Acceptable User Experience Over the Web: Smaller files, SWF, FLV, Streaming, what's the answer?

Forum|Forum|18 years ago
January 8, 2008
5 replies
436 views

I'm getting my hands dirty with Captivate 3 and enjoying its capabilities. My only concern is that I will end up with a file that is too big to be usable over the web. I'm producing a software demo that is less than 4 minutes long, 800 x 600 pixels, no interactivity (it just plays like a video). Right now it's 8.5 megs and takes ~3 minutes to load over fast broadband with the preloader selected. And I'll need to add a little more to it. I've played with reducing frame rate, quality, BMP & JPEG compression, SWF compression, etc. This only save me about 1/2 a meg. The only thing that significantly influences file size is reducing the pixel resolution. I know 800 x 600 large, but this app is designed for a full screen, if I make it smaller the text becomes unreadable.

My questions are as follows:

1) Is there anyway to significantly reduce file size that I have overlooked?

2) Is progressive video or streaming possible? I've read that the file must be converted to FLV for this. Neither Captivate nor Flash CS3 seems to allow this. I read that I could save the SWF as a Quicktime movie in Flash and then open the Quicktime in Flash and resave as FLV. So I've exported the file as a FLA and tried to save it as a Quicktime file, but Flash crashes while "reading Flash format." I'd be willing to pay a reasonable amount to have the file streamed from the streaming service.

3) What are considered to be maximum file sizes for software demos anyway? How long will users wait?

4) Am I better off using some other type of software?

This topic has been closed for replies.

CatBandit

Inspiring

Hi folks,
Maybe someone here already said it and I missed the comment, but the single adjustment you can make to affect file-size (specifically, of the published end-product) is to select all slides and change SLIDE > VIDEO QUALITY to a lower setting. From the top, slide video quality goes from HIGH to JPEG to OPTIMIZED to STANDARD.

The default in most cases is HIGH, and moving that down to STANDARD can decrease file size and increase "streamability" by as much as 40-50%.

Hope this helps.

A

Anonymous

Thank you JackAnz, Tpond, switlen, and CatBandit for all the tips. I'll experiment with these variables. If others have suggestions, please keep them coming!

Marc, to you question about download percent. You cannot change it from within Captivate (any version). It is a variable that must be edited in Flash. You open the .fla file for the preloader you use in Flash, choose Window > Actions and look for a line of code that reads:

if (percentDone > 60)

60 is the default percentage that must be loaded before your file begins to play. Lower this value to make the file play sooner.

I'm not sure how low you can make this before risking a "sputtering" presentation that pauses while more of the file downloads.

N

Newsgroup_User

Inspiring

I'm on Captivate 1.0. Could someone explain how the download percent can
be adjusted in the preloader. Right now we are experiencing very slow
downloads and I would like the SWF to start after only 10% or so is
downloaded.

Thanks.

Marc Lee
"
JackAnz" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:fm0klt$hnv$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Your project does not seem too gigantic by my standards.
> I believe you can adjust the preloader so the whole SWF does not have to
load
> prior to beginning? Have you tried that? May or may not be acceptable,
> depending on your app.
>
> I deploy some 20 MB SWFs which would not be suitable for slow connections
but
> they start playing in very short order and to date no oneis complaining
(sort
> of a captive audience... we assume a good connection).
>
>
>

A

Anonymous

Agree with TPond, if you're using audio, experiment with the settings and go as low as you can on this until you get to that trade off between a level of quality you can live with and optimum file size.

I'm probably stating the obvious here but make sure you've deleted any background images, images, objects any anything else that is not actually displayed in your presentation. Deleting a slide from your presentation does not automatically remove the image from the project. (at least not in V2) It's worth checking.

Other file reductions can be obtained by eliminating transition effects like fade in and fade out, Fade in and fade out on first and last slide, slide transitions and special effects, eliminate 508 compliance if you don't have a need/requirement for it, eliminate the Adobe connect enterpise metadata if you don't need it, drop tap audio for text entering.

After that you'll have to go for glitz and polish like background music/sound effects, pauses (dead air) in audio clips, extraneous graphic images.

A

Anonymous

The most significant change I have been able to implement to reduce file size is through manipulating the (voice only) audio settings -- an idea I got from this forum.

Assuming you have significant audio, try:
Custom bitrate = 32kbps
Encoding frequency = 22.050
Encoding speed = 0 (this is the most important part)

Your program will take significantly longer to publish, but I have created amazing file size reductions, without seriously reducing (voice only) audio quality.

Good luck!

A

Anonymous

Your project does not seem too gigantic by my standards.
I believe you can adjust the preloader so the whole SWF does not have to load prior to beginning? Have you tried that? May or may not be acceptable, depending on your app.

I deploy some 20 MB SWFs which would not be suitable for slow connections but they start playing in very short order and to date no oneis complaining (sort of a captive audience... we assume a good connection).

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded