theInbetweens

Flash CS5 has brought with it a new open file format *.xfl, this is simply an uncompressed *.fla file.  I’m really pleased with this move as it brings a number of immediate benefits and future possibilities. The open format lends it self to version control since you need to transfer less data when you commit, it is easier for other other developers or designers to make changes to project with out effecting your own work. More importantly you can review the commit history and have a real idea of what library elements have been changed recently.  Updating audio and graphically assists is much nicer since you can just go into the *.xfl directory and replace the files, so people working on the project without flash can still update the design assets.  Admittedly they won’t be able to publish a new swf though.

It makes the use of any third party tool with flash much easier.  Take for example something as simple as changing the name of a company with a flash file, you would need to use flash’s find and replace command but it’s so cumbersome when compared with just using grep. 

Separating the libary assets into actual files can give a rough indication of potentially overcomplicated moviieClips, if some of your library files are large it could mean a rather overly complicated vector asset.