One More Question....

What kind of software do you use to make a .swf file? Should it be on my computer? What would it be called? And where would I find it?

Okay, now, I'm out for the night. I swear.
Mare

I use this one but I don't recall downloading it from this site. I didn't buy it so I probably don't have all of the features.

www.flashslider.com

There are lots of programs available to make flash files. If you want to use the original program it's called Macromedia Flash (hence the flash name). It's uber-expensive but is the format all other programs create. There are both free and low cost programs available too. Check Google for Flash creators and see what comes up. It's a very popular format these days so it should be easy to find a creator to use.

Thanks, Jason and Matt.

here is one
http://flash.dvd-photo-slideshow.com/flash_gallary/flash_creator.php

I downloaded the flash maker and played around with it.
I was able to create a flash in about 20 min and was able to upload it to my web site as a flash intro easily. Total time 1/2hr

So I can reccomend it.

You will have to buy it to get rid of their logo at the end of the show.

Jim

Matt & Maralee
I talked to Website Tonight, as we use them also for our web page, and we cannot imbed shockwave files with WS-T. The tech support guy I talked to said we would have to to go to a different program like MS Front page to do shockwave files in our web pages.

Jim

I recently downloaded a visual web design program from Coffee Cup and I like it so far. It will allow you put in Flash files as well as flash movies (like on youtube without the Youtube link). I am going to use it to redo Rocky's website - again. You can see what I have so far if you go to Rocky's webpage. I don't have any flash movies in there yet because I was having trouble with their video converter. I may have a solution to that I will play with it again tonight.

Jason,
What program are you using to build your site
We use Web Site tonight, and since it is a template program it won't allow us to do things like flash, so I am starting to look for another CHEAP program to use.
Jim

I am using a demo version of Coffee Cup Visual Web Designer. So far I like it but it takes some getting used to. It's more like using Power Point than using most page based programs. I was using FrontPage but I felt I was too limited on how I could make the layout (or I was too lazy to figure out how to make it the way I wanted). VWD is cheap as far as web designers go at $49. The company also has other programs that look promising for use in making the website even better. I am using a program from AVS4You.com to make the flash movies on our video page. It's just me wanting to host the content of my site instead of YouTube. Both AVS4You.com and CoffeeCup.com have some great programs and all offer free trials with full working versions.

We are using website tonight and it is a very cheap program to use for the casual web designer. It allows us to use flash intros, create full web photo albums up to 200 pictures an album, host movies, and even create a full forum. I believe I purchased my domain name and hosting for like 40 dollars. Then it just takes a lot of time!!

Also if any of you have a Mac you can use I Web which is a standard program on Mac's and it allows you to create the website using your own software so you don't have to do everything on the web. Also if you have a mac and have a dot mac account they have free hosting!! Just an idea. Thats why macs are the way to go. We use ours all the time.

I had FrontPage from Office 2000 years ago and used that as a basic web design program. You can do a lot with it but I like visual web design programs better. FrontPage is more like making a Word document and the constraints that go along with it. I bought my domain(s) - yes, I have more than one and NO I'm not a geek... - from Godaddy.com as they have the best domain/hosting packages. I didn't use Website Tonight because I already had been using FrontPage and was comfortable with it. I have heard good things about WST as well. I am experimenting with other programs now. So far I like the Coffee Cup Visual Web Designer the best. Once you figure it out, it's really easy to use. I can do just about anything with it pretty easily. The tech support has been pretty good so far too, considering I haven't actually purchased anything from them yet. I am also pretty impressed with the ease of use with both the Coffee Cup software and the AVS programs I am using to convert video to flash for posting on my website. AVS is mostly a media conversion specialty software company. You can get programs to convert from just about any format to just about any other format. Pretty cool if you want to post iPod friendly videos along with your normal ones. But, like I said, I am still playing and evaluating.

Hi Jim,

Right now I'm using iWeb for my site but it is pretty limiting right now for me.

Check out www.joomla.org this is a free opensource website design management program and it looks like I will start using it soon. I'm really excited about using it.

I dowloaded a demo of Coffe Cup and am playing with it. I will give Joomla a look
Jim