The Flash Interface

   

---

All Macromedia Flash MX document design is done within the authoring environment known as Macromedia Flash MX. The player and plug-in of Flash MX are known, respectively, as the Macromedia Flash Player 6 and the Macromedia Flash Player 6 plug-in.

The Flash MX authoring environment makes good use of screen real estate. If you've worked with Flash 5, you remember the numerous panels that could be opened at one time, taking up valuable screen space. Now Flash MX panels have two states: opened, as in the Color Swatches panel, and collapsed , as in the Color Mixer panel (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1. The difference between opened and collapsed panels is demonstrated here.

Also to save screen space, the Properties panel, also called the Properties Inspector, will populate with the appropriate attributes for the selected tool. Thus you can quickly edit the attributes of selected objects.

Note all the different elements that make up the Flash MX interface (see Figure 1.2). We will now introduce each major element, these are covered in greater detail later in the book.

Figure 1.2. The Flash MX Interface is composed of various elements.

---

   

Top