Mint Editor is a user-friendly desktop CMS, which was developed by Flashmint in order to help our customers manage their flash XML templates without any special knowledge.

Mint Editor is not a standalone product as many may consider it to be. It is a convenient admin interface sold in a package with an XML template, which allows you to manage flash content without actually looking into the XML code.
While opened in Mint Editor, the template is represented as a structured combination of various flash components, with a separate set of configuration settings for each of them. This allows a great flexibility in template customization.
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There is an opinion that Flash harms search engine visibility because of its interactivity and thus may influence your website rankings in the negative way. As search engines need textual content to read the pages it is considered that Flash becomes too heavy on images and animations for them which may cause problems with search engine optimization. Today FlashMint decided to shatter this myth and give you a helping hand again showing you easy ways of optimizing your website Flash content.

Interactive Flash animations give the possibility to present any complex content in the most effective way allowing to implement maximum facilities in minimum space not damaging the web pages design. Flash is also a perfect solution for technology websites due to its slideshow options which help to present the complex product more efficiently as well as for art and entertainment sites due to its interactive media support. But apart from advanced design and functionality your flash website must be optimized for search engines properly, otherwise you won’t succeed and won’t get the desired benefits. So in what way you can optimize your flash-powered website? Let us see!

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Staying socially active as ever FlashMint decided to become a part of the major event which takes place every year and unites bloggers all over the world - Blog Action Day. This day of 2009 is dedicated to the climate change - the issue that touches upon every human living on Earth. Thinking about the way FlashMint can contribute to the Blog Action Day we decided to share the techniques of creating a dynamic non-profit website which allows concentrating on any social issue. But it won’t be creating from scratch as a great amount of professional flash templates is already available; our task is to show you how you can customize an existing template to make it correspond your peculiar needs. Minding the specifics of today’s event we present you a simple tutorial how to make a non-profit website dedicated to the issue of climate change.

In order to accomplish our task we have selected one of our Charity XML Flash templates. Of course, there is a lot of simple HTML templates which are easy to customize but our choice is explained by our wish to provide you with more advanced web development experience. As you know, flash templates are distinguished by high interactivity and modern design facilities which make any website look live and incredible. Choosing flash templates for establishing any non-profit website you will create captivating animated web pages which will attract both visitors’ and sponsors’ attention which is extremely important for the non-profit activity. Due to the eye-catching flash design you will be able to highlight the most significant and urgent social issues efficiently. So get ready - today you will learn how to create dynamic non-profit website dedicated to climate change with the help of simple customization steps.

As we have chosen the XML flash template there is no necessity to edit HTML, PSD and flash files because all the information we should change is contained in .XML files of the template catalog. The photos kept within your gallery are im1 im2 etc .jpg files. Still there is one thing we need to do with HTML and it implies changing the page title. In order to do it you should open index.html file in the HTML editor you use and

change <title>main</title> to <title>Climate Change Website</title> for instance.

These are all modifications you should implement in HTML and now you are ready to pass on to the XML customization. To start you will need to find the “cgal.xml” file located next to main.swf. Mind that you must not rename this file as you may experience problems with text editing then. So after you have found the “cgal.xml” file open it in the text editor, look for the variable you need and type your text after the “=” sign.

After you have made the above changes you can start editing the menu buttons of your non-profit dynamic website replacing the existing names of the site sections with yours within the template .fla file.

Then you can start editing text parts of your website, like Who We Are and Welcome to Our Site texts.

If you want to add your own images to the website you should take into account that the new pictures must obligatory be of such width and height as the previous ones. It is very simple to change the images in the template folder and reload the page to see how the renewed page looks.

Don’t forget to update the files and all the graphics you have changed on the web server with FTP. Customize the rest of the pages in the same way you did with your main website page.

Congratulations! You have learned to customize XML flash template and now can create dynamic non-profit website according to your particular preferences! It was easy, wasn’t it?

Now you need to choose some impressive domain name for your new non-profit website and host it for which FlashMint has some useful suggestion.
If you want to get professional services from reliable web hosting company we recommend you to subscribe to our respected partner - Happy@Net as this provider possesses 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7 customers support and offers such beneficial options which are hard to find somewhere else. Happy@Net will be a perfect solution for your non-profit website hosting as it supports the idea of environmental protection and offers green hosting plans which imply using renewable energy for powering and cooling the servers. And what is pleasant for you as a FlashMint client - you get 50% discount on the hosting services from Happy@Net. What can be more fantastic? Purchase a premium flash template at an affordable price, customize it easily making it look just like you want and get a marvelous discount for hosting! Don’t hesitate, go for it!

With the course of time we have noticed that a lot of FlashMint customers are interested in eCommerce Flash Templates asking if we are going to expand on developing such products. As we at FlashMint care about you and your business our essential task is to support you whenever you need it so we couldn’t just ignore your address. Having thought over the issue thoroughly we found a solution and now are glad to share it with you.

If you are eager to own a Flash-powered eCommerce website we recommend building it with the help of Website Constructor we have already introduced you with. Such decision is explained by various advantages you get. First, with Website Constructor you will be able to maintain and update your site with minimum effort whenever it is necessary ensuring a superb website. Moreover, you have all the necessary tools and facilities aimed for creating products presentations and establishing galleries, as well as setting up the contact page and much more.

Website Constructor undoubtedly provides you with incredible options for building impressive functional website but still your main aim is to sell products and services that is why we recommend using osCommerce Templates in addition. OsCommerce Templates are a perfect basis for online stores and web shops as they provide all necessary facilities for managing selling and buying issues online. With their help you will set up a shopping cart, manage e-mails and newsletters, check statistics and invoices, keep in touch with your customers and administer your eShop content with simple mouse clicks. Built with PHP they also allow you to retrieve any data and information easily and moreover possess better optimization features as Flash is still less SEO friendly than PHP.

