System and Setup Considerations

The minimum system requirements for authoring Flash files, as posted on the Macromedia site, are shown in the accompanying table.

Minimum System Requirements

	Windows	Macintosh
System software	133 MHz Intel Pentium Processor Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000 Professional, or later	System 8.1 or later
Available RAM	32MB	32MB
Available disk space	40MB	40MB
Resolution	800x600; 256- color	800x600; 256-color

Yes, you can get away with the minimum requirements, but you really want more power than that. Personally, I wouldn't even consider working on a machine with less than 128MB of RAM. With computer and memory prices coming down, this is a good time to beef up your system.

That being said, I keep my old 133MHz, 32MB system around just to keep me honest. Flash files can become very CPU intensive if you're not careful; remember that you're depending on your user 's computer to perform the calculations to play back your file. Although it would be nice if everyone had a spiffy 750MHz system with 1GB of RAM and a 21-inch monitor on which to play our creations, that just isn't how things work in the real world.

People often ask what kind of a setup we use here at Fig Leaf for development. It varies from person to person, but all the programmers work off Windows laptops ”some with attached monitors , some not. We're all currently running 450 “600MHz and 192MB of RAM.

The artists are split; some use Macintosh computers, some use Windows. And yes, we all rib each other about that. The Macintosh desktops are all running with 512MB of RAM.

Personally, I really like having a 21-inch monitor with the resolution set at 1600x1200 pixels when I work in Flash. I get positively claustrophobic on anything else; it's all those palettes. Because I do a lot of scripting, I like to have my Actions panel open and expanded at all times. In fact, my Actions panel and the Flash work area are usually side-by-side and opened up to about the same size .

If you're lucky enough to be set up for dual monitors, even better. I'm not, but if it were an option, that's the route I'd take. Palettes on one monitor ”the Stage and time-line on another.

A graphics tablet is great to work with, and I also use a wireless mouse and keyboard. Flash FLA files can be on the large size, especially if you're working with sound, so having a Zip drive also is useful. The Iomega 250 Zip drive is our choice.