I used Adobe Animate in anger for the first time this week.

One key thing I found; if you’re using it to make banners: you really must embed them in an iFrame.

Firstly because the Javascript that makes them responsive bases its calculations on the enclosing window size – not the parent element. (Understandable.) This is great for whole page scenarios, not for banners.

Secondly it makes iterative testing and editing MUCH easier: no need to copy and paste multiple snippets of code from the generated HTML doc into your source file.

(Thanks to marjantrajkovski in the Adobe Forums)

In the end I made a Fluid, rather than Responsive, banner prototype. (fluid width and fixed height). For Responsive banners use the CSS tricks in this old article about how to make embedded content work in a Responsive page.

On a sour note I’m disappointed that Animate is just Adobe’s old Flash behemoth rebranded. (OK – with an HTML5 export to Canvas option.) I still find it such a fiddly environment and it always takes me a long time to get back to grips with it. Bah and humbug.

Last updated on 26th August 2018