PdfMeNot - convert PDF to SWF online (and free)

PdfMeNot is a very helpful service to view PDF documents online using Adobe Flash Player. In other words, PdfMeNot converts PDF into SWF file (online and free!) and you can save this SWF for further use (Go to Tools > Page Info > Media > select and save .swf file).

PdfMeNot also offers:

1. Easy linking to existing PDF files. Simply add http://pdfmenot.com/view/
before the URL of PDF file (e.g. http://pdfmenot.com/view/http://example.com/example.pdf) to view .pdf as SWF movie and save it if needed.

2. Bookmarklet and Firefox add-on: they do the same - convert pdf links on a web page so that they can be viewed with PdfMeNot (i.e. automatically adds the link I mentioned above to all pdf links on the page). The difference is that installed Firefox addon do that automatically for every page you visit, while bookmarklet lets to convert links only when you need it. The converted links will be marked with a small icon.

3. Javascript for bloggers and webmasters for converting PDFs they link to.

4. PDF viewer which can be inserted into a webpage.

Go to pdfmenot.com for more details.

PdfMeNot is a great tool for viewing PDF files everywhere even without Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader. Nevertheless, take note that it's PDF Viewer only, result SWF files don't have Print or Search options.

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Links of the Month (June 2009)

My best finds of June for you:




1. 50 Stunningly Creative Interactive Flash Websites - "In the world of Flash-based web applications, there are an endless number of possibilities. Flash is a platform which allows for creativity to flow into a website. Interactive is one way that Flash websites are set away from the rest. Here are 50 amazing interactive and creative Flash websites."

2. Flash Bookmarks - must to be bookmarked by everyone who's interested in flash. Bookmark this site and you'll get tons of bookmarks in one. Everything about Flash, Flex, Air from across the Web, sorted by date and category for easier search.

3. Most Wanted Flash Tutorials - 5 great tutorials for beginners which will help you to complete Flash common tasks such as how to create Flash preloader, how to create sliding content in Flash..etc.

4. Free Flash Photo Gallery - "You don't need the Flash software for editing the gallery. You can easily add, edit or delete pictures by editing the xml file in Notepad. All images are loaded externally. You can add unlimited number of images. Creating your own Flash photo gallery has never been easier! These photo albums include a simple fade-in and fade-out transition effect for the photos."

5. How to Change Flash Chart after Publishing to the Web - Learn how to change already published Flash chart. You can change flash chart published to a web page even without editing its HTML code. Read the tips and advices how to make desired changes to your web chart in the easiest and quickest way.

Have fun!

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How to create Flash Flipping Book for free

Have you ever wanted to create online album or image gallery with page flip effect for your blog or website? Now you have a chance to create it for free with the tools I've found for you.

1. Free Flash Page Flip - "Free Version of Flash Page Flip has no advanced functions but it has some nice features like resizing and navigation. You can make and publish your own publications (Online Catalog, Digital Brochure, Flipping Book, Interactive Flyer, Virtual Magazine, Flip Album etc.) by writing JPEG or SWF formatted pages names on XML file in the Free Version. You don't have to know Flash software to make your flipping book".
Online Demo

2. PixelWit's Free PageFlip Flash - The original dynamic Flash ActionScript page flip effect code. Maybe one of the most popular Flash page flips codes. "Improved" version costs $12.50 only and offers lots of great options. Require Flash knowlege but gives a great result for free.


3. Flash Flipping Book - "Flash Flipping Book is a web tool for you to display your images / photos in the form of a book / catalogue / brochure. The page transition animation is like flipping pages of a book". Free version contains Flash-here logo.
Online Demo

4. Free PageFlip - "professional and realistic Adobe© Flash based flash book". There is a free basic version with source files included. Basic Flash knowledge and the software are required.

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The easiest ways to save Flash files from websites

There are many different ways and tools for saving Flash directly from a web browser. I picked up the easiest ones to share with you. Let geeks search caches for the needed files, we have much simpler ways:

How to Save Flash in Firefox

1. Download Sothink SWF Catcher for Firefox and open the file. This is .xpi file (Firefox extension) and Firefox will offer you to install the add-on. Add SWF Catcher button to the toolbar (right-click toolbar > Customize > Drag and drop needed button). Click the button and you'll see all available flash files in a sidebar. Right-click file name in the list for options.


2. Right-click any web page. Click View Page info, go to Media tab and find needed file in a media list (Flash files have Embed type). Select your file and click Save As.


How to Save Flash in Internet Explorer

1. Use Sothink SWF Catcher for IE. The difference between versions for Firefox and Internet Explorer is that IE version is an installator, not add-on. But the installation process is easy and quick. The same as for Firefox, you can use toolbar button or open SWF Catcher from right-click context menu. In IE you'll see a list of files in Save window, not in a sidebar.


