==================================================== PIXEL FONT SLIDE MENU v1 :: by Zachary Knight ==================================================== DESCRIPTION :: This drag-n-drop movie clip is a horizontal menu that slides back and forth in order to position the clicked selection next to an anchored "Home" button. *Since it only slides to whole pixels, it is perfect for using pixel fonts.* The speed of the sliding action even adjusts itself slightly so that farther buttons don't cause the menu to slide so much faster than closer ones. Sleek, compact, lightweight (10k), adjustable, dynamic, and ready for your project. *A SIMPLE XML FILE CONTROLS ::* * number of menu items * order of items * each menu item text * each menu item I.D. string (frame label, URL, etc) * each menu item "clicked" string (frame label, URL, etc) * text color * text "on" color * background color * item spacing * slide speed *OTHER FEATURES ::* * small file size * drag-n-drop convenience * descriptive naming of layers, Library items, and ActionScript variables * commented code * optimized graphics * ActionScripted behavior * will not choke slower systems *SWF STATS ::* * Dimension = resizeable * Published File Size = 10k * Frame Rate = 24fps * Flash Player Version(s) = 7, 8 * ActionScript Version = 2.0 * Authored In Version = Professional 8 * Fonts converted to vectors (broken apart) = none * Fonts embedded = FFF Homepage Bold * Font vendor(s) = FontsForFlash.com *FILES INCLUDED ::* * PixelSlideMenuV1__FP8_AS2.fla (Flash 8 authoring file) * PixelSlideMenuV1__FP8_AS2.swf (Flash 8 sample movie) * PixelSlideMenuV1__FP7_AS2.fla (Flash 7 authoring file) * PixelSlideMenuV1__FP7_AS2.swf (Flash 7 sample movie) * MENU_DATA.xml (xml template) * PixelSlideMenuV1__HELP.txt (this file) * PIXEL_FONT_HELP.txt (instruct + tips) * PixelSlideMenuV1__FP8_AS2__SAMPLE.fla * PixelSlideMenuV1__FP8_AS2__SAMPLE.swf --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO USE :: (1) Open your FLA file. (2) Open one of the "PixelSlideMenuV1" FLA files. Now you have both FLA files open. (3) In Flash, click the "New Library Panel" button. It is located on the top right of the Library panel (directly under the Library's menu button) and the icon depicts two blue documents with an arrow on top of them. (4) When the new panel opens, drag it to where you can also see the original Library. (5) Use the drop-down menus on both panels to make sure each has a different Library displayed. (6) Drag the entire "PixelSlideMenuV1" folder from one panel into your Library. (7) Close the floating Library panel, and the "PixelSlideMenuV1" FLA file. (8) Open the "PixelSlideMenuV1" folder in your Library, in which you will find a movieclip called "06__PixelSlideMenuV1__(AS)". This is the movieclip that you will drag onto the Stage. (9) Now add your pixel font to your project. See the "PIXEL_FONT_HELP.txt" file if you would like assistance. (10) Continue below to set up your data. (10) Place a copy of the folder named "DATA" into the same directory as your SWF file will be. (11) Inside you will find "MENU_DATA.xml"...open it in any text editor (Notepad, etc) (12) Modify the following attributes as needed... * BgColor="0x11111c" This is the overall color underneath the text and the shading gradient. Use "0x" plus a hex number..."0xff0000" would be red for example. * LinkOffColor="0x88888c" The color of the text when it is not selected. * LinkOnColor="0xffffff" The color of the text when it IS selected. * ItemSpacing="15" How many pixels between the text and the dividers? * SlideSpeed="1.5" How many seconds should it take to complete the slide? This will be slightly adjusted by the script. (13) Add your menu items...delete all but one of the "ITEM" nodes...a complete node looks like this... (14) Change the text that displays on the menu using the "NavText=" attribute. (15) Use the "Page=" and "Click=" attributes to provide selection info to the menu and then add (or uncomment) some code in Flash in order to take action with it. (One attribute will be necessary, the other is just an extra parameter in case you can use it.) EXAMPLE A :: If you want a clicked item to make the _root movie go to a frame labeled "About" you might use, Click="About", in the XML. Then in Flash you would open the "06__PixelSlideMenuV1__(AS)" mc for editing. In the first frame of the "--> SCRIPT" layer, you can uncomment line 43 which reads, "_parent.gotoAndStop(p_Click);" EXAMPLE B :: If you want a clicked item to open an HTML page named "AboutUs.html" you might use, Click="http://www.mysite.com/AboutUs.html", in the XML. Then in Flash you would open the "06__PixelSlideMenuV1__(AS)" mc for editing. In the first frame of the "--> SCRIPT" layer, you can uncomment line 44 which reads, "getURL(p_Click);" (14) Copy the node and paste additional nodes as needed. The order of the nodes from top to bottom is the order of the menu items from left to right. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you enjoy it! And please give it a rating when you have a moment. Zachary Knight :: Media Design ZacharyKnight.com ~ END ~