Mobile Newbie Question

[digitalhecht]

Hi All,
I'm sure like many of us here, I will soon be dveloping content for mobile devices. My question for starters is: How does a user get directed to Flash mobile content? Is it just a matter of having links to that content on your gateway (html) page? Thanks.
E

[Markp.com]

Say again??? I'm not sure what you're asking... how to embed flash content in html pages for mobiles?

Generally mobiles have flashlite, which is so sloooooooooow that its reccomended you run the swf on the phone rather than via a browser (mainly because the phone has more memory/processing power to run when not running a browser as well)...

Anyway, rephrase your question and I'll get back to you if I can help

[digitalhecht]

I guess when it came to Flash content for mobile devices, I assumed that such content is always viewed in a browser on a mobile device. So my first thought was that authors need to have a gateway page with a link to their main website and a link to the "mobile-friendly" site (i.e. a small GUI authored in Flash Lite with small pixel dimensions like 300x200). It sounds like what you may be saying is that when we speak of "developing Flash content for mobile devices", it means developing content which is pre-installed on such devices (?)

[SlapDash]

Say again??? I'm not sure what you're asking... how to embed flash content in html pages for mobiles?

Generally mobiles have flashlite, which is so sloooooooooow that its reccomended you run the swf on the phone rather than via a browser (mainly because the phone has more memory/processing power to run when not running a browser as well)...

Anyway, rephrase your question and I'll get back to you if I can help

I think maybe the question is how do he get the standalone SWF onto the user's phone.

[Wheels]

If the end client is a phone, you will likely be creating FlashLite Content - or a projector that needs to be downloaded to the user's system or viewed through a plugin on the client's phone.

If it's a PocketPC with a browser, they may be able to view browser type content (depending on plugin availability) Or, you may create StandAlone Flash projectors that must be downloaded to the phone or PPC - again, depending on the system capabilities.

If you are serious about creating content for mobile, figure out what your phone supports and then build some test content - most likely Flash Lite. Check the mobile developers section of the Macromedia site for more details.

Good luck.

[hp3]

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How does a user get directed to Flash mobile content?
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The means for an end user to obtain your Flash mobile content depends upon the device the user owns.

Some Flash enabled devices have a network connection (phones and Wi-Fi PDAs) and some do not (like digital audio players and older non Wi-Fi/bluetooth PDAs).

So, in some cases, users will find your content online, at a "shareware" site like Handago, using a desktop PC and download and install to their handheld device through the desktop PC. This is the likely approach for PocketPC and other consumer electronic devices like the U10 digital audio player (probably more coming in the future)

In other cases, the end user will obtain your content directly through the device's network connection. For some phones, Flash Lite is integrated into the web browser and for others Flash Lite is a stand alone player, not integrated with the browser. So they way user's obtain content for phones may vary.

(As you can see there is a certain amount of variability with the way users can obtain Flash mobile content).

You can certainly build a mobile phone friendly web site to facilitate viewing and downloading of your Flash Lite content. More likely though, if you are going to distribute phone oriented content, you will do so through a relationship with a network operator, or a distribution service/system like Nokia's Preminet or BREW. Doing it on your own is not efficient because people will not likely look at your site for content.

Perhaps you should consider developing some content first, as Wheels suggests, then make a Flash mobile "gallery/portfolio" section in your conventional web site (intended for desktop browsers) so interested parties have a way to preview your content. Most of the folks who have Flash Lite content are taking this approach, and they do not make the SWF available online, only on request from legitimate parties.

Look at www.blueskynorth.com for an example.