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hi geeks
I have a website wid a flash file(.swf) as the homepage. The size of the file is around 4 mb which makes it difficult for computers having a slow internet connection to open it quickly.
So, I wanted to reduce the size of the file, so as to get a file of same format(swf) and the quality is also remains acceptable!!
Any ideas?
thnx
In many cases even people with a fast internet connection would not want to wait around for a 4mb file to load unless they *really* want to see it.Quote:
The size of the file is around 4 mb which makes it difficult for computers having a slow internet connection to open it quickly.
There are several options...
1 - have a normal front page that warns the user about the file size. At least they can then make an informed decision about weather to wait or not.
2 - split the file into smaller chunks or 'chapters', each of which loads after the previous one.
3 - use actionscript to tell the flash file when to load particular media. This would be my choice as you can have a simple, quick loading animation playing while the more heavy media is loading in the background, thus keeping the user interested and making the loading process almost invisible.
Of course, with this method you would have to be able to loop certain parts untill the next part has loaded completly. Slightly more complex (and more planning) but MUCH more effective.
Also, it is worth checking your compression settings for your different media - go to file->publish setting and look under the flash tab at the jpeg quality, audio stream and audio even settings. Incertain cases adjusting these can reduce your file size considerably (just be careful about quality loss).
Hope this helps.
omin
considering the above thread, I have worked upon the site and the flash file!
I reduced the size of all the images included in the flash file and it made quite a difference. The size now is 1.8 Mb.
I tried using the flash optimizer software....but the resultant file has some different extension then swf and also it didnt made much of a difference to the size.
Now, I plan in adding a page warning the user abt the size.
Are there any other technical processes, that can be done to reduce the flash file size. Remember, it has many images and a music file with it.
Can we further optimise it??
Quote:
I reduced the size of all the images included in the flash file
Do you mean the size (in pixels) or did you adjust the compression settings? Both of these will help - it can be quite an art finding the balance between small file size and great quality.
You also did not mention weather you have tried to adjust the audio compression settings or not.
Depending on the exact nature of your swf presentation there may be other ways in which you can reduce the file size. Can any of your graphics be stored as vector images rather than bitmap images (this will help)?
You can delay the loading of certain media until just before it is needed (ie for images that don't appear until the end, etc). While this does not reduce the filesize it DOES make it a lot quicker to load.
omin
I reduced the pixel size....and I was a bit impressed, that the quality wasnt reduced much!
Also, than I looked at the animation in there, reduced the unnecessary transistion motions and then reduced that audio thru compression(thnx omin)!!
Now, the size of the file is 551 kb!! I think thats enough(actually, its way too enough) even for slower connections. whatcha say?