The Macromedia User Conference in May was pretty exciting (see UCON 99, below)… for me, the most excitement came when I gave a technical presentation on how JavaScript and Flash can communicate (A Meaningful Conversation Between JavaScript and Flash). The fully annotated Shockwave version of my presentation (and handout) is available at: www.teleport.com/~phillip/ucon99/presentation/ The concept is simple: JavaScript can "talk" to Flash (control the movie or get information from the movie) and Flash can "talk" to JavaScript (invoke any JavaScript function).

I originally proposed the topic before seeing Flash 4. On first look at the beta I was afraid my topic was obsolete—it wasn’t. There’s just as much need as ever to know JavaScript. Besides the extensive control of Flash…Dreamweaver objects are authored in JavaScript, and yet to be announced Xtras for Fireworks and Director will support JavaScript. All this, plus the popularity of Flash overbooked my session. There were seats for 120, but no fewer than 220 were present!

Speaking of overbooking… the Internet Professionals Northwest (IPN) invited me to present this May… and about 80 people attended. I had originally proposed the topic "Browserless Web Applications". Somehow the title changed to "Overcoming the Limitations of the Browser". Of course, by avoiding the browser you’re overcoming the limits… but regardless I think it’s an important topic (maybe even a bit ahead of its time).

If you still think the future of the web is more stuff that goes in the browser—you’re wrong! The browser is a great way to reach almost everyone today…but it’s a compromise to communication (both aesthetically and technically). The connection to the web will be much more transparent. As proof look at QuickTime 4’s player (with the "favorites drawer"), the RealAudio player, the new Shockwave Remote and Shock Machine from Macromedia, as well as a large selection of custom applications (like the ones I presented to the IPN). The challenge with this topic, I find, is that people don’t think it’s on the web unless it’s in a browser. My presentation disproved that notion. In addition I introduced some of the tools which provide creative solutions.

Flash 4 (www.macromedia.com/software/flash/)
Woo woo woo! Someone on the beta listserve said they thought Flash 4 was really more like a 3.5—what an idiot! This is the biggest upgrade in any software that I can remember. Probably an even bigger deal than version 3 of Photoshop (layers). Flash 4 has every feature you could think of, plus, enhancements to the interface.
Here’s the lowdown on the stuff I think is important: a scripting language (no, it’s not called "Flingo") "action scripts" which include variables and access to properties (like X Position); drag actions; hierarchical folders for organizing your library; getURL and LoadMovie which work in the stand-alone projector; LoadMovie into specific locations (or to replace movieClips), instead of the old way registration (or no registration); "live keyframing"—that is, you can modify a symbol inside a tween span and a keyframe is added; a great interface design clearly identifying the hierarchy of movie clips in movie clips; and a dock-able timeline. Now for the biggies: editable text (with scripting control) plus form POST and GET commands! Also, a big deal: Audio. "Scrubbing" and synchronized audio in the timeline (visible wave forms, too) and when you export your movie, MP3 compression is available! But wait, there’s more! "Lines to fills" converts your lines to all-fill, soften, expand…and a better inspector. Aftershock is gone, the menu option "publish" steps you through all the same settings—plus, you can create projectors for both Mac and Windows from either platform. On top of all this, QuickTime support (see QuickTime 4 on right). Whew! Just go buy this software the day it’s available if not earlier!

Print-O-Matic 1.6 (www.printomatic.com) A pretty common Xtra, I know, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I used it extensively to print high-resolution EPS files (see Projects, above)—it’s been working great! Also, it’s now "safe for Shockwave".

The Ultimate Authorware Attain Tutorial
(www.springer.de/cgi-bin/search_book.pl?isbn=3-540-64123-8 if you don’t like the achtung message, search for "Authorware" at Amazon. ) I’ve only read parts of it… and it looks good so far. It’s not the thickest book ever printed—but it’s written by several people who know Authorware—including Wade Wells and Joe McGuire from "The Media Shoppe", "Mr Multimedia" Joe Ganci, Stephan van As, Dr. Richard Schifman the main author in Germany—and me! Not only do multiple authors mean the book is produced quickly, it means you get multiple perspectives on the subject. A CDROM with sample files is also included. It will be published sometime in July 1999.

QuickTime 4 with Flash 4
The QuickTime 4 support is confusing. Basically, QuickTime 4 media layers support .swf media. It’s interactive too… so you could add an existing .swf file to a QuickTime movie (with QuickTime Pro). If it’s semitransparent or has stop/play actions it all works on top of the QuickTime! Of course the beta of QuickTime only supports .swf version 3 files. Now, for the super cool deal. You can author this combined QuickTime with Flash layer inside Flash 4. The catch, you can only export QuickTime files. Also, the audio channel is not audible during authoring. Finally, there’s a plugin which should arrive soon, to extend the Flash "action script" language…giving access to other properties of the QuickTime movie (much more than simply stop/play). The only downer is that QTVR doesn’t appear to be supported—it might work, but there’s some problems. My theory is there’s a conflict as to "who gets the mouse clicks"—Flash or QTVR?
(Here’s some interesting interface reading: www.iarchitect.com/qtime.htm)

The items with asterisks* were only demonstrated—and may never be included in actual products…I’ve included them because I think they’re cool enough to actually happen.

