Flash Site Design - Best practice for a site with a lot of images?

Author

Best practice for a site with a lot of images?

Rabel

2007-09-04, 6:15 pm

I am working on a site that will have over a hundred images and I wanted to see
what is the best practice for designing a site like this. Should a go with
xml(please give examples or explanation), a text file or just
loadMovie("image1project1.jpg", "bottomsec") with named external images that
will stay the same. Any help is appreciated on staying up to date with this
kind of site.

Thanks,
Randy

Gorka Ludlow

2007-09-05, 6:16 pm

You could load the file's names from an XML and then load them via the holder
component or loadMovie. By reading the names from the XML (you can give more
info on each file, such as comments, date, etc) you can easily add new files
and continue using the same flash file. Take a look into the XML object in
Flash help.

Cheers,
Gorka
http://www.AquiGorka.com

Rabel

2007-09-10, 6:15 pm

ok I am new please be nice - I think I want to set it up like this

<project1>
<section>Architecture</section>
<name>New Building for CREATiVENESS</name>
<comment>The major challenge to designing this new tower was the
site constraints a small 3 acre urban corner site. It is located adjacent to
a community center to facilitate extended use in the evenings and weekends for
the entire community.
</comment>
<thumb>thumbs/project1.jpg</thumb>
<img1>images/project1img1.jpg</img1>
<img2>images/project1img2.jpg</img2>
<img3>images/project1img3.jpg</img3>
<img4>images/project1img4.jpg</img4>
</project1>

<project2>
<section>Interiors</section>
<name>New Building for Me</name>
<comment>The major challenge to designing this new tower was the
site constraints a small 3 acre urban corner site. It is located adjacent to
a community center to facilitate extended use in the evenings and weekends for
the entire community.
</comment>
<thumb>thumbs/project2.jpg</thumb>
<img1>images/project2img1.jpg</img1>
<img2>images/project2img2.jpg</img2>
<img3>images/project2img3.jpg</img3>
<img4>images/project2img4.jpg</img4>
</project2>

<project3>
<section>Architecture</section>
<name>New Building for You</name>
<comment>The major challenge to designing this new tower was the
site constraints a small 3 acre urban corner site. It is located adjacent to
a community center to facilitate extended use in the evenings and weekends for
the entire community.
</comment>
<thumb>thumbs/project3.jpg</thumb>
<img1>images/project3img1.jpg</img1>
<img2>images/project3img2.jpg</img2>
<img3>images/project3img3.jpg</img3>
<img4>images/project3img4.jpg</img4>
</project3>

<project4>
<section>Interiors</section>
<name>New Building for that guy</name>
<comment>The major challenge to designing this new tower was the
site constraints a small 3 acre urban corner site. It is located adjacent to
a community center to facilitate extended use in the evenings and weekends for
the entire community.
</comment>
<thumb>thumbs/project4.jpg</thumb>
<img1>images/project4img1.jpg</img1>
<img2>images/project4img2.jpg</img2>
<img3>images/project4img3.jpg</img3>
<img4>images/project4img4.jpg</img4>
</project4>

but I am not sure of the way to create the way to run through it to find if it
is in a section to put it in the menu and then to call the images and text once
they are in a project area. I dont know if the

this.firstChild.nextSibling.childNodes[0].childNodes[2]

is the best way to call things in the file. Any help is appreciated. Please
let me know what are the best practices and easiest way to work with a large
xml file.

Thanks,
Randy

The Feldkircher

2007-09-10, 10:14 pm

Hi

Your XML looks fine although I would use <project id="1">, <project id="2">
etc etc
I would also you the XPathapi (Check Flash Help) to parse your nodes into
arrays, then its a simple case of choosing an item in an ordered list. One
thing to remember with XML is that your loading the content of the XML file,
its only when you make an explicit request does your image get loaded - ie
click of a button or a attachMovie or loadMovie is executed.

Hope it helps