Publishing Flash Files

Flash 4 exports your Flash sites into .swf files. These .swf files need a "shell" to be viewed - a shell to control how the .swf file will react when viewed in an internet browser. This shell is usually HTML [HyperText Markup Language].

To export the Flash file is not a problem, the problem resides in creating the proper HTML code. Fortunately, Flash 4 has a built-in command called "Publish", that will help you with this. Here is a step by step tutorial on how to publish a typical Flash movie:

1. Click File > Publish Settings, or press CTRL + SHIFT + F12

2. Check at least Flash and HTML under the Formats tab.

3. Set your own values for sound and graphics in the Flash tab.

4. Select Flash Only (default) in the HTML tab. (We'll get to the other options later)

5. Click Publish.

Now the Flash page you've made will show up in your default internet browser, and the HTML code is generated by Flash 4.

Note: a program called Aftershock was bundled with Flash 3 to generate the HTML code, but now its functions have been included inside of Flash 4.

Well, now that you have published your page lets see how to make it compatible.