Customer Reviews

Macromedia Flash 8: A Tutorial Guide

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Basically this is a printed version of the Macromedia Flash 8 online Help docs .. so I was a bit disappointed that I had to pay 20 bucks for a book that should have come in the box (it's not like this is an inexpensive program) ..

That said, having printed docs does have its advantages .. so no big grief from me on that point. But if you are looking for something that you don't already have, you may want to check some other alternatives ...

What the book teaches, it does very well .. you'll get a nice overview of the basics .. and the tutorials are very easy to follow .. even does a fair job on getting what can be an intimidating foray into ActionScript.

However, there are two areas not covered I found glaring omissions ..

One .. no instruction at all on preloaders (those "movie loading" animations before the actual Flash animations) ..none .. not even a mention of their existence. Since most users of Flash will need to know how to do this .. I cannot believe there wasn't even a cursory discussion about this.

Two .. the biggest improvement to Flash 8 Professional is its video handling capabilities. Again .. nothing on this at all ... outside of the very first lesson where you are instructed to drag a video (FLV) file from the Library to the Stage .. no talk about creating FLVs (using the Video Encoder) .. nothing on imbedding or streaming .. how to best incorporate video into Flash .. nothing .. I was really shocked this wasn't covered .. even at the most rudimentary level.

Also .. no index .. another unexplainable omission ..

Again .. what it does .. it does well .. but for being the "Official Macromedia Documentation" (now Adobe) for Flash 8 .. it should have offered a lot more.

I've been making websites for almost 9 years now. It started with HTML and over time expanded to include Javascript, CSS, and eventually Coldfusion. I have watched as web standards change and evolve and go through "phases". For me, Flash was one of those "phases". Everyone's seen them. Websites made with Flash just because they can be. Menu is flash. Interface is flash. The entire site was one big .swf file. I hated it. So I put off learning it for many years. Thankfully people realized some of the best websites were a combination of many of the technologies on the market; and of course Flash was one of them. I had to learn it.
Macromedia FLASH 8: A Tutorial Guide is exactly what you'd expect. It's a guide to learning Flash basics, presented in a tutorial form. I knew what I was getting into it when I picked it up. What some people may not realize is that they already own this book. Open your copy of Flash 8, click on "Help" and then "Getting Started with Flash". Scroll down to the tutorial section and get started. The text you find there is almost word-for-word what you'd find in this book. Do I think that's a problem? No, not necessarily. What are the benefits of paying 30 dollars for something I can get for free? I'm a coder by nature. I'm used to having reference manuals around. Like some people, I prefer hard copies most of the time since I already spend so much time staring at text on a computer screen. To be honest, I've tried since Flash 5 to run through the tutorials and kick start the learning process. Unfortunately, between the "property inspector", the "action script" code window, the "stage", the "library" and now the tutorial window it just seemed a bit overwhelming (even with two monitors!). But having this book in front of me so that I can read the tutorial and then work it out on the computer proved to make all the difference.
The book is 26 chapters and just under 300 pages. It starts with simple tasks like creating a banner, and leads up to using Actionscript to create customized applications using Flash. Personally, I felt a lot more comfortable doing the actionscript chapters than I did using the Flash GUI. Flash can be a very complicated thing to learn for some people. There's a lot of information to take in, and a lot of windows to keep track of. If you're anything like me and have been dying to learn Flash but just can't seem to find the time; this book might be for you. But if you're not a "hard copy" kind of person, just remember you can get all the information for free by using the help function built into the program.

The macromedia Flash 8 tutorial guide for Jay Armstrong and Jen deHaan is the official macromedia tutorial guide for Flash 8. This book is a good book for beginners to Flash 8 as it gives simple organized training examples that help understanding the program features.
The book is divided into tasks starting from creating Flash-working file to using dynamic content in the Flash project.
The best advantage in this book is the simplicity in delivering information, as well as the organizing and the developing of the examples.

This book is a great starter for Flash 8 for both regular and professional versions of the program. Chapters are broken down into simple subjects which can be completed in a short period of time. This book enables a person to get acquainted with many areas of Flash and the interface. This book works with the samples that are installed automatically when Flash installs. A couple of times when I got stuck, I realized I had not followed the steps as written in the book. This book is an excellent beginner tutorial.

When I first picked up this book, I noticed how thin and small it was.

Two things came to mind:
-It is short and straigth to the point in covering the essentials
-It will make a good pocket reference

Unfortunately, it does neither.

I have worked with Flash since version 2. I was looking for a great book to recommend to my students.

It covers some topics but a lot is missing for someone just starting in Flash.

I guess it should be retitled a "Key changes in Flash 8 not found in Flash MX 2004". It would be too generous of me to do so
regardless because it doesn't come even close.
Save your $$$$.

I bought this back when Flash 8 was popular (now I'm on CS5). It was a great way to learn the basics of Flash. All I needed at the time was something basic and this walked you through the workspace and basic functionality/animation skills necessary to complete projects.

There were a couple times I felt the book assumed you knew a couple things about flash and if you don't know them it is a pain, but you can get by with a quick web search. Other than that it is a good book, but probably outdated now (unless you are using Flash 8).