Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
The Bulk Is Up Front
IfyouplanonusingtheTextInput,you
ll also need to plan on it
using about 16k right up front. So if 16k is already taken out of the
30k you
'
re allowed in your specs, what happens when you need
more than one TextInput? This is where you can relax at least a
little and know that the initial hit was the hardest because each
additional TextInput after the first one adds a minuscule amount of
file size.
The reason for all the bulk up front is because components
are generally made up of several different pieces, which all get
placed in your library and built into your .swf. For example, when
you place one TextInput on the stage and then check your library,
you
'
ll notice a folder filled with assets for that component. However,
when you add the second TextInput,
those assets are already in the file, and
they don
'
t need to be added again. Since
theamountofaddedfilesizebythesub-
sequent TextInput is so small, it would be
safe to say that one TextInput is equal
to three TextInputs and that
'
'
salsoequal
to five TextInputs as far as that file size is
concerned.
So now that you know how much of
yourfilesizeisgoingtobeusedupby
components, you
'
ll quickly realize that
you don
thavemuchlefttousetoward
the design. This leads me back to the
design process of the banner; if you know
ahead of time that you
'
re going to need
to use any components, you can
'
tplan
too much animation involving the raster
images of the layout. One way to combat
this issue is to build your banners to be
served by a rich-media company, which
will be discussed in Chapter 6. Since run-
ning your ads from these companies
gives you more file size and the option of
loading child movies, you obviously won
'
t
have to worry as much about going over
the size listed in your specs. On the other
hand, you may not have the option of
using a rich-media company. In that
case, there
'
'
s the option of building your
own custom components, which may
actually be your only option in the case
of the ComboBox (Fig. 4.2).
Figure 4.2
Because of the size it ads to your .swf, Flash's
ComboBox may not be an option.
