THANK YOU and invitation for everybody.

**freshly** · 08-20-2005, 09:53 AM

Looks great man, maybe you should do a MAC platform now!

I would love to see that!

**NTD** · 08-20-2005, 10:04 AM

Hi,

I know it may seem like a little thing, but believe it or not, logos will draw the users attention, making you more memorable. Interactive logos, or eye candy, will draw even more interest. Your attention to detail is very good. Many users wont recognize the level of detail you have worked up, but any developers that view the site will. Very well done site

Regards
NTD

**greenham** · 08-20-2005, 10:33 AM

I certainly was not expecting such a great site from someone who at first, did not seem all that confident with their abilities. It really is something special and is an inspiration for all us other flash developers who are just starting off. (yes, I am probably giving myself a little too much credit by calling myself a developer yet.

)

A few suggestions I would like to make though, it is entirely up to you whether you take them on board or not. But your little guy in towards the bottom left corner, sort of sparkles every now and then, which looks really cool, but doesn't do anything on rollover. I would suggest you add just that little bit extra on rollover. (perhaps he could spin around) He just appears to be more than the background image, yet doesn't seem to serve much purpose. Just my opinion.

Also, another thing I noticed is on some menus, the time does not appear. I am not sure if you intended for it to only show on the main menu or not, but I liked the idea and would personally prefer it to be on every screen.

With your gallery, it apears that all your images are loaded in numerical order, whether the viewer wants to see them or not. I found it a little irritating that if I wanted to see the last image, I had to wait for the previous sixty eight images to load. Perhaps this is not the case, but it certainly feels like it and I am on an adsl connection, so it shouldn't normally take too long to load a single image.

Just something out of curiousity, how do you do the text effects on the stutus bar like you have? I like the effect very much.

**Thankful** · 08-20-2005, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by freshly

Looks great man, maybe you should do a MAC platform now!

I would love to see that!

Haha, who knows... maybe one day in the not so far future, maybe...

I keep wondering, your signature... is it something wrong with that flash code and it's showing wrong location, or maybe you made a mistake ? It says Toronto, and it shows way up... far north. See attach.. maybe it's just how I see it or something else, but certainly I wanted to ask you.

Take care my new friends !

NTD, you are 100% right. I would make that logo even better, it's just... lack of free room on the site

I know, we all have exactly the same problem, but what can we do ? Go with the flow...

Btw, what do you mean by "interactive logos" ? Maybe something like clickable links or just logos which will "react" somehow when you pass with your mouse over it ?

Yes I paid attention to all those details, sparks, blisses and stuff, but also I din't want to make it to crowded and to ruin the site... sometimes I think, even this is too much maybe... it kills me how transition effects like tweenings, alphas and some other things, are slowing down everything, but I know it requires a lot of processor's time, so it's kinda expected... I just wish I know Actionscript a little bit better or have enough time to play with it some more... I'm sure if you use AS instead of some "hand-made" animations, in many situations you can avoid some "jumpy" transitions, and also even more important, play them using different framerate...

Cheers !

**Thankful** · 08-20-2005, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by greenham

I certainly was not expecting such a great site from someone who at first, did not seem all that confident with their abilities. It really is something special and is an inspiration for all us other flash developers who are just starting off. (yes, I am probably giving myself a little too much credit by calling myself a developer yet.

)

A few suggestions I would like to make though, it is entirely up to you whether you take them on board or not. But your little guy in towards the bottom left corner, sort of sparkles every now and then, which looks really cool, but doesn't do anything on rollover. I would suggest you add just that little bit extra on rollover. (perhaps he could spin around) He just appears to be more than the background image, yet doesn't seem to serve much purpose. Just my opinion.

Also, another thing I noticed is on some menus, the time does not appear. I am not sure if you intended for it to only show on the main menu or not, but I liked the idea and would personally prefer it to be on every screen.

With your gallery, it apears that all your images are loaded in numerical order, whether the viewer wants to see them or not. I found it a little irritating that if I wanted to see the last image, I had to wait for the previous sixty eight images to load. Perhaps this is not the case, but it certainly feels like it and I am on an adsl connection, so it shouldn't normally take too long to load a single image.

Just something out of curiousity, how do you do the text effects on the stutus bar like you have? I like the effect very much.

Hello and thanks for your input...

Little man is actually my silhouette, and it's part of my desktop's wallpaper as well... inside the credits section I mentioned that I tried to make my page looking like my desktop as much as possible... although a "spinning me" sounds like a good idea...

