When working with text, you have many options that go far beyond simply selecting the Text tool and typing on the Stage. In Macromedia Flash MX, you can create horizontal or vertical text, you can change the text attributes such as kerning (spacing between characters) and line spacing, and you can apply transformations such as rotation and skew. However, that is only the beginning. As this chapter will show you, you can also create text fields that bring in text from an external document, make text scroll, and create text fields where users can enter information themselves.

Macromedia Flash MX allows you to create three different types of text elements: Static Text, Dynamic Text, and Input Text. You'll learn about these different types of text treatments and try them out with hands-on exercises.

Text Block Types

When you select the Text tool in Macromedia Flash MX, you can choose from three types of text fields: Static Text, Dynamic Text, or Input Text, each of which will be explained in the context of the exercises in this chapter. When you add one of these text fields to the Stage, a text block is created with a corner handle to identify the type of text block you are creating. A chart  follows to identify the different types of text blocks.