Presented by Sarah O'Keefe at Documentation and Training West, May 6-9, 2008 in Vancouver, BC. Flash-based content lets you add with animation to your text and graphics. In this session, participants will see examples of Flash-developed content and a live demonstration of basic Flash development. Topics include: * Timeline * Keyframes * Tweening * And much more If you’re curious about Flash and want to find out what it’s all about, this is the session for you.

1. What technical communicators
need to know about Flash
Sarah O'Keefe
DocTrain West, May 2008
Vancouver

2. About the presenter
Principal, Scriptorium Publishing
Expert in XML, XSL, and similar technologies
Not an expert in Flash!

3. Agenda
What is Flash?
Adding Flash to your workflow
Flash demo

4. What is Flash?
Vector-based format for moving images
Adobe technology via Macromedia
Proprietary
.FLA for Flash development files
.SWF for compressed files

5. Putting Flash in context
Flex
Captivate
Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)
Camtasia
Silverlight

6. Where can I see Flash content?
98% of desktops and laptops have Flash Player
(says Adobe)
Web video
Web games
Gratuitous splash pages
Some mobile phones

7. Games
nickjr.com
luminosity.com
kongregate.com
and many, many more

8. Video
YouTube
Many major media sites

9. How might you use Flash in a
tech pubs workflow?
Quizzes
Video
Animation/simulation
e-Learning
Customized interface for content delivery

10. Quizzes
Polls
Reader feedback
e-Learning assessments
Branching support

11. Video
Talking head video
Instructional video

12. Animation/simulation
Explaining difficult concepts visually

13. Basic Flash concepts
Stage
Timeline
Keyframe
Symbols
Tweening
Publishing
ActionScript

14. Stage
The area on which your objects move around.

15. Timeline
The sequence in which events occur.

16. Keyframe
A frame where an object changes.

17. Symbols
Reusable objects.

18. Tweening
The process of generating the frames between
two object states to show a change.

19. Publishing
Generating output from the Flash development
environment, often as SWF.

20. ActionScript
The Flash scripting language, a variant of
JavaScript

21. Important notes
Flash is a time sink.
Animation can be surprisingly effective.
Consider localization costs.
Remember accessibility.
Captivate and similar tools offer limited
functionality but much faster development.

22. Are documentation and training
converging?
Classroom versus book
Interactive online training versus interactive
online documents

23. Visual communication
Difficult and time consuming
Effective
Will it displace text?

24. Challenges for Flash
Content silos
Integration with XML?
Proprietary
Mobile devices

25. Challenges for technical
communicators
Are you a visual thinker? (I'm not.)
Is Flash relevant to your content? Should it be?
How do you fit Flash development into the
project schedule?
What about localization?
What about accessibility?

26. Q&A

27. Contact information
Scriptorium Publishing
www.scriptorium.com
info@scriptorium.com
+919.481.2701 x105