Flash 101 (Part 4): Don't Touch Me! - The Write Way (
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The Text
tool, activated with the keyboard shortcut T, is primarily used to insert text
into your Flash movie.
Text is placed in
one or more blocks, which come in two varieties – a fixed-width block, and a
variable-width block. A variable-width block expands horizontally as you type
text, while a fixed-width block has a rigid border and automatically wraps text
to the next line when it reaches the border.
In order to create a
variable-width block, simply activate the Text tool and begin typing on the
Stage.
In order to create a fixed-width
block, you need to first draw the outline of the block on the Stage by
click-dragging the mouse pointer with the Text tool active. Once the block is
defined to your requirements, click within it to begin inserting
text.
You can easily alter the
characteristics of the inserted text via the Window -> Panels -> Character
panel – this panel allows you to specify attributes like typeface, colour, size,
emphasis and tracking.(the space between individual characters of the font). You
can also adjust the character position – normal, superscript or subscript – and,
in the case of paragraphs, the alignment, margin widths and line
spacing.
Flash also allows you to create dynamic text boxes, and text
boxes which accept user input. You can play with these by selecting the
appropriate option in the Text Options tab of the Character panel – they’ll be
explained in detail later.
This article copyright Melonfire 2001. All rights reserved.
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