Flash Workspace

Create a Document
Creating a document is an easy task. You create a document in Flash just as you would in most graphics-based applications. You’ll get the most out of learning the Flash environment if you understand the different options available to you when you begin a new document.

Navigate the Start Page
When you launch the Flash 8 application, a three-column setup page appears, offering many different options. This page is known as the Start page. The Start page can be very helpful for beginners, as it provides you with several options, complete with a Flash tour, lessons, and help menus. The Start page on Flash 8 Basic and Flash 8 Professional will look similar, but the Professional version will have more developer-related options under the Create New column:

If you find the Start page annoying, check the Don’t Show Again box in the bottom-left corner of the Start page. You can also select more start options in the Preferences menu. To do this, select Edit | Preferences | General and then select an On Launch option in
the pop-up menu. On a Mac, select Flash (or Flash Professional) | Preferences | General and then select an On Launch option in the pop-up menu.

Here you can choose your next move by selecting an item from one of three categories:

Open a Recent Item This is used to open a Flash or Flash Player file that you recently worked on. Clicking the Open folder icon in this category displays the Open dialog box, shown next. Use the Open dialog box to navigate to the file you want to open. Highlight the file and click the Open button. This option can also be selected from the menu (File | Open).

■ Create New This option is used to begin a new document. It opens up a standard Flash page. This option can also be selected from the menu or with a keyboard shortcut (File | New or ctrl-n in Windows/cmd-n in Mac).

■ Create from Template In this column you can select from an extensive list of document styles, sized to suit your project and set up with preset properties. In the next section, you will learn how to work with templates in Flash. Templates are particularly helpful to designers who may not be familiar with the specifications of a project. The Open and New dialog boxes on the Mac and Windows platforms have a slightly different appearance, although they perform the same function. Unless noted otherwise, illustrations in this book represent Mac dialog boxes. You can also select Extend from the bottom right of the Start page. Listed under this option is Macromedia Flash Exchange. Clicking this link opens the Flash Exchange area of the Macromedia web site (http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/exchange/). Here you can browse for ready-made assets like buttons, sounds, navigation menus, components, and various assets that developers share with other Flash users. Some are free and others cost a small amount.