Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macromedia Flash MX 2004 [Paperback]

Sherry Willard Kinkoph (Author), maranGraphics (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764543342 | ISBN-13: 978-0764543340 | Publication Date: December 15, 2003 | Edition: 1st

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something – and skip the long-winded explanations?

If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you’ll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 100 Flash MX 2004 tasks, from incorporating text and creating animations to working with layers and masks, adding Flash actions, and distributing Flash movies.

"This is an excellent book. Thank you for making it so clear. I will buy many more Visual books."
– J.P. Sangdong
(North York, Ontario, Canada)

"I enthusiastically endorse this book for what it taught me, and for its great price value."
– Christopher Carneal
(Tiverton, RI)

• "Teach Yourself VISUALLY" sidebars offer practical tips and tricks
• Full-color screen shots demonstrate each task
• Succinct explanations walk you through step by step
• Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules

Editorial Reviews

Review

“…a very useful, intuitive guide…” (PC Utilities, May 2004)

From the Back Cover

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something -- and skip the long-winded explanations?

If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you’ll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 100 Flash MX 2004 tasks, from incorporating text and creating animations to working with layers and masks, adding Flash actions, and distributing Flash movies.

"This is an excellent book. Thank you for making it so clear. I will buy many more Visual books."
-- J.P. Sangdong
(North York, Ontario, Canada)

"I enthusiastically endorse this book for what it taught me, and for its great price value."
-- Christopher Carneal
(Tiverton, RI)

• "Teach Yourself VISUALLY" sidebars offer practical tips and tricks
• Full-color screen shots demonstrate each task
• Succinct explanations walk you through step by step
• Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Visual; 1st edition (December 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764543342
• ISBN-13: 978-0764543340
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,654,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sherry Willard Kinkoph has written and edited over 70 books over the past 10 years covering a variety of computer topics ranging from hardware to software, from Microsoft Office programs to the Internet. Her recent titles include Master VISUALLY eBay Business Kit, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Photoshop Elements 3.0, and Office 2003 Simplified. Sherry's ongoing quest is to help users of all levels master the ever-changing computer technologies. No matter how many times they - the software manufacturers and hardware conglomerates - throw out a new version or upgrade, Sherry vows to be there to make sense of it all and help computer users get the most out of their machines.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars FLASH-y book, Pretty pictures, sparce technical explanation, June 8, 2005

By 

d_towers "DannyTech" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macromedia Flash MX 2004 (Paperback)

I am a beginning Flash student and bought this book to compliment my classes at school.

I was initially attracted to this book due the abundant screenshots and arrowed-pointed annotations. However, very often, the technical writing is extremely sparse, basically giving one no more information than what a contextual menu would pop-up in an application's glossary section. The technical writings are no more than blurbs, and often times one really needed to study the screenshots to understand what the blurb was addressing.

The book wastes a alot of pages on some very rudimentry sections on basic Windows 101 practices such as: Opening and saving files, changes colors of the text, and text manipulation. The first 100 pages were basically review and intuitive for anyone with a fundamental computer background; thus making the first one-third of book pretty much a waste.

Speaking of waste, there was a cutesy-picture at the start or each section that might have been more efficently used for technical information or a section objective rather than a cute graphic.

In addition, there are no practices files on a cd or a website to acquire the media assests. I would have to create my own graphics to do the exercises. Thus, my outcomes never looked like the finished exercises in the book. Two-thirds of the way into this book, I was shopping for another Flash MX 2004 book to replace this sad, boring book.

This book is okay for a quick bookshelf reference but do yourself a favor and save your $30.00 for a more substantial technical manual.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book for beginners, April 5, 2005

By 

fabi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macromedia Flash MX 2004 (Paperback)

This book taught me Flash MX 2004 very efficiently and quickly. Unlike other books it does not give tedious explanations that tend to tire and confuse the reader. It shows you precisely where and what to do. The illustrations are beautiful and direct, which is absolutely helpful for Flash graphics. This is also a well structured book so you can easily find the topics you want when you need a quick reference. If you want to learn Flash quickly and enjoy it while learning, buy this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Beginner Books Out There, September 13, 2005

By 

R. Levine "PhotoGraphicsPro" (Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macromedia Flash MX 2004 (Paperback)

Teach Yourself VISUALLY books overall are my favorite books to get when I am just starting out on a new program. Everything is so basic, clear, and easy to understand, the way they show it. Highly reccomended to all beginners.