Customer Reviews

Flash MX ActionScript: The Designer's Edge

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been using Flash for awhile now and have purchased quite a few books on the subject. When I learned enough of the basics to move into actionscript, I was lost. Most of the books I had assume you are a programmer or else just dump code in your lap expecting you to just plug it in and not really know how it works. This is the first book I have found that gives you the code and explains HOW and WHY it works - and all in simple, easy to understand English. I am an artist, not a programmer, but with a book like this, I too can enter the realm of coding and truly unleash my creativity...and isn't that what it really all about?
My highest rating.

The first thing that caught my attention as I thumbed through the book was the plentiful screen shots showing detailed example movies. These full-color images helped me follow the text and the examples.

The examples that can be downloaded from the publisher's web site are very well done and allow the user to concentrate on the lesson at hand without having to worry about the framework required to support the lesson. They also show the lesson in context of a functional Flash movie. The designer author's touch compliments the programming author by adding great movies that keep the coding from getting boring. The text fully explained the ActionScript code being introduced. The section on trigonometry was written so that the mathematically impaired, such as me, could understand the concepts being presented.

I enjoyed the light and easy writing style that included humor yet was able to thoroughly convey the necessary information. Many technical books are dry but this one is not.

No one book does it all and that is true of this book. It is assumed that the reader understands the basic elements of creating a Flash MX movie and wish to learn ActionScript to enhance their Flash movies and add user interactions. Also, the book does not give a detailed description of all of the Flash ActionScript functions. To complement this book you can use the Flash Help functions or an ActionScript reference manual. While reference manuals are full of details they do not do a good job of putting them together into the context of a real Flash movie. This book and it's examples do that very well! The examples cover a range of applications.

All books can be improved and this book isn't perfect. Looking at the images, I had difficulty locating the buttons and menus referenced in the text. Including a small graphic of the button in the text or highlighting the area in the screen capture would have helped at first. Then, I got the hang of it and it didn't bother me anymore.

Overall, I would recommend this book and rate it as excellent.

This book is a must have for any designers library. I have wasted a lot of money buying books that were shere geek-speak. It is easy to understand. I am not a linier thinker and Flash tends to be a lineir program....I have stayed away from Flash because I have had a hard time grasping it. Scott Hamlin and Jennifer Hall have given me a tool, I can finally use to better understand Flash and Flash's actionscripting. Thank you both for the time and effort you put in to write this book. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good, easy to understand, user freindly Flash actionscripting book. Scott Hamlin's website is also a must join site for anyone looking for great tutorials on Flash files, Web Site layouts, and Photoshop files. ...

If I had bought this book 4-5 years ago when it related to the current version of Flash/ActionScript, I would have given it 5 stars. Even with that drawback, as someone who is new to ActionScript, I learned a lot and now have enough knowledge to produce some projects I've wanted to for some time. I now am going to upgrade to Flash CS3/ActionScript 3 and hope I can find a book that is as good as this one for the new version.

One thing I was trying to do was to load and parse XML files. This book was short on the XML part, but with some help from some web site tutorials and this book I was able to accomplish it.

If you're still using Flash MX 2004, and want to get started with ActionScript, I would say that this is the best book out there.

I read it, is time consuming but it worth it. This book emphasizes on the gap between a designer and a programmer doing Flash projects, in fact the writers are, one designer and a programmer. So they will guide you through the concepts of ActionScripts considering the other side which is the design part. On it's own is a unique type of book, never seen such a great combination. Just bear in mind, this is an ActionScript 1 training book...although is an ActionScript 1 book, it will gonna help you learining ActionScript 2 faster. I like it at all ;-)

Being new to IT in general and graphics programs in particular, I was pleasantly surprised to find this book extremely easy to comprehend in addition to covering the necessary subject matter in depth. Definitely a 5 star book.

els

I was looking for ActionScript books here in the Philippines and this book caught my attention when I held it in my hand.

I asked the National Bookstore lady to open the package and lo and behold! The pages are packed with full colored images.

I love reading books if they have a lot of images. This makes you more interested on finishing the book from start to finish.

I am planning to take up Flash courses and I will bring this book whenever I go. =)

One thing that was lacking was a large list of ActionScript tags. What the heck...the tutorial is more pleasing to read though.

Scott Hamlin and Jennifer Scott's book is clearly written and the worked examples are straightforward.

I really like the fact that the screen shots are in colour, it makes a real difference.

The authors write a very convincing introduction about how many books are written by people who don't really know how to write, blah, blah, blah. I just KNEW this would be the book that would be written to a true novice level.

I was out of my league by page 43. In just that short amout of time, I progressed from kindergarten to high school senior. Or at least, the book did. I was still in kindergarten.

I wasted a lot of money on this book. Just because a book is written by a designer and a programmer, it doesn't mean that they understand the first thing about explaining concepts.

I want my money back. Save yours. Buy Franklin and Makar's Macromedia Flash MX Actionscipting (Advanced) if you want a truly basic book that takes its time introducing you to new concepts.