In order for you to have no doubt that the deal is absolutely beneficial we want to highlight how inexpensive it is apart from the functionality and usability of the offered tools. Building any Flash-based ecommerce website with the help of OsCommerce Templates and Website Constructor you receive an opportunity not only to save your precious time and efforts but your expenses as well. To be precise, all in all you will spend not more than $130 which includes $60 for Website Constructor and $70 for osCommerce Template (which is twice cheaper than anywhere else according to our unmatched offer), and for such a tiny price you get the key to successful and fruitful online business!

We have also a few suggestions concerning online payment systems you can use for your online store. PayPal, 2CheckOut and Authorize.net are considered to be the most popular systems for carrying out online transactions providing you with the full package of interactive facilities. But being honest we recommend you to use either PayPal or 2CheckOut as these particular systems are the most reliable and advanced electronic payment solutions which moreover grant you with full cooperation options, Web API and ability to track your orders easily. (FlashMint.com is not affiliated in any way with PayPal and 2CheckOut merchants.)

So this is how we tried to solve the issue that worried you so much and we hope that our suggestions will really help you. FlashMint is always at your service and is absolutely glad to support you any time you need professional advice and assistance. Feel free to ask if you have questions and to express your opinion if there is something you want to say!

FlashMint picks out only the best stuff for you to enjoy developing and creating, and today we are glad to offer you the review of the most valuable web design software provided by famous Adobe Systems. Why Adobe? Because it is known as the most powerful and reliable computer software company which provides the best products for multimedia applications creative development. Adobe software is considered to be the top-quality tool for the unmatched design and programming being a perfect solution for every webmaster due to advanced functionality and usability. So please take a look at the selection of the most useful and essential Adobe web design tools you can’t do without.

1. Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
Adobe Dreamweaver is reputed the best web design software existing nowadays because of the unmatched features for fast and easy website development as well as managing, updating and publishing professional web pages.
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 is distinguished by the ability of generating valid HTML/XHTML which means that it is not necessary for you to possess extra programming skills to construct a website. Making use of HP, ASP, XHTML and .NET technologies Adobe Dreamweaver will also help you to get web programming code and to link up to the databases. Besides, there is a lot of extensions available for Dreamweaver, either inbuilt or downloadable ones, which will grant you with comprehensive functionality and simplify your work greatly. Using Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 you will create thrilling web design effects such as tableless CSS design, button rollovers, Dreamweaver templates and what not.

2. Adobe Flash CS4/Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
Most contemporary web developers are sure that Adobe Flash software is the only tool worth using for creating website animation. Its popularity is explained by the fantastic facilities of implementing exciting live action moreover keeping small file sizes which allows your website to load fast.
Flash ActionScript advanced features allowed to take a different enhanced look of web animation so Adobe Flash CS4 Professional is aimed particularly for experienced ActionScript programmers and considered to be the most powerful programming tool among Flash developers. But if you feel that you are not so advanced yet Adobe Flash CS4 will become your helping hand allowing clear and simple functions for Flash creation. Besides, there is a vast Flash developers community available on the Web where you can always find answers to your questions as well as useful articles, tutorials, resources and what not.

3. Adobe Fireworks CS4
Adobe Firework CS4 is specialized web design software which will become a number one solution for professionally designed and optimized website. It is used for graphic design, website layouts, logos creation and much more. Adobe Fireworks allows images optimization and their export to proper web formats offering an ideal balance of high quality and low compression size. Among creating swap and animated GIF images, rollovers, drop-down menus and other cool elements Adobe Fireworks CS4 offers the following advanced features:

- export of PNG files straight to Flash CS4 Professional with maintained animations, bitmaps, vectors and multistates.
- pasting of Fireworks objects to the Dreamweaver and export of website prototypes to it.
- creating of pop-up menus which are saved as HTML and CSS.

4. Adobe Photoshop CS4
If you are looking for the top-quality tool to edit photos and images Adobe Photoshop CS4 will become your ideal choice beyond doubt. Developed for photographers, web and graphic designers it provides automated time saving tools for easy and fluent work. Among the options offered by Adobe Photoshop CS4 you will discover simple functions of editing and composting, filters for comprehensive editing, streamlined interface and much more. Moreover, Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended software offers excellent facilities for multimedia creators, for example, rendering and incorporating 3D images in the 2D compounds.

4. Adobe Creative Suite 4/Web Standard CS4
And finally, the most incredible Adobe solution for all web developers and designers - Adobe’s Creative Suite 4 which implies complete set of the most essential software for creating interactive websites, presentations, applications and other digital content. Adobe Creative Suite 4 includes every tool necessary for your project development as well as efficient content maintenance and update. The software comprised in Adobe Creative Suite 4 is compatible with Mac and Windows OS and includes:

- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
- Adobe Fireworks CS4
- Adobe Contribute CS4
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional
- Adobe Bridge CS4, Adobe Version Cue CS4, and Adobe Device Central CS4.

But if you are limited in your expenses there is a shortened version - Adobe’s Creative Suite 4 Web Standard - which includes:

- Adobe CS4 Flash Professional
- Dreamweaver CS4
- Fireworks CS4

The software contained in Adobe’s Creative Suite 4 Web Standard implies an essential compilation of tools needed for any web developer and programmer, from beginner to professional, and is quite enough for creating high-quality web projects.

So this was a review of the best web design software powered by Adobe Systems which any web developer and programmer is in need of. What do you personally think of it and what software do you prefer to use? Share your experience with us!