxes. You can also
change the location where the files are saved by clicking the folder
icon.
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3. | Click the Flash tab.
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4. | Select a version of Flash Player.
Some Flash Professional CS5 features will not play as expected in
versions of the player earlier than Flash Player 10. If you are using
the latest features of Flash CS5, you must choose Flash Player 10.
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5. | Select the appropriate ActionScript version.
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6. | If
you’ve included sound, click the Set buttons for the Audio stream and
Audio event to choose the quality of the audio compression. In this
interactive banner, there is no sound, so there’s no need to change the
settings.
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7. | Select
Compress movie if the file is large and you want to reduce download
times. If you select this option, be sure to test the final movie before
uploading it.
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8. | Select Include XMP metadata if you want to include information that describes your movie.
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9. | Click the HTML tab.
Note
To learn about other template options, select one and then click Info.
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10. | Select Flash Only from the Template menu.
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Detecting the version of Flash Player
Some Flash features require
specific versions of Flash Player to play as expected. You can
automatically detect the version of Flash Player on a viewer’s computer;
if the Flash Player version is not the one required, a message will
prompt the viewer to download the updated player.
1. | Choose File > Publish Settings if the Publish Settings dialog box is not already open.
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2. | Click the HTML tab in the Publish Settings dialog box.
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3. | Select Detect Flash Version.
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4. | In the Version fields, enter the earliest version of the Flash Player to detect.
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5. | Click Publish, and then click OK to close the dialog box.
Flash publishes several files. Flash creates a SWF file, an HTML file,
and an additional file named swfobject.js that contains extra JavaScript
code that will detect the specified Flash Player version. If the
browser does not have the earliest Flash Player version you entered in
the Version fields, a message is displayed instead of the Flash movie.
All three files need to be uploaded to your Web server and are necessary
for your movie.
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Changing display settings
You have many options to change
the way your Flash movie is displayed in a browser. The Dimensions
options and the Scale options work together to determine the movie’s
size and amount of distortion and cropping.
1. | Choose File > Publish Settings.
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2. | Click the HTML tab in the Publish Settings dialog box.
Select Match Movie for
the Dimensions to play the Flash movie at the exact Stage size set in
Flash. This is the usual setting for almost all your Flash projects. Select Pixels for the Dimensions to enter a different size in pixels for your Flash movie. Select Percent for the Dimensions to enter a different size for your Flash movie as a percentage of the browser window. Select
Default (Show all) for the Scale option to fit the movie in the browser
window without any distortions or cropping to show all the content.
This is the usual setting for almost all your Flash projects. If a user
reduces the size of the browser window, the content remains constant but
is clipped by the window.
Select Percent
for Dimensions and No border for the Scale option to scale the movie to
fit the browser window without any distortions but with cropping of the
content to fill the window.  Select
Percent for Dimensions and Exact fit for the Scale option to scale the
movie to fill the browser window on both the horizontal and vertical
dimensions. With these options, none of the background color shows, but
the content can be distorted.
Select
Percent for Dimensions and No scale for the Scale option to keep the
movie size constant no matter how big or small the browser window is. 
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Changing Playback settings
You can change several options that affect the way your Flash movie plays within a browser.
1. | Choose File > Publish Settings.
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2. | Click the HTML tab in the Publish Settings dialog box.
Select Paused at start for the Playback option to have the movie pause at the very first frame. Deselect Loop for the Playback option to have the movie play only once. Deselect
Display menu for the Playback option to limit the options in the
context menu that appears when you right-click/Ctrl-click on a Flash
movie in a browser.
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Note
In general, it is best to
control a Flash movie with ActionScript than to rely on the Playback
settings in the Publish Settings dialog box. For example, add a stop()
command in the very first frame of your Timeline if you want to pause
the movie at the start. When you test your movie (Control > Test
Movie > in Flash Professional), all the functionality will be in
place.
Although
Flash provides several options to help display your finished movie
within a Web browser, it’s best to use a dedicated HTML editor such as
Adobe Dreamweaver to position your Flash movie on the page, especially
when you want to include other information around it. For example, your
Flash movie will likely be just one component of an overall Web page
that also includes information about Meridien City, its history, a map
of the area, and perhaps a welcome message from the mayor. Dreamweaver
can assemble all the different media components together on a single
HTML page.
To
insert your Flash movie in an HTML page in Dreamweaver, simply choose
Insert > Media > Flash. Select your SWF file and click OK.
Dreamweaver creates the HTML code to point to the SWF file and display
it in a browser. Many of the same display and playback options are
available in the Properties inspector in Dreamweaver.
