Adding Flash to your Joomla Web Site

I have been asked how to display certain media formats on a Joomla! Web site to include .wmv, .avi and Adobe Flash Files.

I experienced quite a few problems with .wmv and .avi but displaying an Adobe Flash file was fairly straight forward.

First you need to check that your Joomla site can display .swf files

Click Site Menu option

Select Global Configuration

The Global Configuration page will display

Select the System hyperlink

You will see that there is a Media Setting section

Check that the .swf extension is displayed in the Legal Extensions (File Types) field

Type ,swf after the last extension type in the list if .swf is not displayed i.e. TXT, XCF,swf

Check that the Maximum Size (in bytes) is going to be large enough for your Adobe Flash File. It is set to default of 10mbs. If you think that your file is bigger than this edit the value

Click the Save Icon at the top of the page

Click Site Menu Option

Select Media Manager

The Media Manager Page will display

Click the Browse button and navigate to where your Adobe Flash file is stored on your Computer

Click the Start Upload button

Your Adobe Flash File will be uploaded. You can upload it to the default images folder or you can create a folder called for example "Flash files" and upload the file to this folder

When the file has been uploaded you can now embed the file in to your article

Open the article you want to display your Adobe Flash File on

Put your cursor where you want your Adobe Flash file to display

Click the Insert Media icon which is next to the smiley icon

The Insert Media window will display

Check that the Type is set to Flash

Type the file location in the File/URL field, i.e if you have uploaded it to your images directory the location will look something like this: images/myadobeflash.swf

If you have the correct location you will see your Adobe Flash file displayed in the Preview window

Make sure you have the dimensions set to the correct size and you can also set Advanced Parameters but I suggest you leave them set to the default settings for now. You can always come back and tweak the settings later.

Click Update button

Click the Save icon to save your Article

Click the Preview hyperlink at the top of the page to view your Adobe Flash file

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