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Subject:RE: Flash for the tech writer From:"Daniel Hall" <misterhall -at- prodigy -dot- net> To:"Techwr-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 18 May 2000 22:24:52 -0700
Darren:
I use Flash extensively - because creating web content is part of my job. If
you are involved in the creation of HTML, there's your justification right
there: Flash is cutting edge stuff, and can help you to produce a site with
great interactivity and "flash." <g>
However, if you're not actually doing web development, or you aren't doing
much with HTML, I can suggest another helpful idea: animated tutorials. I
have had some success with this - the user calls up a HTML page which not
only displays the appropriate dialog box for the action they need to take,
but shows an animated mouse cursor selecting the appropriate radio buttons,
etc., and clicking the "apply" (or whatever) button. My users love this,
because many are technophobes, and seeing exactly what they need to do can
ease fears of failure. Because Flash is vector based, the file size is
fairly small - the normal size bitmap for the screen shot, plus a few vector
objects and keyframes. I find them to be about 15% larger than a bitmap
alone.
Finally, tell the decision makers - it's just too cool to pass up.
