To play a Flash movie in a web browser, you must create an HTML document that activates the movie and specifies browser settings. You can use Publish to generate the required HTML document automatically.
There are HTML parameters that determine where the Flash movie appears in the window, the background color, the size of the movie, and so on. You can change these and other settings with the options in the HTML panel of the Publish Settings dialog box.
Flash inserts the HTML parameters you specify in a template document. The template document can be any text file that contains the appropriate template variables. A template can be a plain HTML file, or one that also includes code for special interpreters such as Cold Fusion or ASP. You select a template to use from several included with Flash. There are basic templates that simply display the movie in a browser, and more advanced templates containing code for browser detection and other features. You can use included templates, or create your own. See Creating templates for HTML publishing.
Note: You can also manually enter HTML parameters for Flash using any HTML editor. See About Flash HTML requirements.
Many of the settings Flash modifies are parameters of the OBJECT and EMBED tags. OBJECT is the HTML tag that opens a Flash movie in Internet Explorer; EMBED is the Netscape equivalent.
Use the controls in the HTML panel of the Publish Setting dialog box to change the following settings:
Template Specifies which of the installed templates to use. All of the template files in the HTML folder in the Flash application folder appear on the pop-up menu. For a description of each template, select a template from the pop-up menu and click the Info button to the right. If you don't choose a template Flash uses a template named Default.html.þIf Default.html is not present, Flash uses the first template on the list.
Flash saves the modified template using the file name of the Flash movie with the extension of the template. For example, if you select a template named Standard.asp for use with a Flash movie named MyMovie.swf, the resulting file would be named MyMovie.asp.
Dimensions Sets the values of the WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes in the OBJECT and EMBED tags. There are three options on the pop-up menu.
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Match Movie sets the dimensions to the size of the movie. This is the default setting. |
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Pixels lets you enter the number of pixels in the Width and Height field. |
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Percent lets you set the movie dimensions relative to the browser window. Enter percentage values in the Width and Height fields. |
Playback Assigns values to the LOOP, PLAY, MENU, and DEVICE FONT parameters in the OBJECT and EMBED tags.
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Paused at Start sets the PLAY parameter to FALSE and pauses the movie until the visitor initiates play, either by clicking a button in the movie or by choosing Play from the shortcut menu. Paused at Start is off by default so that the movie begins to play as soon as it is loaded. |
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Loop sets the LOOP parameter to TRUE and repeats the movie when it reaches the last frame. Deselect this option to stop the movie when it reaches the last frame. Loop is on by default. |
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Display Menu sets the MENU parameter to TRUE, making a shortcut menu available to users when they right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) on the movie. Display Menu is on by default. Deselect the Display Menu option if you want About Flash to be the only available option in the shortcut menu. |
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Device Font (Windows only) sets the DEVICE FONT parameter to TRUE and substitutes anti-aliased system fonts for fonts that are not installed on the user's system. Device Font is off by default. |
Quality Sets the value of the QUALITY parameter in the OBJECT and EMBED tags and determines the level of anti-aliasing performed. Because anti-aliasing requires a faster processor to smooth each frame of the movie before it is rendered on the viewer's screen, the QUALITY parameter assigns priorities to appearance and playback speed.
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Low gives priority to playback speed over appearance. With this setting, anti-aliasing is never used. |
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Autolow emphasizes speed at first, but improves appearance whenever possible. Playback begins with anti-aliasing turned off. If the Flash player detects that the processor can handle it, anti-aliasing is turned on. |
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Autohigh emphasizes playback speed and appearance equally at first, but sacrifices appearance for the sake of playback speed if necessary. Playback begins with anti-aliasing turned on. If the actual frame rate drops below the specified frame rate, anti-aliasing is turned off to improve playback speed. Use this setting to emulate the View > Antialias setting in Flash. |
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High gives priority to appearance over playback speed. With this setting, anti-aliasing is always used. If the movie does not contain animation, bitmaps are smoothed; if there is animation, bitmaps are not smoothed. High is the default setting for Quality. |
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Best provides the best display quality and does not consider playback speed. All output is antialiased and all bitmaps are always smoothed. |
Window Mode (Windows only) Sets the WMODE parameter of the OBJECT tag, which lets you take advantage of the transparent movie, absolute positioning, and layering capabilities available in Internet Explorer 4.0. This option works only in the Windows version of Internet Explorer with the Flash Active X control.
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Window sets the WMODE parameter value to WINDOW and plays a Flash Player movie in its own rectangular window on a web page. This setting normally provides the fastest animation performance. |
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Opaque Windowless sets the WMODE parameter value to OPAQUE. Use this setting if you want to move elements behind Flash movies (for example, with dynamic HTML) and don't want them to show through. |
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Transparent Windowless sets the WMODE parameter to TRANSPARENT. Use this setting to make the background of the HTML page on which the movie is embedded show through all the transparent potions of the movie. Animation performance might be slower when you use this setting. |
Alignment Specifies the ALIGN attribute for the OBJECT, EMBED, and IMG tags and determines how the Flash movie window is positioned within the browser window.
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Default centers the movie in the browser window and crops edges if the browser window is smaller than the movie. |
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Left aligns the movie along the left edge of the browser window and crops the top, bottom, and right sides as necessary. |
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Right aligns the movie along the right edge of the browser window and crops the top, bottom, and left sides as necessary. |
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Top aligns the movie along the top edge of the browser window and crops the bottom, left, and right sides as necessary. |
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Bottom aligns the movie along the bottom edge of the browser window and crops the top, left, and right sides as necessary. |
Scale Determines the value of the SCALE parameter in the OBJECT and EMBED tags and defines how the movie is placed within the boundaries you specify in the Width and Height fields. These settings apply only if you enter a width and height setting different from the movie's original size.
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Default (Show all) makes the entire movie visible in the specified area while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the movie. No distortion occurs. Borders may appear on two sides of the movie. |
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No Border scales the movie to fill the specified area while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the movie. No distortion occurs. Portions of the movie might be cropped. |
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Exact Fit makes the entire movie visible in the specified area. However, no attempt is made to preserve the original aspect ratio, and distortion may occur. |
Flash Alignment Sets the SALIGN parameter of the OBJECT and EMBED tags. The settings you choose from the Horizontal and Vertical pop-up menu determine how the movie is placed within the movie window and, if it must be cropped to fit that window, how it is cropped. Choose Left, Center or Right from the Horizontal pop-up menu; and Top, Center, or Bottom from the Vertical pop-up menu.
Show Warning Messages Determines if Flash displays error messages warning of conflicts in tag settings. For example, with this option on an error message would appear if a template includes code referring to an alternate image that you have not specified.