Publishing and Exporting > About HTML publishing templates

Flash HTML templates let you control what movie goes on a Web page and how it looks and plays back in the Web browser. A Flash template is a text file that contains both unchanging HTML code and template code or variables (which differ from ActionScript variables). When you publish a Flash movie, Flash replaces the variables in the template you selected in the Publish Settings dialog box with your HTML settings, and produces an HTML page with your movie embedded.

Flash includes various templates, suitable for most users' needs, that eliminate the need to edit an HTML page with the Flash movie. For example, one template simply places a Flash movie on the generated HTML page so that users can view it through a Web browser if the plug-in is installed. Another template does the same thing except it first detects whether the plug-in has been installed, and if not, installs it.

You can easily use the same template, change the settings, and publish a new HTML page. If you're proficient in HTML, you can also create your own templates using any HTML editor. Creating a template is the same as creating a standard HTML page, except that you replace specific values pertaining to a Flash movie with variables that begin with a dollar ($) sign.

Flash HTML templates have these characteristics:

	A one-line title that appears on the Template pop-up menu
	A longer description that appears when you click the Info button
	Template variables beginning with $ that specify where parameters values should be substituted when Flash generates the output file
	Note: Use \$ if you need to use a $ for another purpose in the document.
	HTML OBJECT and EMBED tags that follow the tag requirements of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator/Navigator, respectively. To display a movie properly on an HTML page, you must follow these tag requirements. Internet Explorer opens a Flash movie using the OBJECT HTML tag; Netscape uses the EMBED tag. For more information, see Using OBJECT and EMBED.