Essential Flash 5 For Web Professionals [Paperback]

Lynn Kyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 2000 | Series: Prentice Hall Essential Web Professionals

Flash is Macromedia's standard for interactive vector graphics and animation on the Web. The new Flash 5 is the most powerful version yet: it introduces new creative tools and seamlessly integrates with Macromedia's FreeHand and Fireworks; it includes ActionScript - a complete JavaScript-like language for creating interactivity and support for XML data interchange; and it Flash 5 includes MP3 support and enables draggable interface elements, basic math, and logic. Now you can learn Flash 5 in a flash from a professional Web designer who teaches through real-world projects you can actually view live on a linked Web site! Start with the Flash basics: discover how to animate pages using timelines, frames, tweening and fading; then add interactivity with symbols, buttons, actions, and sound effects. Walk through the process of publishing to the Web, including pre-loading, detecting the Flash plug-in, and controlling server settings. Best of all, the book's projects are linked with a live Web site where you can see (and download) the same Flash effects in various stages of completion.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's important to note right off that Essential Flash 5 for Web Professionals is strictly for those "Web professionals" who are new to Flash, and that the lessons are tutorial-based: readers must follow along, recreating, step-by-step, two specific projects (the files for which can be downloaded from the publisher's site, http://www.phptr.com/essential/flash5). The book is not good for jumping around or trying to troubleshoot some pressing problem for your own Flash animation (for example, trying to quickly find out how to make an animated rollover button).

For those beginners who appreciate a friendly, low-tech boost up Flash's daunting learning curve, the compact-sized Essential Flash 5 is a good choice. The text features a gentle walk-through of two fairly simple projects. The artwork is closer to the homemade look of a local business rather than cutting edge, visually sophisticated sites; however, this same lack of whiz-bang visuals might be more accessible and inviting for those who are easily overwhelmed by new technology. And the author does a good job of explaining the many options available when publishing your movie.

One nice feature gets readers quickly off the ground: the opening chapter shows how to recreate a non-Flash site using Flash. Subsequent chapters elaborate, adding rollovers, animations, and even a form. If your boss just expanded your job description to include "Web professional" by dumping the company's Web site in your lap, this book will at least help you save face at the next office roundtable. -Angelynn Grant

Topics covered: Tutorial instruction on basic use of Flash 5 to create interactive Web sites. Includes:

• Introduction to tools and interface
• Working with layers, text and creating simple graphics
• Working with timelines, frames, and tweening
• Creating symbols and buttons, including simple animated buttons
• Applying actions to buttons
• Adding sound effects
• Working with scenes
• Creating a simple form
• Publishing to the Web, including choosing settings

Review

A clean layout and well-chosen and clearly printed screenshots round out this down-to-earth manual. Ideal if you need a fast track to professional competence with Flash 5.Computer arts -Flash special, Issue 18

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (December 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130913901
• ISBN-13: 978-0130913906
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,831,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynn Beighley is a fiction writer stuck in a technical book writer's body. Upon discovering that technical book writing actually paid real money, she learned to accept and enjoy it.

After going back to school to get a Masters in Computer Science, she worked for the acronyms NRL and LANL. Then she discovered Flash, and wrote her first bestseller.

A victim of bad timing, she moved to Silicon Valley just before the great crash. She spent several years working for Yahoo! and writing other books and training courses. Finally giving in to her creative writing bent, she moved to the New York area to get an MFA in Creative Writing.

Her Head First-style thesis was delivered to a packed room of professors and fellow students. It was extremely well received, and she finished her degree, finished Head First SQL, and can't wait to begin her next book.
Lynn loves traveling, cooking, and making up elaborate background stories about complete strangers. She's a little scared of clowns.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok, December 28, 2000

By 

Todd M. Williamsen (Lake Villa, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Flash 5 For Web Professionals (Paperback)

I am still looking for that perfect reference book. I guess there is no such thing in any computer related subject. They either skim over an area or avoid it all together. This is another one of those. Granted its only 225 pages, and is quite helpful to those that are beginners. I want a book I can grow with not a beginner book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me....., January 18, 2001

By 

D. Kahn (Merrick, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essential Flash 5 For Web Professionals (Paperback)

I thought this book would assume more knowledge of the user being that it says it's for web professionals. I thought it might get into database stuff and etc, but it didn't. I knew it would start very basic but was hoping it would delve deeper. It maintains anlevel that is rather basic. I would only recomend this book to someone who is new to flash.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Basically for simple instruction, some bonus material, November 4, 2001

By 

"foxyroxychick" (Hawaii, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Flash 5 For Web Professionals (Paperback)

Here's the skinny on my rating:

The Pros: 1.Flash 5 for Web Professionals is simple and easy to read (ie. the author doesn't assume that you are a flash guru or a uber-techie). 2.The sections on flash plug-in detection and preloading are invaluable (some other more in-depth books forget about plug-in detection) 3. It explains the stuff you need in order to get started with a flash applications such as tweening, simple animated buttons, timelines, and sound--and it isn't the size of the Bible. 4. Publishing chapter is very helpful and easy to understand. 5. It has a 'live' website for you to see the lessons that you learned in action.

The Cons: 1. The insturctions regarding flash tools and effects are very basic (as in you will not know how everything works and how to do all that cool stuff one sees on icebox.com). 2. It is not aimed at the web professional, but towards the beginner and therefore never gets into the truly complicated, flashy and impressive stuff needed for high-end sites such as e-commerce sites, sites with database integration, and sites using movie-clip/draggable windows-type inspired navigation. 3. The site that you construct using this book and the 'live' website version of the book are truly--asthetically speaking--hideous and not inspiring in the creative department to say the least (but, hey, no one can make you be creative).

After weighing the pros and cons, I gave this book a 4 because of what it DID do for me that I found not explained as simply in better titles (such as Foundation Flash 5). I found the publishing chapter to be very helpful and even found use for the 'previous/next' button actionscripting explained in the book.

While certainly not the best Flash book out there, if you are a web professional then maybe this would get 3 stars and Foundation Flash 5 is far better for beginners, this book does deliver some worthy content for (the price).