Second thing you mentioned... time appears on each and every section. It's the part of the _root and it is not "removed" with any other MC since all of them are loaded into blank movie clip (I didn't use levels). I can make you screenshots for each page (that would be little too much for this forum, haha) to show you that I see TIME, no matter which section is active. Or... maybe you meant on something else ? Sorry if I misunderstood you

Yes that's the biggest problem with my GFX gallery... but I really liked that code and since I am terrible coder I used one of my friend's "gallery" examples... I really like those transitions, so I didn't want to go with some other photo slideshow examples at that point. Take a look inside my Flash Portfolio section, there is a page I did for Sign Production. See how I solved their Portfolio section. That's originally mine code, and it behaves much better than this one, but as I said I really liked this kind of transitions... maybe in the future I will try to change something about it... your suggestion sure is great ! Thanks !

Status bar text effect is just small piece of Javascript code... you put it inside your HTML and it works perfect... I'll see if I can find some spare time in next 30 minutes, and I'll post it here... ok ?

Cheers !

EDIT: OK here it is... just place it inside your BODY tags in your HTML and you are good to go my friend !

HTML Code:

<SCRIPT>
<!-- Hide from old browsers

  // Javascript for "running letters' in Status Bar (Internet Explorer)
  // step by step example
  // All you have to do is enter your text instead of existing one
  // DO NOT FORGET to add ^ sign at the end of each line
  // If you don't include ^ sign at the end of those lines, messages will not repeat (cycle)

  message     = "^" +
                "Welcome to my WEB site...^" +
                "I trully hope you'll find this site interesting...^" +
                "Recommended screen resolution: at least 1024 x 768 pixels or above...^" +
                "^" +
                "Flash/graphic design, site programming and music composition by me^" +
		"^" +
                "Please, enjoy your visit...^" +
                "© Copyright 2001-2005 Blah, blah, blah...^" +
                "^" +
                "^" +
                "^"
  scrollSpeed = 15
  lineDelay   = 2000

  // DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING BELOW, unles you know what you're doing //

  txt         = ""

  function scrollText(pos) {
    if (message.charAt(pos) != '^') {
      txt    = txt + message.charAt(pos)
      status = txt
      pauze  = scrollSpeed
    }
    else {
      pauze = lineDelay
      txt   = ""
      if (pos == message.length-1) pos = -1
    }
    pos++
    setTimeout("scrollText('"+pos+"')",pauze)
  }

  // Unhide -->
scrollText(0)
</SCRIPT>

**Lexicon** · 08-20-2005, 11:03 AM

Thankful by name, Thankful by nature.

This guy is the most thankful person in the world ever!

Great work, well done!

**Thankful** · 08-20-2005, 11:15 AM

Haha... you're funny my friend. Well, I think we all should act as great friends, respect each other, help each other... I came here to ask for help, and I received so much of your help people, that's just unbelievable... but also, I am here to help to others if I can somehow... my AS knowledge is limited, but from the design/graphic design point I'm sure I can be of some assistance to all those who needs help.

Thanks and I'm so glad I met you all !

P.S. Lexicon my friend... I believe you still remember when I asked you about those nice "brightness/color levels" transition... now you can see how I incorporated it into my web page... THANK YOU A MILLION. Entering sequence looks much, much better because you helped me with that one and also with some other things too... Also, some other people will recognize that elastic button effect... I also asked about that in this forum and I received an unbelievable amount of great responds and advices... just unbelievable helpful forum !

And Lexicon... your site always amazes me, no matter how many times I visit it in one day... wonderful clean transitions, fast, neat... right into the point. Great job pal !

Regards !

**Lexicon** · 08-20-2005, 11:20 AM

don't forget to add your website to your profile!

We're all one big Flashkit family here...

**Thankful** · 08-20-2005, 11:48 AM

No problem my friend... I just added my signature as you suggested...

The other day I was informed by the moderator that my banner was kinda too large, and forum policy is not to have a footer larger than 300x40... mine was way too large, and I'm using this occasion to appologize to everybody... I was stupid and didn't take enough time to notice that inside forum's policy...

I removed my banner completely because I had no time to play with resizing it, but this looks better now... and also, these pages will open faster for all those who are still on Dial-Up.

Cheers !

**NTD** · 08-20-2005, 08:41 PM

Hi,

Btw, what do you mean by "interactive logos" ? Maybe something like clickable links or just logos which will "react" somehow when you pass with your mouse over it ?

There are many many possibilities for creating a bit of interactive design in logos..... rollover..... timed events..... printable......dragable..... basically, anything the user can interact with that draws attention to the logo. Flash is easy to go overboard with animation and you do have to pick a stopping point, but branding is especially important for business or corporate designs and anything you can do to draw attention to a company name or logo is usually beneficial. It also depends on the company. Companies that are already well known..... Coke... Microsoft... etc.... are not as worried about branding or name recognition as a smaller company trying to earn a market share. If your an independent developer..... name recognition can be very important. If I have seen a really cool developers site.. but cant remember the name.... I generally forget about it rather quickly..... even if I bookmark the site.... although, that might just be my short attention span. Hmmm, I was going to say something very profound... but I forgot what it was.

