Prevent flash-menu from reloading when clicking a link...

[NfERnO]

Hi, I'm planning to rewrite my site ( link ) from scratch. Currently its layout is written using framesets; I'd like to get rid of those framesets, and use CSS instead as I find this way of working much cleaner.

The problem now is, how do I prevent my Flash-menu from reloading and displaying the intro-animation whenever I click a link. (As an example, found a site that has the same problem: link )

I already asked the very same question at another forum and this is what I've got so far:
- Use php such that the site can remember whether you've seen the intro animation of the flash menu or not... (Can't do much with this solution since my host does not provide php support.)
- Make the flash-menu store some kind of cookie at the client's computer. The Flash menu can now figure whether you've seen the intro animation of the menu or not.
- Just let the Flash-menu on the site's first page have the intro-animation; on all other pages you show the menu without the intro-animation.

All of these solutions already prevent the intro-animation when it should, but don't prevent the reloading of the Flash-menu each time you click a link. I wonder whether anyone here might have got a better idea?
, Tim

[pellepiano]

I would do the whole site in Flash. Makes for a much smother appearence when changing pages ( loading new sections into the mai Flash file ). You can even have nice transitions between the pages.
Thgere are lots of advantages with a Flash site. Use any font at any sizes, no tables or cells, things will stay where you put them. etc

[NfERnO]

Hmm that brings up other questions though... Can I still easily add a page to the site? Won't it suck up too much cpu power with all that anti-aliased text, or can I disable the anti-aliasing... Or might there be a way to embed html pages into a flash file?

[pellepiano]

Antialiasing will not be an issue cpu wise. Numerous animations with alpha is the main cause of cpu slow down in Flash.

Most Flash sites consists of a separate Flash file dor each section that is loaded into the mian interface only when needed. This is to save some initial download time and to make shure the user does not have to download anything he has not asked for.

You can add as many pages as you like.

All my sites works this way described above ( // example www.pellepiano.com www.music4media.se ) . I have added some other functions too. All text comes from a textfile on the server so I dont need to edit the flash files to change the content. My clients gets a administration page online where they can edit all text, that is then written to the textfile. Its very convenient as updates can be made from anywhere in the world.

Flash can not read regular html pages but understands html formatting for texts. From MX2004 and up textfields can also contain images as the IMG tag is now also supported.