Adobe Flash

Creating a Document in Adobe Flash

So just what is Flash, anyway? If you're going to use this fancy tool to spice up your web site, it's pretty important to understand what Flash is and what you can do with it. Here's a brief look at some of the uses for Flash.

Take a tour of the user interface

First, you'll open the starting FLA file that you'll use to complete this lesson. Each lesson includes one start file, and a finished file that demonstrates how the FLA file should appear upon completion of the lessons.

  1. To open your start file, in Flash select File > Open and navigate to the file:
    • In Windows, browse to boot drive\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8\Samples and Tutorials\Tutorial Assets\Basic Tasks\ Create a Document and double-click document_start.fla.
    • On the Macintosh, browse to Macintosh HD/Applications/Macromedia Flash 8/Samples and Tutorials/Tutorial Assets/Basic Tasks/Create a Document and double-click document_start.fla.

    The Create a Document folder contains completed versions of the tutorial FLA files for your reference.

    The document opens in the Flash authoring environment. The document already includes two layers in the Timeline. To learn more about layers, select Help > Flash Tutorials > Basic Flash > Work with Layers.
    One of the layers is named Guides, which contains items to assist you in placing objects correctly on the Stage. The other layer is named Content. This is the layer in which to place the objects that will compose your document.

  2. Select File > Save As and save the document with a new name, in the same folder, to preserve the original start file.

Note: As you complete this lesson, remember to save your work frequently.