Simple Flash default.html

[janicen]

I'd like to make a welcome page when people enter to the website. :D

How do I make like a Star Wars type of welcome flash ? For example, Big 'A' appears from the left side to narrow down to regular font 'A' on the middle of the page, then Big 'S' appears from the right side to narrow down to regular font 'S' after the 'A', so forth. How can I "motion guide" this .. from the big letter 'A' to a smaller 'A' ? Know what I am talking about? ;)

Thanks
Janice

[YvetteKuhns]

There are several web pages that describe the Star Wars scrolling text effect.

http://www.freehandsource.com/_frames/_tips/_archive/tip_week103.html
This is just one simple example how to tween perspective objects using FreeHand and Flash.

http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=6669
This one uses Adobe After Effects.

I am not sure what programs you are using to create this, but the tips online can help you.

[janicen]

Flash 8....I'm going to try doing the motion tweening with shape since motion path won't change the big letter A to the small letter A. I have an older version Flash 5 but I'd like to try newer version 8 on the trial period of 30 days.

Any suggestions are welcomed!

Thanks for the reply.
J

[BerksWebGuy]

Make sure you check out www.FlashKit.com , its a great site with tutorials and sources.

And also watch out for the trial versions. If you use action scripting in 8, it may not be supported in 5. For what you want (pretty basic), I would stick with what you have, 5.

[janicen]

It's pretty much basic of what I'm trying to do. I haven't seen a sample of what I am exactly looking for. Just bring Big 'A' from the left to the center and then bring Big 'L' from the right to the center after 'A' .. will tween do with shape or motion ? which one is better ?

I'm on the 8 version trying out.. if it is too much for me, I'll switch back to 5. :o

[stevel]

Hi, Janice... I'll offer you my opinion, which is - don't go there. Splash pages are bad news, Flash splash pages are worse. I'll quote Vincent Flanders, author of my favorite book on web design, Son Of Web Pages That Suck (www.webpagesthatsuck.com):

The golden rule of doing business on the Web is, "Don't do anything that gets in the way of the sale." Splash pages get in the way because they're an extra layer between your visitor and your site. ... A splash page is a site's root or home page that contains some frivolous graphics or text instead of what is really important: the site's navigational system and content. ...

... Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch gave a talk on search engine tips and tricks and said: 1) The home page of a domain is often ranked more highly than other pages, 2) Sometimes the home page is the only page that is indexed, 3) A text-light splash page wastes one of the most important chances you have of being found.
There's a lot more on this topic in his book. See here (http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/stupid-versions-of-the-home-page.html) for some of Flanders' silly versions of splash pages.

If you absolutely, positively, feel you MUST have a Flash splash page, be sure to include detection logic that skips it if the user does not have Flash installed.

[BerksWebGuy]

Use motion for moving stuff around.

Tween is for changing objects, like changing the 'A' to a 'L'.