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Challenges with Flash

Posted by: Erin on 23 Apr 2008 @ 12:14 pm Category: Web Design

When starting a new project, it can often be daunting. I know, if I don't know how to fulfill every aspect of the task first up, then I start to feel uneasy.

I have currently been working on a Flash project that has definitely given me a challenge. Flash allows you to do such a variety of things, it is impossible to know how to do absolutely everything. Flash also allows several different ways to achieve the same result. Using purely action script (while it may take longer initially) usually produces a smoother result and it gives a much smaller file size! It is also good to use action script when working with larger projects, as other Flash options, such as tweening can become messy and hard to follow as the project grows. This is especially important if there are going to be other people working on the project, who need to be able to understand what the file does.

Now for actually creating the project. It is amazing that no matter how large a project is, it can become perfectly manageable when broken up into several smaller sections. This may seem glaringly obvious, but I have never realised this as much as I have with this particular project. By focusing on one smaller section at a time, I found that those seemingly large and unmanageable tasks were soon completed. I have been working on completing so many small tasks, that when I finally stepped back and took an overall look at the project, I realised that those large tasks I found daunting in the beginning, had actually been completed without me even really realising it.

That's not to say it was completely problem free, but Flash has a detailed help section that documents most functions, as well as providing example code, which comes in very handy. And when it comes to the logic in the code, it is amazing how much it helps to jot it out with pen and paper, or to work on something else for a while and come back and look at it with fresh eyes. However, there are some bugs within Flash can make you pull your hair out. An example of this was a piece of action script that had absolutely no reason not to work. It just did not make sense. After thinking I must have gone mental, I got so desperate that I copied my whole file and pasted it into a new Flash document. It worked perfectly. There are a several issues like this with Flash that just can not be explained (well not by myself, anyway).

So now the Flash project is at the stage where it has become exciting instead of daunting. The whole project is finally coming together with just several small, manageable, tasks remaining.

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