Understanding Flash’s WMODE

Flash can be rendered in a variety of ways with regards to the browser and the rest of the HTML page content. Some are good, some are not so good, depending on your situation. These are affected by the WMODE parameter, applied when you call your Flash via the object tag.

The default behavior is “window.” This renders the Flash in its own “box” on top of all other browser content. This is fine if the Flash is the topmost item and has a matte color and square shape. But what if it should fit more with the content?

For that, we have WMODE “opaque.” This is similar to “window,” except now the Flash movie will respect z-index and rendering order for elements on the page. So things can be “on top” of the Flash.

Lastly, there’s WMODE “transparency,” which does exactly what you think it should do. Generally, you should only use this WMODE when you have a non-standard shape for your Flash, or if you have a background element in your HTML/CSS that you want to show through the Flash.

Throughout your web design training, you’ll encounter quirks from time to time. Experimenting with these various parameters when you encounter a strange behavior is the only way you’ll discover why your CSS dropdown menus are appearing “behind” your Flash movie or get an explanation for some other Flash development oddity.

Tags: cheat-sheet, flash

This entry was posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Design Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.