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Changing text in flash template
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Super Admin
 
By Super Admin
Published on 05/6/2008
 
In this lesson we will show how to change texts in flash website templates     

changing text in flash templates
To make a Flash template your company needs, you have to change the relative text such as the contact information in the following illustration. I will let you know how easy this could be by walking you through the following steps.

When the FLA file opens in Flash, locate the text that you wish to change. To do this, drag the Playhead (the small pink rectangle) at the top of the Timeline to the right until you see the text on the stage. Select the text on the stage by clicking once on it with Selection Tool. A thin blue border appears around the text when it is selected. Double click this text until you get typing cursor in it. Then just type your own text instead of original one.

Edit Text

Sometimes, it is hard to access symbols containing text from the timeline for that some of Flash headers may include some powerful animation effect. The easiest and most reliable way to locate elements in Flash is to use Library. The Library panel is to store all the symbols in the current document. I show you Library here:

Library Panel

To open Library you can use "Ctrl + L" hotkey or choose Window > Library... from the top menu.

Browse the Library to find symbol which contains text you want to modify. You can see symbol's appearance in the preview window at the top of Library panel. If you are unable to see text, for some reasons, try to change movie background to non white. Because white colored text on white background is invisible. To do it, choose Modify > Document... from the top menu and change background color in popup window.

When you find symbol which contains the text you want to change, double click symbol icon to show text symbol in main workspace window. Then just double click text with Selection Tool or single click it with Text Tool to edit text.

You have wide choice of attributes able to modify while editing text in Macromedia Flash. All that options are accessible from the properties panel at the bottom of Macromedia Flash workspace. If you can't see this panel for any reason you can open it by pressing "Ctrl + F3" hotkey.

Text Properties

To modify text color or font size just select text using Text Tool and go to Properties Panel to change appropriate option. You can find font family and size drop down list boxes, color select box and align icons there. Modify any of that options will update to selected text.

You may change to a different font as well, but be aware that if you choose a font other than the most common ones installed on the majority of PCs (Arial, Verdana, Tahoma and Times New Roman) there is a very good possibility that your text will not display as you wish it to for many viewers. 

To circumvent this, you may Break Apart your text so that it will no longer need a font that is installed on your viewers' computers to display correctly.  However, once text is Broken Apart you may no longer edit it with the text tool, that is to say, you can not retype over it to change what it says. 

To Break Apart text, first select it on the stage with the black arrow tool, then choose Modify > Break Apart from Flash's top menu (or Ctrl+B on your keyboard).  Now each letter of your words has a blue bounding-box:

Break Apart Text

Then, Break Apart one more time. Your text will be filled with a white dotted pattern. The Properties Panel will reflect that your words are no longer considered text, but a Shape in Flash and it will not require the font to be installed on your viewer's computer in order to be displayed correctly.

Break Apart Text Again

When you finish editing of the text block, press "Esc" key to quit editing mode. Now you can repeat operations described above to edit other text blocks.

Now, if you finish your modification, it's time to publish your Flash movie. Here with detailed instructions and tips about it.