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Flash XML Content Management in Ingeniux CMS

Many websites use Flash for delivering rich user experiences and compelling marketing messages. As website managers take advantage of Flash for more and more web content, the cost of maintaining and updating Flash presentations (SWFs) can be significant. This cost dramatically rises when a 3rd party is required to make all changes. In addition, since Flash content is not typically managed within most CMS frameworks, it represents a hurdle to the empowerment of content authors.

Ingeniux CMS offers a great option for managing Flash presentation content in an integrated fashion and can dramatically lower update costs. Many Ingeniux customers are managing their Flash SWF presentation content using Flash's XML resource capability (which was introduced as part of Flash 7). Ingeniux CMS can publish XML directly into a Flash file, allowing users to update images and text in a Flash file just like regular web pages.

In the Ingeniux Flash Updater solution, the Flash presentation (SWF) references an external Flash XML resource file. This Flash XML resource is managed as a content item in the CMS. Normally these content items represent the slides or different elements used in the complete Flash presentation. With this granular access, content authors can update text and images used within the presentation. Then they can publish changes to automatically update the Flash presentation.

An example of Flash resource management in action can be seen on the Ingeniux home page. The main Flash presentation is loading XML resource data that we manage as CMS content. There is a single CMS template that defines the XML structure for a general Flash presentation screen. The marketing team created 3 screens using this template (one for each marketing screen in the Flash presentation). They can easily add or update new marketing campaigns by editing the content without requiring a Flash developer to do any work. Moreover, because the content is written in an XHTML DIV tag it is search engine friendly and supports accessibility standards.

The Ingeniux Flash Updater solution has saved Ingeniux customers significant money from their marketing budgets. It has also simplified headaches like localizing marketing campaigns for international audiences in multiple languages. If managing Flash content a big cost within your web site I would recommend moving the updates to XML with Ingeniux CMS.

Posted by Nathan Eggen at 4:00 pm