It seems that every page you visit on the Web uses Flash in some way or another — whether it’s an intro movie, or groovy buttons, Flash is everywhere. But if you don’t have Flash, does that mean you can’t use this facility? Do you have Dreamweaver 4? If you answered ‘yes’, then you’re set! Dreamweaver 4 gives you the tools to quickly add simple Flash movies directly to your Web pages.

Dreamweaver 4 comes with two handy tools: Flash Text and Flash Buttons, both of which allow you to add Flash to your pages very easily. There’s no need to mess around arranging or creating the designs — they’re all built in.

The “New Search” button is created with Dreamweaver 4’s Flash Text Tool

Flash Text

As you might expect from Macromedia, the addition of Flash Text and Buttons to your Web page is very easy. All the controls that manage this process appear in the Objects panel below. The default panel is Common Objects. If you don’t see this panel, select the arrow in the top right hand corner of the Objects panel and choose “Common” from the drop down list.

The Flash Text and Flash Button objects are located on the Common Objects Panel

First, we’ll explore the Flash Text feature. Open a new page and save it as FlashText.htm Note: you must first save a page before adding Flash Text and Flash Buttons.