TechNote

HTML text fields do not display formatted text

Issue

HTML enabled text fields fail to display formatted text.

Reason

When embedding a font, Flash does not include the entire font family automatically. Only the plain font is embedded without the bold and italic variants. Because of this, HTML formatting that uses bold or italic formatting may not display.

Solution

If an HTML formatted text field uses a font that is not resident on the viewer's machine, then that font must be embedded in the SWF to properly display the text. If multiple styles of the font are used in the HTML formatting, then it's necessary to add a dynamic text field to "manage" the embedding of the entire font family. As long as the font is embedded in one text field, the rest of the movie can use it.

To embed fonts for use in HTML formatted text fields

1	Using the text tool, create a dynamic text field. Note:The dynamic text field may be placed off the visible stage to avoid having it appear in the movie. The text field and embedded fonts must load completely before the font styles can be used in the HTML formatted text field.
2	In the dynamic text field, place at least one character for each font style used in the movie.
3	In the Character panel, apply each style used in the movie to at least one character in the text field.

4	Then embed the character outlines for the text field in the Text Options panel.

Keep in mind that embedding font outlines will increase the size of the SWF for each style embedded. The actual amount will vary depending on the number of characters and the complexity of the font outline. It may be necessary to preload a portion of the movie to allow the embedded fonts to download. For information on preloading Flash movies see How to create movies that download before playing (TechNote 12588).

Additional information
For more information about using HTML formatted text fields, please refer toUsing HTML text formatting in Flash 5 (TechNote 14808).