Web Site Setup Help!

[Stantz]

Hi everyone,

I am setting up my first flash web site using MX 8 Pro. I am not sure how to proceed with its structure. I have read some tutorials on the subject but none seem to helpful, can you advise?

At the moment i have my site in one scene, on different frames in the same document. The issue with the site is that it contains allot of video which are either embedded or streamed in.

I was thinking i could load each new page when it needed, where by at the minute the pre-loader chucks everything in. But i am not sure how to go about that either.

All help welcome, thanks everyone.

[Cota]

This wont be in much detail, but lets give it a try. First thing, plan plan plan. Make as much of it dynamic as possible, the over all size of your site will be smaller. Which means, you can make each page of your site its own swf, and load them in when needed. You can place the preloader in the main swf, and using visible/invisible tricks make it appear and disappearwhen needed. Or, you can place the preloader in each swf itself, up to you. Get yourself situated with the first step then we'll continue.

[Stantz]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me.

I was trying to weigh up which method i should use, for ease of creation i was going to use a pre-loader on every SWF, would advise against this?

The benefit i can see is that i can have a main site pre-loader, and then a separate page loader. From this point, should i look at loading in a SWF into a "content" movie clip?

Thanks again.

[Cota]

Yes and Yes. Create a dummy clip to contain your sections. Then plan out your menu system.

[atomic]

These could possibly help getting you started...

http://www.kirupa.com/developer/mx/full_site.htm

http://www.kirupa.com/developer/mx/preloader_transition.htm

[Cota]

Yes, those tuts will give you insight, however, they still place their code inside a button.

[Stantz]

Thanks for all the info guys. Just one last question, how does placing code inside a button limit me?

Thanks.

[Cota]

how would it help you? Its about keeping your code contained in one area. Place in the button and your code starts getting spread out all over the place. What happens if you need to go back and change something. You have spend time remembering where it was. Which button it was in. If its all on the frame with the rest of the code, then you know exactly where it is at all times.