Oh yea, I remember..... Actionscripted motion will reduce overall file size and increase speed compared to using lots of motion tweens. Ok, maybe not so profound,.... but a good tip.

keep on flashin

NTD

**Thankful** · 08-20-2005, 08:51 PM

Exactly, good point NTD... actually many good points.

Yes regarding Actionscript efficiency, I am well aware of that, but I just wish I have at least one third of your Actionscript knowledge... it's very hard to start especially 'cause I don't have too many contacts which are "flashers", but I'm trying to learn slowly as much as I can.

Tweenings... yes, I would avoid them every single time when it's possible to replace it with good Actionscript...

Regards !

P.S. Check my CREDITS section... I added your name (among the others) in my greetings list (under FlashKit part)

**NTD** · 08-20-2005, 09:02 PM

Thanks for the credit, but you have done all the work

If you need any actionscript pointers for motion or other, feel free to ask

I have a few demo movies and tutorials on my site that might be useful. I have been quite busy so I have not found time to really work my site over to really demonstrate the coolness of flash or the level of design that you accomplished with your site. There is a function page that contains a few functions that might be useful for manipulating movieclip properties with actionscript instead of tweens. Also, do a google search on the "Laco tween class". It can do some very dynamic things and is quite easy to employ.

Regards
NTD

**Thankful** · 08-20-2005, 09:19 PM

No problems and be sure I'll check those things you just suggested. Some friends are comming in about next 15 minutes, so I'm gonna log off now... I'll check those things tomorrow, that's for sure. Yes, that would make my animations much smoother and I believe smaller in physical size as well...

Well, we all miss something... either spare time, or GFX abilities, or Actionscript abilities... there are just few people that posses everything, I call them All-in-one... haha... I spent so much time in my life trying to be good in everything (although I know it's almost impossible), you can also hear some music samples on my site (I used to compose trance, chill-out music before), but graphic design was always my true love and addiction... it's not my profession, but sure I love it. I just wish I spent more time on improving my programming skills. I am soooooooo amazed when I see what you guys can do with your AS knowledge.. there is practically nothing you can't achieve... nothing... even when something seems impossible, there is alway some way to achieve it... this way or another...

Most important thing is - DO NOT GIVE UP... EVER !

Have a wonderful rest of the evening my friend and talk to you later !
Regards !
Sasha

EDIT: And regarding your name inside my CREDITS section... same thing I said to Lexicon... I am so honoured to have your names over there guys. Maybe it looks like nothing to you, just because for you people, helping others is completely normal thing... so you don't even notice how much you can actually change someone's point of view regarding some things... but for me, I'm just like that... can't help it... I appreciate every single comment you guys made. I don't care even if it sounded harsh or something (and it never sounded like that), I take everything just as constructive comment and a comment containing a great advice... that really helps, at least it helps to me to build a better site...

**Thankful** · 08-21-2005, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by greenham

.
..
...
A few suggestions I would like to make though, it is entirely up to you whether you take them on board or not. But your little guy in towards the bottom left corner, sort of sparkles every now and then, which looks really cool, but doesn't do anything on rollover. I would suggest you add just that little bit extra on rollover. (perhaps he could spin around) He just appears to be more than the background image, yet doesn't seem to serve much purpose. Just my opinion.
...
..
.

Hello forum pals !

I did some slight changes and as greenham suggested I "did something" with that little fella (actually it's my silhouette

).

Once you are inside the main scene (right after the initial brightness transition effect), try to rollover that silhouette... it slowly turns into light bluish silhouette (neon like), and try to click on it... you'll see the effect. I din't want to make anything too complex just to avoid turning that site into something funny with too many of unnecessary stuff on it... I made that simple animation just to bring that object to life a little bit... as greenham already mentioned in his reply...

Also regarding this comment greenham made:

Also, another thing I noticed is on some menus, the time does not appear. I am not sure if you intended for it to only show on the main menu or not, but I liked the idea and would personally prefer it to be on every screen.

I just checked all possible situations and CURRENT TIME appears in all sections, there is not even one that doesn't show the time. The only one that actually was without the time animation, was my GFX gallery. I didn't think anyone would want to see his current time while he is previewing 69 drawings inside the gallery, but... anyway I added it in GFX section as well... so now everything should be fine I guess... whoever wants to see the time, he/she can do that even if he is visiting my GFX gallery...