Authorware. From the people who brought you the watch cursor which spun at a million miles an hour in the Mac Authorware 3 start up, now… get ready… scroll bars* in Authorware! (It’s about time.) If that was it, the UCON would have been a big waste—there was more. I was happy to see Authorware promoted to a more prominent position… but the only new stuff I recall was how version 5.1 (a free patch) will support QuickTime 4 and Flash 4. Also, there’s a new tool palette* similar to a library window but not tied to a particular file. Finally, they showed some Xtra to allow for "Director-like" animations* (don’t ask me how it works, they just showed it briefly).

If Authorware is the neglected step-child, Flash is the darling. One announcement was a "free" license for the Flash player (not just the file format which has already been published). Besides the demonstration of .swf files playing on a Palm V*, they suggested .swf files would soon play everywhere including your microwave. (This is true!)

Fireworks 2 is a pretty cool program that’s getting better. A new feature might be browser previews* without launching the browser. And .swf (pronounced "swif") file export from Fireworks*. In a much more confirmed way, they announced an architecture for extended scripts and objects for Fireworks written by users in JavaScript. Talking about JavaScript… it seems that’s the de facto language for Macromedia. Dreamweaver objects already support it… and a new sprite Xtra* for Director executes JavaScript within Director! (Maybe my presentation will convince a lot of people as to the value of learning JavaScript.)

Dreamweaver. The import of .csv files directly into tables seems so useful, I can’t imagine it won’t be available soon… but this was during the "sneak peeks". They showed generator previewing* within Dreamweaver. And more Attain ‘objects’ which will work directly in Dreamweaver 2 (instead of the goofy idea of two versions of the product).

As Macromedia morphs into an entertainment company, they’re introducing a new vocabulary: persistent presence (which your Shockwave sites will achieve via the Shockwave Remote), sticky websites (maybe it’s not their word, but I like it anyway), viral marketing (to describe how software spreads)… and branding which, of course, is nothing new—but what’s amazing to me is that Macromedia want’s to associate themselves with South Park! One thing that struck me as profound was that the "shockwave.com" folks are predicting a new "killer brand" will emerge in the next several months—let’s hope it’s something more interesting than a rude cartoon.
The direction of Macromedia is clear… they see the CDROM technology as the future mass medium… oh, wait, CDROM is dead—I forgot. No, the direction is da web stupid. Targeting users is a good idea, they’ve got a new site. The old shockrave.com is going to be shockwave.com. If you include the ‘swRemote’ tag in your websites, users with Shockwave 7.0.2 will see a controller allowing pause/restart… as well as a "save local" feature for playback anytime (even while offline). As soon as they try to save the 6th file, an "upsell" message will try to pry $20-$30 from their wallet for a Director-made "Shock Machine". It’s simply a browserless web application which saves Shockwave (and Flash) media. The carousel interface is nice for organization and includes other features—like zoom (for Flash) and pixel doubling (for Director). It’s not bad, but my first impression is 1, let me change the interface… and 2, why would anyone pay for this? (Then again, I didn’t conduct the marketing tests.) The Shockwave Remote can be customized by loading "skins" which is simply the graphics and sound effects… along with an html image map (to specify hot-spot coordinates). Try on your own "Phillip Skin" from my site coming soon!

Director 7.0.2 was just released and already includes one fancy feature.
(window "windowName").windowType=member("mask") will reshape a MIAW to the shape of a 1-bit cast member! (RavWare has a similar product Window Shaper which does a bit more—including reshaping a projector’s window… and it works during authoring—www.ravware.com) The stability of 7.0.2 is much better—hundreds of bugs fixed (including a few I reported). There’s a new multiple user server. New properties and handlers: the blendlevel(0..255)… getPixel and setPixel(member("x"),h,v,color)… bitAnd()… plus, the DirectSound Xtra is here!

Director 7 Maybe I should call this a non-tip… the best tip I can give you is use the new features. Most significantly, the Lingo dot-syntax. The same basic concept works for lists as well, say you want to retrieve a value from "aList" which looks like this:
[[#userName: [#first: "Phillip", #last: "Kerman"]]]
You could get the first name of the user in spot 1 with:
getAProp(getAProp(getat(aList,1),#userName),#first)
But a much more lucid way (which works in Authorware or Director):
aList[1][#userName][#first]
Besides saving you time, you’ll be better positioned to meld into JavaScript (which appears to be the direction of Macromedia).

Flash Most of these tips are obvious once you know them… and many came from my students. View>Work Area in order to move items off stage. Ctrl-drag a keyframe to move it. After changing a value in the inspector, click "enter" on the number pad to apply the value (enhanced in version 4). Onion skin "edit multiple frames" to move an entire frame-by-frame animation to a new location. The eye-dropper picks up more than just color—it samples other attributes as well. Finally, from the "Optimizing Flash" session: don’t compress sounds or bitmaps (jpgs) before importing (let Flash do the compression), Fills display faster than lines, ungrouping is smaller (if there was a lot of overlap) but larger if many more intersections were created. "Create size report" to judge each change you attempt. Oh, here’s my all-time favorite tip: