Co-ordinate Your Flash Site

The Coordinative Task

Say, for instance, the Website loads and the user clicks one of the main navigation buttons. As they expect, the button displays its submenus:

And, as the user rolls over each one of the submenu items, the text for that item highlights and an image is displayed in the main "display area" -- an image that visually conveys the main idea of the current (rolled-over) item.

Then (since we've all got these really intelligent users) -- with the first menu still in its "down" position, but without selecting anything from its submenu -- the user decides to click a second navigation button, one which comes with its own menus and (you guessed it) an image that would effectively cover the same display area:

Well, if the two buttons are modularized (which is to say they exist as separate .swfs) -- and are not coordinated -- both sub-menus and/or background images will be displayed on top of one another, rendering both buttons ineffective:

Enough!

For some projects, this may produce the desired effect(s). But, if that's not quite what you had in mind, you may want to read further.

Though I've learned a lot about Flash by modularizing my Website, I've learned twice as much by taking the time to coordinate the buttons and other routines I had so happily dismantled. After all, what good is a movie that loads quickly and is easy to repair if it doesn't operate as expected? Not much.