The Scenario You are creating a Flash project that feeds text in from an external XML file. The text is currently in English but there is a requirement that the text be changed to other languages. The Problem You have added foreign characters such as é, ü or ß and they don’t show up in Flash. The Solution Follow these steps below and all should be well: Ensure that your XML document is formatted as UTF-8. If you are using Coda, it’s simple enough. and that is also has the correct XML declaration in the header:  <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″ ?> Ensure...

A common issue with modern browsers is the fact that they have the ability to open many file types by default. This isn’t usually a problem, unless you want to make sure that a file is downloaded to a user’s desktop. You could zip the file, which usually forces a download, but what about times when zipping something is just an unecessary step (such as a vCard). A simple trick is to use the script below to force the browser to download the file.   if ($_REQUEST["filename"] != “”) { $filename = str_replace(“../”, “”, $_REQUEST["filename"]); if ($filename...

While creating mock-ups of sites its often useful so see what it will look like in a browser window. For this reason I have created a png of a desktop and mobile safari interface. I find that this is useful for clients to get a better feel of what a site will look like and also as a designer to scale images and element blocks. Below is also a simple script that will detect if a user if viewing the site from an iPhone/iPod touch and redirect them to a optimised version. It is always good practice to offer a link to the full desktop experience. <script language=javascript> <!– if((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i))...

This post is a collection of sites and tools that I find useful when designing sites and interfaces. Coda – Probably the best code editor. Mac only i’m affraid. Coda Clips – An online repository of code snippets that can be imported into Coda and used from the clips panel. If you don’t have Coda you can simply copy and paste the code into your code editing tool. flCodr – Another online repository, but this time for actionscript snippets with the added bonus of having a custom panel for Flash to access code. Smashing Magazine - Founded in September 2006, Smashing...

It’s been almost a month since I announced TwitterEagle and there is nothing to show (apart from a logo). Sorry about that, i’ve been rather busy and have not had much time to spend on the project. Hopefully, in a month from now I will have something up and running.

Here is my latest offering of notification alerts to Flash – a Facebook style pop up window that supports basic html formatting. It seems that the power of Facebook is everywhere (just take a look at flCodr [try clicking on the download link]- its using the Facebox javascript code to create modal dialoge boxes). I couldn’t resist creating my own version just for Flash. This one is a simple AS2.0 version that uses the tween and easing classes to add a bit of animation aswell. Take a look at it here and come back for some info about how it works. Setting it all up When you open up the...

Just a quick note about our sister site – flCodr. There is an update available for the extension panel. Find out more about it here: www.flcodr.com/download.php

As you can see from the scree shot above, I have created my first iPhone web app. I say web app loosly as it doesn’ty actually do anything apart from tell you about me!! There is some interactivity however – simply swipe your finger on the screen to move between different frames. Try it on your iPhone or iPod touch (you need to be running 2.0 or higher). Go to i.sizzla-media.co.uk If you’re wondering how it was done – check this out. As soon as I can be bothered ( and find a need to) I will create a proper working web app that actually does something useful, maybe an optimised...

My latest Flash based location app is called Find Me and is basically a mash up using Google Maps API, the GMap Flash component and a geo-ip script that tweets your location on Twitter. Take a look at it here. Please note that is in beta at the moment. You will also need a Twitter account set up which can be done here. To tweet your location simply enter your username and password and click on the green tick. When the app loads click on the little transmit icon at the bottom right. Your information is stored on a cookie on your local machine and is not saved anywhere on my server. If you like...

Not that I mean to show off or anything, but I was in Web Designer Mag again this month. This time they were featuring my Locator panel extension for the GMap component. The extension is a search engine for latitude and longitude co-ordinates that can be entered into the GMap component as points on a map. To read about it, take a look at the original post here. Take a read of Web Designer Mag for loads of Flash, Dreamweaver and Photoshop goodness, plus subscribe to my RSS feed to stay updated on my future Flash work.