So far you have set the dimensions of the stage and placed the image that will be the background for your navigational links at the top of the stage. Now you will add some static text to the bottom of the stage. Static text is text that does not change. This text will be the copyright information.

In this tutorial we will import the image you plan to use as the background image for the navigational menu of your Flash website. We will place it on top of the stage by using the Flash Import feature. Later we will create the menu buttons that will go on top of this background menu image.

In this tutorial, we will begin creating your Flash website. We will start a new Flash document, also called a Flash movie, and set the document properties for this movie such as the width, height and background color.

The Flash based website that we will create during this series can be used as an online portfolio or catalog for a professional artist or crafter. Besides a copy of Flash MX 2004, you will also need a few other things; mockup of site, images and color scheme.

I've had several requests to do a series of articles about how to build a complete website with Flash. This series of articles will be about just that. But each article will be as independent as possible from the series for those of you who wish to add just one Flash component to an existing site.

This book will not teach you everything about Flash, but it will take you step-by-step through the process of making a web site with Flash. You will become familiar with most of the basic Flash tools and the Flash workspace.

At first glance the Macromedia Flash MX 2004 workspace is intimidating and learning to use Flash may seem an impossible task. But as with other large tasks, when you break down the Flash workspace and examine each part separately, it becomes much less intimidating.

For many years, Macromedia Flash has been the industry standard for creating motion graphics, interactive web content and desktop applications. When most people think of Flash they think of the motion graphics character animation that you find in ecards and digital games. But there is no limit