Using Keynote to Create Flash Web Content

[IJ Reilly]

I dropped into an Apple store yesterday while a presenter was talking about using Keynote to create Flash content for web sites. I was intrigued so I hung around for a while and watched the demo. It looks like at least theoretically an entire web site could be constructed in Keynote, if all you needed or wanted was Flash content.

So now I am wondering if anyone has tried this.

In particular, I would like to know how the Flash files output from Keynote would be referenced in a page of html. I am also wondering whether a visitor to the site would have to download the entire flash file on their first page hit, or whether the Flash file is downloaded in segments on demand.

 

[ITASOR]

I dropped into an Apple store yesterday while a presenter was talking about using Keynote to create Flash content for web sites. I was intrigued so I hung around for a while and watched the demo. It looks like at least theoretically an entire web site could be constructed in Keynote, if all you needed or wanted was Flash content.

So now I am wondering if anyone has tried this.

In particular, I would like to know how the Flash files output from Keynote would be referenced in a page of html. I am also wondering whether a visitor to the site would have to download the entire flash file on their first page hit, or whether the Flash file is downloaded in segments on demand.

Not sure how to do it, but I know that you can just make an HTML page and use the code to show the flash movie. That's not hard at all.

I'm not sure how keynote does it, but when I was into making flash sites, I would make many segments of the movie in order to reduce loading times, as I was testing the sites on dial up.

I just looked in keynote, but didn't really see anything to make links or anything...not finding any way to make flash sites. I want to try it out though, sounds cool.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Yes, I think this is right. Probably just a simple page with an html header and footer would do the trick. Though I have determined that it's also probably advisable to place the .swf file in a fixed sized table that reflects the pixel dimensions of the Keynote source. I notice if you drag the Flash file into Safari, the graphics and text get jaggy if you enlarge the window, so it needs to be constrained to the original size to look right. I've also discovered that Flash files are very light if you don't use background images. Three pages with text and minimal graphics on a white background produces a Flash file of just over 100k.

Yes, Keynote 2 does have a link tool. It's in the inspector. According to the demo guy at the Apple Store, it can also be used to insert links to external content. Haven't tried that yet.

This might be one of the great unknown strengths of Keynote. I hadn't heard anyone mention it before!

 

[tjwett]

just embed the following into an HTML page...

<object width="800" height="600">
<param name="movie" value="filename.swf">
<embed src="filename.swf" width="800" height="600">
</embed>
</object>

Keynote only does two sizes, 800x600 or 1024x768, so determining the dimensions is easy. while yes, you can export Flash content from Keynote complete with links etc it is really not the ideal method. there will be little or no optimization and you'll likely wind up with a file much larger than if you created the same thing in Flash natively, resulting in a some much longer load times. having said that, i find working in Flash to be completely counter-intuitive and quite a pain. if i needed to whip up a very simple Flash site i might consider using Keynote.

 

[stevietheb]

Exported my most recent presentation (42 slides with 30+ decent quality photos) – 23.2MB ... that seems a tad large to put up on the net.

 

[SpaceMagic]

Exported my most recent presentation (42 slides with 30+ decent quality photos) – 23.2MB ... that seems a tad large to put up on the net.

That depends. 23.2MB for an entire website isn't big. However, the question is whether only segments will load or the entire flash project. If the latter is the case then you're right, forget it.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Exported my most recent presentation (42 slides with 30+ decent quality photos) – 23.2MB ... that seems a tad large to put up on the net.

Try using a white background. It makes a huge difference.

 

[IJ Reilly]

just embed the following into an HTML page...

<object width="800" height="600">
<param name="movie" value="filename.swf">
<embed src="filename.swf" width="800" height="600">
</embed>
</object>

Keynote only does two sizes, 800x600 or 1024x768, so determining the dimensions is easy. while yes, you can export Flash content from Keynote complete with links etc it is really not the ideal method. there will be little or no optimization and you'll likely wind up with a file much larger than if you created the same thing in Flash natively, resulting in a some much longer load times. having said that, i find working in Flash to be completely counter-intuitive and quite a pain. if i needed to whip up a very simple Flash site i might consider using Keynote.

Thanks, that's keeper. I realize that Keynote isn't the optimum method for creating Flash content, but it is easy. I never thought I'd be doing a Flash site. Keynote made it possible, so that's cool. The biggest problem I've encountered so far is figuring out which of the Keynote transitions and effects are supported in Flash. It's a hit and miss process.

 

[Baron58]

Keynote only does two sizes, 800x600 or 1024x768

No.

You can specify any dimensions you want in Keynote.

Inspector --> Document button (far left)
Slide Size --> Custom Slide Size (from the drop-down menu)

 

[tjwett]

No.

You can specify any dimensions you want in Keynote.

Inspector --> Document button (far left)
Slide Size --> Custom Slide Size (from the drop-down menu)

i stand happily corrected! this is great to know, i might just get some Flash use out of Keynote after knowing this. i've obviously not spent enough time with Keynote, only seeing the two default size options. very cool.

 

[tjwett]

...The biggest problem I've encountered so far is figuring out which of the Keynote transitions and effects are supported in Flash. It's a hit and miss process.

I just tested every transition using both a white fill background as well as a "None" background and the only transition that actually totally works correctly is "Push". I assume this is because all of the others use some form of transparency, which upon exporting to Flash just appears as blackness, perhaps because they are Quartz pieces and rely on that and/or Quicktime?

I assume you could get around it somewhat by using a black background, might make a few more transitions usable. But for the most part, "Push" will have to do for now it looks like. If anyone else has tested them out and come up with different results please post and let us know how you got around it. what is cool to see is that I got a pretty basic 5 slide looping swf at 300x200 pixels to export to a mere 30k, nice!