Foundation Flex for Designers [Paperback]

Greg Goralski (Author), LordAlex Leon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590598776 | ISBN-13: 978-1590598771 | Publication Date: January 24, 2008 | Edition: 1

Flex 2 and 3 are a very hot new software releases from Adobe for creating Rich Internet Applications, which many web developers are embracing. There are a lot of books coming out on Flex development, but this book is unique in that it focuses exclusively on Flex design—how to customize the look and feel of your Flex applications.

It not only covers aspects of ActionScript 3.0 relevant to design, and CSS, but it also teaches the reader how to bring design assets into Flex from popular packages such as Photoshop, Flash, and Fireworks.

It supports both Flex 2 and 3.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Greg and LordAlex are really nice guys, and very enthusiastic; Greg isn't that big on the scene per se, but LordAlex has a popular blog (lordalex.org,) and speaks at conferences.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (January 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590598776
• ISBN-13: 978-1590598771
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,761,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When you need to make Flex pretty, December 30, 2009

By 

maker of neat things - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foundation Flex for Designers (Paperback)

First off, this book has received bad reviews for not being technical enough, but frankly that's not the scope of the book. If you're not familiar with Flex and looking to learn Flex Builder and the Flex API, this is not the correct book. It's sister from friends of Ed will serve you much better:
Foundation Flex for Developers: Data-Driven Applications with PHP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion, and LCDS

As a hybrid designer/developer with 7 years experience developing complex applications in Flash, I've been making the switch to Flex. I found that once I had a grip on the basics of Flex, I was left with a conundrum. "OK it works, but how do I make it pretty?" Coming from Flash where it's really easy to just draw a graphic and be done with it, Flex will seam a bit stark. Flex for Designers came to the rescue in my hour of need. It clearly explains how to style the Flex components with CSS, and various ways of using graphics generated in Flash, Fireworks, Photoshop & Illustrator.

If you're a designer working with a Flex developer to generate graphic resources, this book will show you multiple ways to do so, so you can choose the best techniques for your work flow. It will not, however, teach you how to make working applications in Flex.

Most of the information in the book is available elsewhere but often buried within other concepts or spread all over the net. This book is an indispensable guide for making the Flex components look the way you want them to, from simple style changing to completely custom graphcis.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Author does NOT support his examples, September 11, 2008

By 

W. Anderson (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foundation Flex for Designers (Paperback)

Chapter 2, make your first program, an RSS reader. The link he gives, to his own site and critical for the success of the example program, is dead.

The rest of the book is of equal quality.
Very poor book all around.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Issues but response is Great, February 25, 2008

By 

C. T. Macdonald "varmac" (dighton Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foundation Flex for Designers (Paperback)

I was really excited about this title I have been wanting to learn Flex! As a Flash Interactive Designer I wanted to learn how to do what I can in Flash in Flex. I received the book I quickly scanned it , looked at the lessons it looks AWESOME! I am excited. I open the book follow the instructions I realize I need Flex 3 ...OK that's fine I go get the beta, removing the earlier version first I now have 90 days with Beta 3 ...cool...

I open the book begin the lesson and I am met with a errata error it seems that Adobe changed the Beta from the one used in the book ..the instructions tell me to right click and select the anchor point ...there are no anchor point or a context menu??

So I did what every designer would do, I think ? I went to the books web site lookng for Errata...NONE!, Looking for a contact NONE! Filled out the eratta form an submitted but I was anxious so I went to one of the authors blog Lord Alex and sent a email titled "Can't use the Book"! He replied with in hours! Wow! He said it appeared I was right Adobe had changed the Beta versions and he would work out a solution...well he was better than his word..he posted a animated screen capture on the steps to complete, and aided me in debugging..

I completed the lesson and on to lesson 2....I will keep you informed!

Just let me say thanks to Lord Alex his book is just what I need to get started and he has been great...FOE still has not posted an errata page yet though... FOE get on it ,please!