Click on any phrase to play the video from that point.
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Flash Professional CS5 introduced TLF Text or Text Layout Framework,
and what it does is it gives you a ton of control over text
or any body copy that you want to manipulate within Flash.
And with Flash Professeional CS5.5 even extends that functionality even further.
In this current file notice that I have this text field right here,
and with it selected, notice that in the properties panel, it's set to TLF Text.
So it's not Classic Text, it's TLF Text.
And what that gives you are a lot more options when dealing with your text.
Everything from the character, to advanced character controls, clear down
into the paragraph, and even container and flow.
For instance, if I wanted to change the number of columns,
I can do that right in here--change that from 1 to 2--and there you have two columns.
Not only that, what I can do is I can maybe potentially make a smaller textbox
right here, and since there's overflow text, what I can do is I can click on this
little plus sign right there and draw another textbox
just like that, and it will overflow into that new textbox.
And again, this is the control you have with TLF Text.
I'm just gonna undo this a little bit and get this back to where it was.
Because really what I want to do with this text is I want to even have more control over
how it flows, because, personally, I don't like how the text
comes right up against this left edge.
Well, what I can do, and what I'll do before I do that, is I'll just change the background
to--say for instance--a black so we can take a closer look at it.
And if I select this text--as I click inside of it--notice the text is still there,
but I'm given this ruler up at the top--this is my tab ruler.
And what I can do is I can grab--say for instance--this edge--the left edge--
and move it in a little bit so my text comes in
and starts maybe about a quarter of an inch in from the side.
Same thing from the other side--I can go ahead and drag that tab
in to make sure it doesn't go too far over on the other side either.
So I can basically give it a gutter on the left-hand side and the right-hand side.
I'm gonna change the color of this text also--say for instance--an orange--
just so it pops a little more, but you can see that I have full control over this text.
Even if I just select this first line, what I can do,
is I can even add a tabbed ruler right there for just this text.
So I can tab it in just like that, and I can always take it back--
say for instance--and make sure it just comes in just a nudge right there.
So notice as I select this second header down here, it's no longer there,
because I only selected this one line, this tab is only associated with this one line.
So what I can do is I can select all of this text and make sure that that tab ruler exists,
and select this text down here, hit tab, and I can bring it in some.
So again, I have full control over my text.
I can change some of this body copy to white.
There it is--changed to white--and we'll change this body copy from that color--
that orange color--to white--just like that as well.
The last thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna
give it an Instance Name--so I can say, "Body Text."
And if I give it an Instance Name, I can control it with ActionScript--
currently there's already some ActionScript code in there--so if I run
this file, notice that I can then manipulate that text using ActionScript.
And what's going here, is it changes that text from 3 columns,
down to 2 columns, down to 1 column using ActionScript.
And again, this is the control and power you get with TLF Text, allowing you to
manipulate this text with ActionScript as well as the additional functionality
of the tab ruler really give you a lot of efficiency and the ideal look when it comes to
controlling your text in Flash Professional.
Thanks for watching.
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