When you create a web site with Flash, you often need to include several other files. To open a Flash Player movie in a browser, you must first open an HTML document which in turn activates the Flash Player and runs the movie. In addition to this HTML document, you may also want to create an animated-GIF version of your movie, or a JPEG or GIF image to display if the Flash Player is not installed.
The main file format for distributing Flash content is the Flash Player format (.swf). The Flash Player format is the only one that supports all Flash interactive functionality. You can play a Flash Player movie in the following ways:
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In Internet browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer that are equipped with the Flash Player |
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With the Flash Xtra in Director and Authorware |
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With the Flash Active X control in Microsoft Office and other Active X hosts |
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As part of a QuickTime movie |
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As a type of stand-alone application called a projector |
The Flash Player file format is an open standard and may be supported by other applications in the future. Consult the Macromedia web site for the latest information.
In addition to the Flash Player format, you can export moving and still images from Flash in a variety of formats, including GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, PICT, QuickTime, or AVI.
Use the Publish command to create the files you need for a Flash web application all at once with a single command. Publish generates not only a Flash Player file, but graphic files in many formats usable as alternate images, and an HTML document with all the settings required to play your movie.
If you want to quickly export a single file of a certain type, use the Export command. Export options are oriented towards providing Flash content for modification in other applications. You can export an entire movie as a Flash Player file or as a series of bitmap images. You can also export a single frame or image as an image file.
Instead of using Publish, you can also create your own HTML document with any HTML editor and include the tags required to display a Flash movie.
Before you complete the publishing process, you can test how a movie works with Test Movie and Test Scene.
Note: To alter or update a Flash Player movie created with Publish, edit the original Flash movie and then use Publish again. Flash Player movies imported into Flash lose some of the authoring environment information.