Web builders can use Flash to build scaleable, animated Web sites and high-quality, low-bandwidth graphics. Version 4.0 includes several impressive enhancements for Web builders.
ActionScript MP3 and QuickTime
Support Productivity
Enhancements
While you could use
JavaScript with Flash 3.0, it didn't have a built-in scripting language like
Macromedia Director's Lingo. Flash 4.0 packs an impressive new set of actions
and scripting tools, collectively known as ActionScript. The ability to control
all of your movie's actions and interactivity through scripts makes Flash not
only an excellent animation tool but also a viable option for interactive
multimedia. For example, interactive games such as Builder Buzz member Jessica
Speigel's Yahtzee game, are now
easier than ever before.
Flash 4.0 now lets you compress any audio stream in the MP3 format
through a range of compression options from 8 kbps to 160 kbps. This is a big
step forward for Flash designers, as it allows them to author long-form
movies with sound effects, such as background music and voiceovers, while
keeping the file sizes small. As for QuickTime support, you now can edit your
QuickTime movies in Flash and add animations, text, or graphics to your movies.
Several of Flash 4.0's new features are productivity enhancements. The
Flash 4.0 timeline has been improved so that it requires fewer steps to create
an animation. New commands include the outline color mode, which displays layers
in different colors, and the motion tween command, which can create a quick
animation in one easy step. The one-step export feature is probably the best
time-saver. Instead of exporting the movie and optimizing it in Aftershock, it's
just one easy step straight from Flash.