Speeding Up Common Tasks There are a number of seemingly minor enhancements that, because they speed up tasks that you perform over and over again, may save you a significant amount of time. For instance, you can now configure Flash's behavior at start-up, so that it automatically opens a new blank document, opens all recently-opened documents, or displays a start page that presents you with various options such as opening a new document or opening recently opened documents. Previously, none of these options was available: Flash simply started with no document open and no start page. (This behavior is still available, too.) If you have several documents open at the same time, a tabbed interface allows you to select any one of them with a single click. (For some reason, the Macintosh version lacks this feature.) Previously, you had to use either the Window menu (click once on the menu, click again on the filename) or a keyboard shortcut. The tabbed interface may not sound like a big deal, but it is actually a significant improvement. Another feature that falls into the "little things mean a lot" classification is the Save and Compact option on the File menu. Flash developers have always had to deal with the fact that source (FLA) files only get bigger with each save (File, Save). If you delete a movie clip, for example, and save the FLA, Flash does not reclaim the space formerly occupied by the movie clip. In previous versions of Flash, you had to save under a new name (File, Save As) to get Flash to reorganize the file more efficiently , thus reducing its size. In Flash MX 2004 you have the option of doing a normal save (File, Save), which is usually instantaneous, or a Save and Compact, which may take a little longer for large files but reduces the file size . |