Actually it's your system's time, and if it's not set accurate on your system, it will show exactly as it shows in your system tray which doesn't necessarily needs to be current time in your timezone... so my Clock just represents your system time. If it's showing wrong time it's just because the visitor didn't set his system's time properly.

Cheers !

**Thankful** · 08-31-2005, 08:12 PM

Originally Posted by greenham

...
...
...With your gallery, it apears that all your images are loaded in numerical order, whether the viewer wants to see them or not. I found it a little irritating that if I wanted to see the last image, I had to wait for the previous sixty eight images to load. Perhaps this is not the case, but it certainly feels like it and I am on an adsl connection, so it shouldn't normally take too long to load a single image.
...
...
...

Ok I just completely changed the way pictures appear on the screen. Also, visitors don't have to wait for all 69 pictures to load if they want to see, let's say for example, last one... Now, each picture is being loaded into memory on-demand (only when recalled by visitor), and not before. Check my GFX gallery again please (link in my signature).

Also I added some music background + Sound ON/OFF button at the bottom (right) corner...

Thanks for suggestions !
Sasha

**ToddBeaz** · 11-09-2005, 03:50 PM

This site is excellent, i love the animations, transitions, everything! I had a few questions if you would allow me to pick your brain. First off, I am Johnny Anti-ActionScript and do things the horrible way with tweening!! But i am anxious to learn AS because it seems to make things work better and you wont have a movie cluttered with clips and sluggish tweens. With that being said:

1. How'd you get that nice background fade? It looks like the sky is fluidly morphing on the stage. Is that just two pngs and one fading out?

2. With AS, how did you make the elastic button work? Whenever I "code" it does whacky stuff. I just want a button to bounce up on rollOver and to spring up and down back into place on rollOut like what you have on that "enter site" button.

Like if i could view the AS you have on that button, that'd be awesome of you. I found some elastic type posts on here but I still can't get it right. When I saw your site, that button was exactly how i envisioned mine to act. Thanks in advance and I will definitely bookmark this site for inspiration!

**Thankful** · 11-09-2005, 05:39 PM

Thanks for your opinion, I appreciate it...

First of all to answer your first question... I am also not that good in Action Script, rather a beginner. Most of those animations I did exactly using simple or sometimes not that simple motion tweenings. You have to be aware that if you try to mix few tweenings at the same time, your animations will drastically slow down, so whenever you can, try to avoid executing more than two/three tweenings at the time, especially those more complex tweenings.

1.) I'm not quite sure which background effect are you reffering to... you mean right after leaving preloader page and entering the main page or you meant on those folating clouds in the background on the main scene ?

Those clouds are 32-bit PNGs with alpha channel, I made them best I could... and they just appears sometimes on the screen... nothing speacial really.

2.) As far as elastic button goes... here is a nice thread I started, and many of these wonderful people from Flash-kit answered and helped with their advices. Read it all the way through, and you'll find how simple it really is... of course, as always I needed someone to help me, but when you play with it long enough, you'll realize how logical everything inside that code really is.

Here is a link:
http://www.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?t=641571

Regards

**ToddBeaz** · 11-09-2005, 05:46 PM

Outstanding, I am going through this thread now. You seem to have the same questions I did, I wish I had found this thread earlier! In fact, NTD posted a reply for me in the same manner, I will have to use strict variables and use functions/hitTest and stuff for the rollover actions. It's funny b/c i was making the exact same errors you were. Thanks again, I'll let you know when i have it working!

Oh and i mean how the sky just appears, it kind of washes from White to the blue sky when you go into the main page. that was a very cool effect i'd like to know how you accomplished that, whether it is simple or not!

**Thankful** · 11-09-2005, 05:50 PM

Umgh... while I'm here, a little update... few days ago, I just addded a new sub-section on my web page. When you click on SOUND INFO button, among other things, a little MUSIC PLAYER button appears in the middle of the circled-menu (center of the screen).

My good friend Ronny, from Norway generously allowed me to upload all that stuff (more than 160 Mb of Mp3s originally composed and produced by me) on his server space. So my Mp3 player is hosted on his server... sometimes it can be pretty slow, so please be patient.

There are 21 songs in full length. It's a streaming player... enjoy !

Regards

EDIT: Here is a screenshot how that player looks like... it's a standard streaming player component for flash, and of course I redesigned it's GUI from the scratch... also, I removed some original features, and added some other...

**Thankful** · 11-09-2005, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by ToddBeaz

...
...
...

Oh and i mean how the sky just appears, it kind of washes from White to the blue sky when you go into the main page. that was a very cool effect i'd like to know how you accomplished that, whether it is simple or not!

Take a look in here... thread also started by me...

http://www.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?t=636137

Thread: THANK YOU and invitation for everybody.

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