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Design
Resources : Flash Website Nightmares
It's an all too common story where clients come to us with website update
requests for their Flash website when they are not in possession of the original
source Flash files. This scenario occurs when website designers or developers
have withheld original source files from the client.
Flash Websites are built using a program called Macromedia Flash. This program
is the industry standard for creating websites with an emphasis on graphical
animation and multimedia. Web browsers do not support websites incorporating
Flash unless the end user has special software installed called a Flash Player
plug-in for their web browser.
There are two important types of files that are used to create Flash websites,
native Flash files with the file extension 'fla', and exported Shockwave files
with the file extension 'swf'.
Native Flash files are created in Flash when a designer/developer starts
a new project. These files contain all the graphics, text and programming
required to animate the final product. Native files also contain the information
necessary to present all of these elements in their rightful places within
the Flash development platform.
When a Flash project is ready for testing or for use in a webpage, the project
has to be 'published' or exported as a Shockwave file, or swf file. This is
the file which can be played by the web browser plug-in software, or a stand-alone
Flash player. In order to protect the designer's intellectual property, when
Flash exports a project to Shockwave format, it performs several actions which
will completely change the nature of the published file;
- Flash strips out all unused elements from the project's Shockwave file.
- Some of the proprietary information used to display elements in their
rightful place and form on the Flash platform is removed.
- Flash encrypts the programming which is used to animate/operate all these
elements that gives the Shockwave file its functionality.
- The graphics are compressed with lower quality settings to reduce file
size, resulting in faster webpage loads and faster animations. This drop
in graphic quality is not reversible.
To maintain a Flash Website, you must have access to the original native
Flash files that are used to publish the final Shockwave files. Without
them, you cannot perform any modifications to the programming, nor can you
add more graphics, nor change the text and retain the original
animation and or functionality of the Shockwave file
The Shockwave files used in a webpage can be imported into a new Flash
Project if they have not been import protected. Once imported, you have
access to the graphic, sound and text elements. However in doing so, you
cannot access any programming or scripting used to animate or operate these
elements. The programming remains encrypted.
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