Recipe 3.2. Setting Stage Dimensions

Problem

You want to set the dimensions of the stage.

Solution

Set the width and height in the Document Properties dialog box.

Discussion

Each time you open a new document, Flash uses the default document settings. Unless you've changed the default settings, new documents have dimensions set at 550 x 400 pixels. Although these settings provide plenty of room for doodling and experimentation, they do not work for every situation. For example, many banner ads are 468 x 60 pixels, yet a Flash movie optimized to fill a browser window in a monitor with 800 x 600 resolution should be set at (or near) 760 x 400. You can use Flash to author content to play on many mobile devices of varying screen dimensions. Those are just a few examples of the many standards for Flash stage dimensions.

You can change a document's basic properties in the Document Properties dialog box, which can be accessed by selecting Modify Document. You can also access the dialog box by clicking the Size button that appears in the Property inspector when no object is selected on the stage.

Setting the document dimensions is not difficult. However, it's often important to determine the dimensions before starting a project. If you do need to change the dimensions after having started a project, you'll have to go back in to correct any layout issues that may arise as a result. When you change the document dimensions, it will not move anything on stage. The upper-left corner stays fixed, while the stage increases or decreases in dimension to the right and downward.