PHOTOGRAPHY Flash Site ...

[mediamaven]

Ok... This is my first post but I hope to keep this thread going as I have questions. I am a photographer/motion graphics artist and am deciding between BUYING or BUILDING my own flash site. There are a lot of websites out there that are selling templattes but usually you have to use proprietary apps as well as host with the company. I'm trying to avoid this but a few of these are...

www.bludomain.com (http://www.bludomain.com) - www.flashpalette.com (http://www.flashpalette.com) - www.creativemotiondesign.com (http://www.creativemotiondesign.com)

So... I have basic html experience and some design sense and am pretty experienced in After Effects and Maya but for some reason I've been resisting learning a whole new program. I also am better at gui interefaces and really don't like scripting that much.

I just wanted to get a sense of what I'm up against in complexity. I like the look of this particular templatte from bludomain at www.coreymcnabb.com (http://www.coreymcnabb.com). It's a little overwhelming and I just don't know where to start. Is it better to just buy something or take the time to learn this new skill?

ps... My current site is www.lusterstudios.com (http://www.lusterstudios.com) to give you a sense of what I have currently designed.

Thanks!

[sepu]

That is completely up to you if you want to learn doing something like that ... I just can tell you that take time and hard work from you as well (I mean if you really want to learn).....
Now if you want to buy something like that Im not 100% sure if you can get the same functionality ....
From what I saw on that link the page is AS(Flash) + XML or any other kind of database (PHP + =MySql), etc .....

Also you can check out here at kirupa for great tutorials in the subject .....

my 2 cents ...

[icio]

Take into consideration what you want from your website -- if you want anything half decent, chances are you're not going to get what you want with the first flash site you make. It will take a while to get into the feel of exactly what it is that you're wanting to achieve.

I say go with the pros.

[mediamaven]

Maybe I could just learn slideshows first? It seems that this is what I'm lacking the most right now. And that task would not be as daunting as a WHOLE site... Does anyone have any recommendations of where to get started on making photo slideshows?

thanks!

[icio]

Get yourself a flash book that goes over the basics


Basic syntax
Basic scripted animation
Loading files into movieclips
Loading XML files
Loops
Loading multiple files
Put together for slideshowGood luck with this :thumb:

[mediamaven]

Thanks for the tips. I've also been reading a lot about javascript slideshows. Is flash vs javascript more reliable (or vice versa) for any reason. I'm trying to maximize the number of visitors that can see my site without problems. Also I REALLY like the idea of "preloading" images. Any other good place to look beside here?

http://www.maxkiesler.com/index.php/weblog/comments/ajax_amp_javascript_galleries_slideshows_and_effec ts_redux/

Has anyone had any experience working with any of these?

Thanks!