Flash File Upload Instructions REVISED!

We’ve made some tweaks to the Flash file upload instructions, so all Flash authors please take note! The changes have been made in order to improve our file review/approval process which will help Flash file reviewers review your files even quicker. If we have less files uploaded that have to get rejected, it means we can spend more time approving acceptable files!

New rules will take effect from September 1st, 2008. Please familiarize yourself with the full set of new instructions. Any new files (not already in the queue) uploaded from September 1st that do not meet our new guidelines risk getting rejected. In the meantime, here is a quick overview of the changes:

Preview File (Regular, 590px x 300px)

• Your preview SWF MUST always be named “preview.swf”
• Do not link to any external sites. This includes your own personal Web site or any minor or major external site. For example, you cannot link to Google.com or Yahoo.com. If you have to link to an external site to demonstrate functionality, you can only link to Flashden.net pages. You are welcome to link to your own Flashden portfolio if you like.

Preview File (Full Screen)

• For any preview that needs to be displayed larger than 590px wide x 300px high, you MUST provide:
  • a preview SWF named “preview.swf”
  • your original file in .FLA format
  • and an HTML document which MUST be called “index.html” which calls preview.swf.

General Updates/Notifications

• You CANNOT upload PHP, ASP or any type of server side script files to Flashden as part of your preview file. If your preview uses some kind of dynamic server side script, we suggest you stub it
  out in the preview (i.e. make it load a static data.xml instead of getting it from
  generate_xml_data.php), OR, create a preview that links to an externally
  hosted version (on your own site) of the file you are selling.
• In the Comments to Reviewer field, your information will NOT be publicly viewable. It is simply an opportunity for you to communicate any special instructions or image/video/audio licensing notifications to the reviewers. Please state URLs and details for any source images, code, video, audio or other items that you have used in the file, even if you have taken the photographs yourself. Information about source files that you provide here will be used by reviewers to assess whether your file meets FlashDen copyright requirements.
• Ensure any ActionScript, comments and library asset names are in English. Non-English Flash files are not accepted at Flashden and will be rejected.
• Documentation is now required for ALL Flash files. Read our blog post for more information. Your help file can be in TXT, HTML, DOC or PDF format. You can also provide instructions via video, but you will still need to provide written documentation.
• Do not create or upload files in RAR format. If you create a RAR file, it will be rejected. We only accept files in ZIP format.

As always, please let us know if you have any feedback about these changes or perhaps if you have any suggestions or ideas that you would like to see tweaked in our approval process. We may not respond to everything, but we do read through all your cool ideas!