Jon, You wrote:
>I have an idea for a tutorial but I'm not sure that it is technical >possible. My goal is to create a tutorial in which explicit instructions >are on the LHS of a page and a flash file is on the RHS that plays >through the instructions. The user would click step 1 (or perhaps a >'Begin' link) to begin the tutorial and the tutorial would play all the >way through to the end if the user doesn't interrupt it. If the user >decides to interrupt it, for example, to replay step 4, the user would >click Step 4 in the LHS, the flash file would navigate to some bookmark, >begin playing step 4, and continue playing to the end unless the user >again chooses to interrupt it. Icing on the cake would be that each step >in the LHS would be highlighted or marked in some way when it is being >shown in the Flash file. > >I know some of this is typical Flash behavior-click a link to launch a >flash file. However, my question is, can hyperlinks be set up so that >they start a flash file at a location besides the beginning? Can a flash >file even be bookmarked? Right now, I'm using FrameMaker 9.0 (windows XP >Pro) and plan to embed a flash file into an FM document to see whether >this can be done.. Is FM even the right tool to be using for this? Technically this is possible, with the specific controls implemented through Acrobat JavaScript. See a generic example at http://microtype.com/showcase/MultimediaAsst/CandleReport.pdf (where segments are displayed in a floating window, each its own title). This example was authored with FrameMaker and converted to PDF with TimeSavers+Multimedia Assistant, with no extra steps in the PDF. New options for Flash integration/control are available in Acrobat/Reader 9 (where the Flash player is embedded in Reader), but this would make using Acrobat/Reader version 9 a requirement for your end users. Native FrameMaker (versions 8 and 9) provide minimal support for the inclusion of SWF, so you will have to deal with Acrobat JavaScript in the PDF as a post-creation step. Using FrameMaker for the particular job depends on other considerations. Shlomo Perets MicroType, http://www.microtype.com FrameMaker/TCS training & consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants [ Free 1-hour TimeSavers/Assistants webinars: http://microtype.com/ImprovePDF.html ]