Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
that
s exactly what should be set up on the dev server. Because
this is the first place you
'
ll be able to tie your Flash work in
withthebackend,thisareashouldbethoughtofasyourdevelop-
ment team
'
s own private sandbox. Anyone looking at the site on
this server should most likely expect bugs and glitches right up
until the end of the project.
Although accessing data that resides on the dev server is com-
pletely possible from your local computer, you should also be sure
to test your Flash movies from the server as well. Because the
development environment is set up to mimic the live site, it
'
san
excellent source for discovery and problem solving. You may find
the occasional issues that arise only after you move your files to a
server, and you
'
'
ll be able to solve those problems before the site
goes live.
Staging Environment
The staging environment should also be set up to mimic the
live site. Because the backend languages, databases, server soft-
ware, and anything else that may be specific to the site are all the
same as the dev server, you can simply move your files over once
they are ready to be tested by quality control and viewed for
internal approval. You can think of the staging environment like a
rehearsal of sorts where your site is practicing to perform for the
world.
Conclusion
As you can see from this chapter, there are a few similarities
betweenbuildingabannerandbuildingamicrosite.However,
there are also many differences like menus, pages, deep linking,
and so on. A big part of either project is planning. Without a good
plan, your site can very easily start to spin out of control and be
hardtogetbackontrack.Onceyouhaveaplaninplace,youcan
start collecting assets you
tforget
about the fonts your artist used in the layout). Something else I
talked about in this chapter was standardizing your projects by
means of naming conventions used for your files, objects in Flash,
code,andsoon.Havingyourfilesandcodesetupinsuchaway
that it is completely understandable and reusable is very impor-
tant because it makes projects run a lot more smoothly. After the
standards, I went into the topic of the HTML page that houses
your Flash files and the site behind the site that allows users with-
out Flash to still access the information they are trying to reach.
Additionally, I talked a bit about deep linking into your Flash
movie, gave a couple of quick options on how to do so, and a
'
ll need to build the site (don
'
