Flash 8 Cookbook

Chapter 12. Creating Presentations and Slideshows

Presentations and slideshows are two common types of applications that people want to be able to create. Presentations are used at business meetings, demonstrations, and conferences; they allow the user to organize information and present it in a visual manner. Slideshows can be used in much the same manner, but typically a slideshow automatically advances from one slide to the next, whereas a presentation is controlled by the presenter. You can use a slideshow to allow clients to see images of products or to show off your vacation photos.

There are plenty of programs on the market that allow you create presentations and slideshows. For example, Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular product that is specifically for the purpose of creating presentations. And Adobe Acrobat allows you to create slideshows. So why would you want to use Flash to create presentations and/or slideshows? There are many good reasons why Flash can be a good choice for creating these types of applications, including these:

• Flash provides many more options for a richer-looking product. You can incorporate images, text, animations, and nice transitions without having to using extra programs or rely on a built-in, predefined set of clip art.

• Presumably, if you are reading this book, you already own a copy of Flash. You may or may not own a copy of another program for creating presentations and slideshows.

• The Flash player has a very large distribution. That means that ...