Macintosh Idiosyncrasies

The Flash authoring software for Macintosh had several problems that have been resolved with the Flash 5.0a update. If you are using the Flash authoring software on a Macintosh, visit www.macromedia.com/software/flash/download/ to update your software. Now you'll take a closer look at the most significant problems with Flash on the Macintosh platform.

Dragging Items Running OS 9

Some Macintosh OS 9 users can't drag items from the Flash Library to the stage. To fix this problem, follow these steps:

1. Click the apple and open Sherlock.

2. Under Advanced Options, select Is Invisible, and then click OK.

3. Search your system for the file or folder named Drag.

4. Delete this file.

5. Restart your computer.

If the Drag file or folder is not found, try the same search of "visible" files to locate it. If you still can't find it, you'll have to do a clean install of Mac OS 9. See Macromedia TechNote 14442 for more information.

Power Mac G4 Cube Crashing

Macromedia Flash sometimes crashes G4 Cube Model computers. This happens randomly but might be linked to sounds being set to stream. The problem is with the interaction of Virtual Memory, the Sound Manager, and G4-specific code.

You can solve this problem by installing the Macromedia Flash 5.0a update, unplugging your USB speakers , and then restarting.

Opening Flash Source Files That Were Created in Windows on a Macintosh

One source of aggravation for Macintosh users is that Flash files created on a Windows machine won't open when you double-click on them on the Mac. The problem is that there's no recognizable resource fork. This is really fun when you have different artists in your department authoring Flash files on different systems. It's aggravating, but the fix is fairly simple:

1. Open Flash on the Macintosh.

2. Select File > Open. In the File Format pop-up menu, make sure that you select All Files (not All Formats).

3. Double-click the .FLA file to open it.

4. You need to overwrite the old file, and a simple save won't do it. Select File > Save As, and save the file with the same name .

5. Now you can open it from your directory list by double-clicking the filename.

See Macromedia TechNote 12852 for more information.

Just to let you know that I'm not singling out Macs, Windows machines have their own set of issues.