Flash questions

[BigEvan23]

I designed the template for my co's new site. It can be found here.

http://www.gamersports.com/amg.html

can you please let me knwo what you think. Also, what would be best for loadings the links. I have a target blank movie clip that i will link the buttons to. But Im curious as to whether I should import the movies from an external file or in the main library itself. I know that if they are in the main libarary the file will be much bigger and I will only have to use one preloader. If I go the external route I will have multiple preloaders but less loading in the beginning which I think is desirable.

ALSO...how do I upload the files (going the external loadMovie() route) so that I just dont see the template with the empty target movie clip. As it stands when I try to load them externally and I publish the site it doesn't load the external files. Do they have to be placed inside the site folder or something? I am a novice so if my questions are stupid please let me know what I'm doing wrong.

One last question...sometimes on pc's I notice that the font I chose for the buttons doesnt even show. The buttons are just blank. Is that because they are not a system font on PC's. I thought flash turned the characters in to text. FYI, Im using the text as a variable component on the buttons to cut down time so I cant actually break it apart first.

Hope that wasn't confusing

 

[decksnap]

If your file is loading a external .swf, yes they have to be in the same folder-and I believe in the same folder as the HTML page it is embedded in.

I would highly recommend loading external SWFs, each with its own preloader. it makes it so much easier on the viewer- because they only need to load what they've chosen they want to see.

Also, it is easier to manage your own files, since everything isn't in some huge single FLA.

I keep a source folder for all my flash stuff, seperate from the real site folder, and just copy swfs into the site folder as I go.

The text stuff can get a little confusing- but if you are using variable text you can still embed the font. In your text panel there is a little button to embed the font. It increases your flash file size a little, but with Flash it's always about balancing size and vision. make sure you have 'HTML text' unchecked.

Let me know if you have any other questions- I am sitting here working on a bunch of externally loading flash files as I write!

 

[decksnap]

You know I wrote that whole post without looking at your site! As I look at it, I'm thinking you may not need to have seperate files. Are you expecting the different sections to be large in size? If not, just put each 'section' on a different frame on the main timeline and run your cosistent elements on their own layers across all frames.