How To

How to Create a Free Flash Intro Web Page

Contributor
By V. Imani
eHow Contributing Writer
(0 Ratings)

Adding a Flash intro web page to your website is an easy way to spruce up your site. A Flash intro can give your website a more modern feel that is difficult to achieve with regular HTML intro pages. While you can pay a website designer to create a flash intro for you, there are many online resources that will allow you to create it yourself without paying a cent. All it takes is a little time and effort.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
  1. Step 1

    Visit a website that offers free Flash intros for your web pages. Some sites that do allow you free access to intros are Flash Fair, Free Flash Intros and Free Flash Media (see links in Resources).

  2. Step 2

    Browse through the Flash intros available until you find one you like. Click the option to "Download" the flash intro to your computer. After downloading the intro, it will be saved as a ZIP file on your computer.

  3. Step 3

    Unpack the zip file by performing a right-click on the file. Select the option to "Extract" the files that are zipped. If your computer does not have a feature that allows you to unzip files, you can use software that is available on websites, such as HotScripts.com or WinZip.com.

  4. Step 4

    Open the Flash intro to customize it to your liking. Use a program such as Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe GoLive or Dreamweaver to edit your flash. Just click "File" from the menu bar of the program and open the unzipped file that has a SWF file extension. Customize the intro by performing tasks such as entering the text you like, adding music, graphics and choosing colors.

  5. Step 5

    Save the edited flash intro after you have finished customizing it. To do this, click File > Save As.

  6. Step 6

    Obtain a web hosting account that has FTP access. If you are looking for a free webhosting provider that allows FTP access, you can visit websites, such as FreeWebsites.com, TheFreeSite.com and Zymic.com.

  7. Step 7

    Open the FTP client on your computer. If you do not have an FTP client, download a free FTP client, such as FileZilla, CoreFTP, CoffeeCup or GoFTP. After opening your FTP client, you will be prompted to enter your FTP username and password. This information can be obtained from your web-hosting provider.

  8. Step 8

    Locate the SWF file on your computer that was saved in Step 5. You will be able to do this from the FTP client window. The window will consist of two panels. One panel will allow you to view your computer files. The other panel will allow you to see the online files for your website.

  9. Step 9

    Upload the SWF file to your website's "Public Directory" folder. To do this, use your mouse to drag the SWF file from your computer panel over into the website panel. Close out of the FTP program.

  10. Step 10

    Open your Internet browser. Log into your web hosting account. Access your "Public Directory" folder. Locate the "Index.html" file. Open the HTML editor for the file so that you can edit the page. The Index.html file is the first page that opens for your website. If you already have information on the first page of your site, rename the Index.html file to a different file name to avoid deleting your page information.

  11. Step 11

    Insert the following code inside of the HTML editor for the Index.html file, <object width="500" height="350"><param name="movie" value="yourfilenamefromstep5.swf"><embed src="yourfilenamefromstep5.swf" width="500" height="350"></embed></object>

    Edit the width and height specifications for the Flash movie player, if you like. It is also possible to add other optional attributes to your Flash movie (see link in References).

  12. Step 12

    Click the option to "Save" and "Publish" the new file. Your free Flash intro web page is now viewable on your website.

Subscribe

Post a Comment

Post a Comment

Related Ads

  • Have you done this? Click here to let us know.
I Did This
Get Free Internet Newsletters

Copyright © 1999-2010 eHow, Inc. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the eHow Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .   en-US † requires javascript

Demand Media
eHow_eHow Technology and Electronics