Design and Deploy web sites with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 1002004 and Contribute 3 training from the source [Electronic resources]

Chapter 6. Making the Most of FlashPaper

What You Will Learn

In this lesson, you will:

Learn how FlashPaper works

Prep Microsoft Office documents for FlashPaper

Create a FlashPaper slide show in Dreamweaver

Customize the FlashPaper viewer interface

Convert a document to PDF by using FlashPaper

Approximate Time

This lesson takes approximately one hour and 15 minutes to complete.

Lesson Files

Media Files:

None

Starting Files:

LessonFiles/Lesson_06/report/Financial Report.doc

LessonFiles/Lesson_06/report/financial_report

LessonFiles/Lesson_06/pr/fieldtrip_photos

LessonFiles/Lesson_06/images/fieldtrip/theBaby2.jpg

LessonFiles/Lesson_06/pr/releases/pr_fieldtrip

LessonFiles/Lesson_06/extensions/FlashPaperViewer.mxp

LessonFiles/Lesson_06/hr/info/employee_records

LessonFiles/Lesson_06/media/osha3110.swf

Completed Files:

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/report/Financial Report.doc

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/report/financial_report

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/report/financial_report.swf

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/report/financial_report.pdf

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/pr/releases/pr_fieldtrip

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/media/fieldtrip.swf

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/hr/info/employee_records

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/media/bg_emp_records.swf

FinalFiles/Lesson_06/media/pdfs/financial_report.pdf

In Lesson 5, you learned several methods for working with external documents. These methods basically boil down to two strategies: convert the content t119, or link to the file. The first approach is good for text-based documents with images and (to some degree) for spreadsheets; the linking technique is completely dependent on the programs available on the client machine. If the page visitor has a program capable of reading the file type, the file is downloaded, and the proper program is launched. If an installed program has made a plug-in or ActiveX control available for the browser, the plug-in is launchedtypically taking over the browser pageand the file is displayed. Although both techniques for handling external documents have their uses, they also leave a lot to be desired.

FlashPaper makes it easy for Dreamweaver designers and Contribute users to embed any kind of printable document directly in a Web page.

Although FlashPaper also requires a plug-in, the necessary Flash Player enjoys very wide market distribution and is essentially ubiquitous. The use of a single plug-in to view documents from many programs is perhaps the biggest advantage of FlashPaper. Because FlashPaper relies only on Flash Player, Web page visitors can view printable output from any programMicrosoft Project, AutoDesk's AutoCAD, or Intuit's Quicken, to name just a fewwithout the visitor's actually having the corresponding program. Moreover, Flash documents load almost instantly and are presented self-contained within the Web page. Both factors contribute to a more consistent Web experience.

FlashPaper installs alongside Contribute, which provides some advantages for the Macromedia Dreamweaver administrator. First, Contribute's own facility for converting any printable document to FlashPaper can easily be tested. Second, Dreamweaver developers can convert files to FlashPaper and then make them available for Contribute users as shared assets. This process adds a degree of control to the process, which some designers might find useful. Finally, FlashPaper 2 provides Windows users with a handy facility for saving converted files in PDF formatwithout requiring a separate program. All these advantages and more are explored in this lesson.