2. Use Flash Saving Plugin for Internet Explorer. Download and install the plugin. It will add to your IE toolbar the button which displays the names of all Flash movies that are loaded on the current web page. Click a name and the corresponding Flash movie is saved to the folder specified.


P.S. Also, you can download Flashget download manager and use its own browser to look for swf files and save them.

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How to add Flash content to Blogger sidebar

There are several ways to add a Flash object to the sidebar of your Blogspot blog.

1. If you create your flash object yourself with any tool that provides both .swf file and html code of the object, use this way:

Go to Blogger Dashboard > Layout > Add a Gadget > HTML/Javascript. Paste your code to the gadget editor field and specify the correct file location (.swf file must be uploaded to the Web – to any file storage you use, for example Google Sites). Save the gadget and you're done.

2. If you have only a flash file you want to embed and don't have its html code, you can use Widgetbox to create a flash widget for blogger. Go to Widgetbox.com, create an account, click Make a Widget button, select Flash and specify your file URL (swf file must be uploaded to the Web). After editing and publishing your widget, you'll be able to add it to Blogger automatically or copy its html code and paste it as I described in the first paragraph.

Also, you can try the following code. Replace the red text with your values (and remove 'SAMPLE' marks) and insert this code into HTML/Javascript Gadget as described above.

<'SAMPLE'object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0"

width="your value" height="your value">

<'SAMPLE'param value="http://yourwebsite/your_flash_file.swf" name="movie"/>

<'SAMPLE'param value="high" name="quality"/>

<'SAMPLE'embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" src=" http://yourwebsite/your_flash_file.swf "

width="your value" height="your value" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> <'SAMPLE'/embed><'SAMPLE'/object>

That's it. You've embedded Flash content into Blogger sidebar.

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Links of the month (May 2009)

Links and news I want to share with you this month:




1. Photo! Presentation Widget - "an online service allowing you to create beautiful 3D albums or flash-based slideshows with your photos or photos from the web. A tremendous feature is that created photo widgets are embeddable on websites, blogs, and social networks with just one mouse click. Currently, the service can extract photos from Flickr™ photo service and also allows adding any image by its URL or from your computer".

2. Flash Earth - not new, but still lovable website. Exactly as the name says, you can explore Earth inside a single Flash-based interface. Imagery is taken from multiple sources including NASA, Microsoft and more.

3. Autodesk Project Dragonfly - " experiment in real time with your ideas in 2D and 3D before making it real!". A free online floor planning tool for virtual home designing.

4. Free Flash Logos - various background images, font choices, and color choices to make your free flash logo.

5. Flash Tips and Techniques Tutorials - nice selection of Flash tutorials. "Learn how to work in 3D, drawing techniques, text effects, tips and tricks, ActionScript, and more! "

Stay tuned!

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How to publish Flash slideshow to Blogger

After publishing my post about software bundle of watermarking software and flash slideshow maker I received lots of feedback not only of the kind I expected. The half of questions was not about software in the bundle but about how I add Flash slideshows to the posts and Blogger sidebar. To answer your questions, I write this post. The software I used was FlashSlider. I like it because it’s simple and creates slideshows that are nice but not overcharged with visual effect – exactly what is needed for blog and especially for sidebar. Of course, you can use your favorite flash slideshow creator to do that. Let’s embed flash slideshow in Blogger in 4 easy steps.

Create flash photo slideshow and copy its HTML code to clipboard. Before creating a slideshow, estimate needed canvas size. For sidebars, slideshow width is usually about 170 pixels, for posts - about 525. Slideshow height depends on size and orientation of photos you use. Nevertheless, for different templates these values vary, so you’d better to measure you sidebar or post field width. In Firefox or Flock, it can be easily done with MeasureIt add-on. When slideshow is created, copy its HTML code given by your slideshow maker to clipboard.

Create a new post or add gadget in Blogger and paste the slideshow code. I presume you know how to create posts in Blogger :) . Only one advice for beginners – slideshow code should be pasted not into visual editor field (Compose tab), but in HTML editor field (HTML tab).

The code will look like this:

You won’t see flash slideshow in visual editor field even after pasting its code, but it will be shown in preview.

If you want to publish your slideshow to the sidebar, go to your Blogger Dashboard, then to Layout > Page elements, click Add a Gadget, select HTML/JavaScript gadget and paste your slideshow code into the Content field.

Upload Flash slideshow to the Web and copy its address. “Where should I upload my swf slideshow to?” is one of the most often questions. I use Google Sites to store my files – you can create your own website at http://sites.google.com and upload your files to it. To copy the link of uploaded file, right-click it and select Copy link location or Copy link address or something like these :) .

Paste the slide show URL into its HTML code. The URL of slideshow you’ve copied is the source URL to be pasted into slideshow HTML code.

That’s all and you’re done. Publish a post or save you gadget and enjoy your Flash Blogger slideshow.

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