Ok here we go [SIZE=5]I know its a lot to read but check it out anyways![/SIZE]
This is my own portfolio site I’ve been working on.
I need as much help as I can get on this. Ive been struggling with it for a while so Im gonna let my pride down and share my fla’s before its finnished… Im running short on time with it.
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Im willing to make permalinks on my portfolio to anyone who can help me out with this.** 
Download my files and have a look, otherwise you wont see what I’m trying to do.
I have broken my site down into 3 separate sections.
Let me explain what each fla is.
[SIZE=5]Navigation[/SIZE] - User navigation tracking
This is where my main trouble lies. If I cant get any help but on this, then this is where I need it most.
Test this file first to see how I want things to look, even though its buggy you will get the idea.
I have designed this site so that when the user clicks on a button in the main navigation (ie portfolio, personal, profile etc) it will animate to show the contents of the subsection (ie subsection of portfolio would be identity, print web etc) and from that subsection to my individual pieces and from there when the user clicks on one of my pieces of work it will be displayed within another movie clip called content window. I want the site to expand horizontally as the user navigates deeper into the content. Have a look at my library and look at each of my movie clips to see the different “scenes” I have.
BASICALLY
I need my site to know where the user is currently at in the navigation, for example if I click on Portfolio > Identity > Piece1 and it displays in the content window, THEN the user decides to click on Personal. The I need it to play backwards through the navigation and then load personal. So it flows smoothly instead of jumping. How do i do that?
Maybe have a look at Forged Media and see how his transitions work, maybe that would help.
[SIZE=5]Buttons[/SIZE] - User click tracking
My other problem I have isnt as difficult. Have a look at ISO50 notice how the buttons are. I want my animations in my buttons to play through when the user mouseovers them, instead of stopping when the user takes the mouse off of the button. I also want my button to be a slightly different color after the user has visited it. So the user knows what buttons they have already seen. ISO50 does this, but I sure dont know how to do it, and I dont think it is that difficult. Please help!
**[SIZE=5]BG[/SIZE] - Why are my vector paterns slow with alpha? **
The file called BG is my background. This file will serve as the backdrop for the 2 other files, NAVIGATION and MP3 player. Which will be loaded on top of BG. There are 10 buttons contained in BG. The buttons animate in and come to a stop. I want it so that when the user clicks on any of the 5 buttons on the right it will change the background color to the color of the button (with a smooth fade transition) , and when the user clicks on any of the buttons on the left it will apply one of the vector patterns (see library) at 20% alpha over the background color. So that way I can create multiple background colors and subtle patterns that still match the feel of my site.
My problem is that when I put one (or all) of my patterns onto my stage and create a tween from 0% alpha to 20% alpha it brings flash down to a crawl. It takes like 10 minutes to test movie and like 5 minutes to watch the animation. I figure the problem is that my vector patterns are very complex and flash doesnt like to calculate all that vector alpha information and it goes really slow.
Does anyone know how I could do this and it still look good? I need it to transition from one pattern to another. So for example Hex pattern to Hatch, and hatch to circle, depending on which the user clicks.
[SIZE=5]MP3 Player[/SIZE] - A better way?
Although I think I’ve got this part pretty much under control, does anyone know of a component I can use? Or a better way, because the way I did it was very inefficient.
Thanks so much for your help guys, I am very appreciative and I will help you with whatever I can. Just PM me if you need some help.