Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clearly written, easy to follow, May 12, 2008
I used this book as a textbook for a Flash Animation and Basic ActionScript class at my local community college, and I found the book very helpful and easy to use.
One important note I want to mention up front: this book DOES NOT give any examples in, or even really talk about ActionScript 3.0, even though that is the default (and current) version of the language. It strictly makes use of AS2.
However, that aside, I thought the book was great. I've never even looked at Flash development prior to this class but now I feel like I've taken my first steps and I'm confident in taking my Flash education further in depth.
The book introduces particular concepts at the beginning of each chapter, and then guides you by the hand (which I preferred, being a complete novice) through making use of those concepts. During this part of the process, the instructions are laid out in a column along the edges of the pages, while the interior of the pages contain screenshots of what your screen should look like before and after. The critical information and text for each step is displayed in bold print and you can either skim the page looking only for the bold print, or read the full instructions if you feel you need to.
At the end of each chapter there are several sections, including a "Skills Review" that provides minimal instruction, and expects you to be able to complete the small project using the information covered in the current and preceding chapters. This is nice, because it allows you practice what you've already learned in earlier chapters, and fold it into what you just learned in the current one. There are additional sections containing various projects - one which continues and builds on itself from Chapter 1 all the way through Chapter 12 which essentially has you creating a fictional company website from start to finish. A secondary project for each chapter makes use of the current chapter material for a more independent, but more focused project, again, building on what was covered in previous chapters.
The author's style of writing was also quite clear, and not overly drawn out, and whatever jargon may be used is explained pretty clearly. I didn't have any trouble going through it, despite my complete lack of previous Flash experience.
At no time did I have any trouble with the code examples provided in the book. As long as I followed each step precisely, I had no problems with anything not working or code not compiling.
All in all, I was extremely pleased with this book and its style of teaching. This is an excellent book for anyone who has never used Flash before, but would like to find out how to get their feet wet. It covers everything from what the Stage and Tweens are, to basic ActionScript 2.0 usage, to an introduction to using Components and Behaviors.
What this book does NOT do is go into anything in-depth. It is all mainly introduction to the different aspects of Flash development. You won't be creating any super-duper Flash games, or any complex websites, and you certainly won't be doing any complex coding. Personally, I found that to be disappointing, considering how much I enjoyed the author's style of writing and instruction, but then again, I may just be asking too much.
Finally, the book *is* a little pricey given its length and its depth of coverage, and I probably would have balked at paying this price for such a narrow scope of instruction if it weren't a necessity for my class. However, I did come away very satisfied and confident in my foundation in the basics of Flash, and I feel more than comfortable moving forward. Now I just need to find an ActionScript 3.0 book that teaches me as easily as this book taught me the basics.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Inadequate instruction - Do Not Buy, May 7, 2008
I think that this book should be renamed "How to Pretend You're Using Adobe Flash CS2 with Adobe Flash CS3".
I'm using this book right now as a textbook for a class. It's quite frustrating. The meager examples given in the book all work, but the book doesn't explain all of the concepts enough to be applied when trying to create a similar effect yourself.
For example, when it comes to teaching Action Script, the book says that the newer Action Script 3.0 is just too complicated. It instead teaches Action Script 2.0. That just seems a little silly to me. When you go to apply the code as the book teaches it simply does not work. Or, at best, it will only work partially.
If you purchase this book, don't say I didn't warn you. As for me, I'm just going to get through the class and then go through Adobe's Flash CS3 Classroom in a Book. I think the CIAB series is much better for starting out. I've used them for other Adobe programs.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good product to learn flash, February 15, 2008
Learning flash can be very difficult. Considering all of the different things you can do with flash, it might be overwhelming for some people. Thankfully, this book helps to enlighten new users to to basics of flash design. Each section includes simple tutorials to familiarize the reader with different tools inside flash, and chapter summaries give a moderately challenging project to complete. Overall, between the tutorials and the projects, you'll learn many different things that would bewilder many other users. If you want to learn flash, this is a good place to start.
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