Jen deHaan

You can change the way your help panel looks in Flash 2004 by modifying the Help panel CSS files that install with Flash. Want to know how? Read on, readers.

Caution: Before you start, remember to save a backup of the files that you plan to modify "just in case".

1. Close Flash and navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash MX 2004\en\Configuration\HelpPanel\_sharedassets

2. Open the help_pc.css file in a CSS editor (such as TopStyle or Dreamweaver, or a text editor such Notepad). Open help_mac.css if you're on a Mac.

3. To change the background color for code, find the line starting with "pre, .code {" (roughly line 128).

Add the following line to change the background color of code to gray (new text in bold):

pre, .code {
font-family: "Courier New", Courier, mono;
font-size: 100%;
background-color: #F6F6F6;
}

4. To change the background color for procedures, find the line starting with "div.procedure, div.welcomehelp, div.welcomehowdoi {" (around line 217):

Add the following line to change the background color for procedures to a light purple (new text in bold):

div.procedure, div.welcomehelp, div.welcomehowdoi {
display: none;
background-color: #F0FDFF;
}

5. That's it! Save the CSS file, and then reopen Flash/Help panel.