Preloader Properties Tab

The Slide Show Properties Preload Tab (shown below) enables, adds and configures a pre loader to the Flash published from the current slide show being edited.

Checking the Preload the slide show box as shown above will enable the selection of the Preload tab's tools. When this box is checked a preloader will be added to the Flash file published from the current show.

A preloader is code that that is added to a Flash (SWF) file that causes the Flash Player to load a specified percentage of your published slide show Flash file prior to beginning playback. The purpose of the preloader is to ensure smooth playback of larger SWFs for users on slower connections. In this way, users on slower speed connections such as dial up modems can view larger, higher quality Flash shows without buffering or the movie action stopping and starting. A properly preloaded Flash file will play smoothly throughout its entire presentation.

Selecting the Fixed button lets you choose the percentage of the SWF file to be "preloaded" prior to the beginning of play.

The higher the percentage the more of the SWF is loaded and the longer the viewer waits for the show to begin. This may serve a practical purpose besides annoyance. Checking the Show Title Page box will display the preloader with the Titl page as the background. The title page, we need not actually be displayed in the slide show, can be used to convey a messag, instruction, advertisement, etc to the user while the the Flash file is being loaded. Click Here for a demonstraion of a slide show using a preloader including a title page. The Preloader is configured with a title page, progress bar, text and is set to fixed 100%.

Since the percentage required to preload to insure smooth play is a funcion of the band width of the viewers system no one value will optimize results.

Selecting the Adaptive button uses an advanced feature of ImageMatics WD products. The preload time is computed at the beginning of the Flash file download.

When Adaptive is selected it determines the user's connection speed and based on that figure and the size and display attributes of the file you are preloading, it calculates preloads the exact amount of the Flash file required to enable the video portion to begin playing as soon as it possibly andl not stop or stutter at any time until it is complete.

Adaptive is the recomended setting. For small slide shows no preloading may be necessary.

A discussion of display options is continued by clicking here: Preloader Properties Continued