Tag Archives: Myth

Tech Tips: Compress Transparent PNGs with Flash

Do you use transparent PNGs in Flash, Flex or AIR? Want to cut your application file size in half?

Problem:
Embedding transparent PNGs dramatically increases the size of your Flash, Flex and AIR applications. Photoshop and Fireworks dot not have any compression available for transparent PNGs (that I am aware of).

Solution:
Import your PNGs into Flash, give them a linkage id, and export the file as a SWF. Make sure to set your compression level in the publish settings (default is 80%). Using this method, I was able to cut the file size in half for a number of applications.
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Tech Tuesday: Skinning Flex Components – Part 1: CSS

This will be a three part series on skinning Flex components. For part one I have chosen to dissolve the myth that Flex 3 can’t truly cascade styles. This three part series will start simple and get more complex with each post. You can use this code to mimic descendant selectors, dimensioning and multiple class names within Flex.

Problem:
Flex can’t do true cascading styles like HTML (for example a black play button)

Solution:
YES, flex can do cascading styles. It just requires a different approach. A programmatic approach. Don’t worry, I assure you that even a non-programmer can pick this one up.

Lets dive a little deeper. Cascading styles refers to the ability to start with a button, style it into a black button then go a step further and make it a play button. First, create a button and use some CSS to style various properties of that button.
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