Flash 4 Magic (WITH CD-ROM) [ILLUSTRATED] (Textbook Binding)

by David J. Emberton (Author), J. Scott Hamlin (Author), David Emberton (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Flash has moved beyond Java and even Shockwave because it's inexpensive, accessible, and powerful. If you need a specific Flash solution or you learn best by getting your hands dirty, the project-based Flash 4 Magic will work well for you.

The authors have assembled 15 utilities-based projects (a calculator and an online book search animation, for example) and six games (one of which is a memory/match game similar to those found all over the Web these days). Each project is presented step by step and includes text and complementary screen shots. At the end of each lesson, a "How It Works" section gives insight into the software mechanisms and serves as a review. A brief discussion of how the project can be modified to fit the readers' needs follows. All the files, libraries, images, and even finished Flash .fla files and .swf movies are provided on the accompanying CD-ROM, helping readers follow along and debug their multimedia experiments.

Not only do the projects highlight features that are popular on the Web today (a poll animation, a shopping cart, a guestbook, and a product catalog, for instance), they are visually attractive, using hip graphics and well-executed animations that make the learning experience both realistic and enjoyable.

The book eschews jokes and lengthy discussion; readers are expected to be familiar with the software, and beginners will need to consult a reference manual occasionally, though there is a primer in the appendix on Action scripting. Another appendix lists URLs with third-party add-ons (for example, FlashJester's Creator utility that converts Flash files into screensavers). The book also treats more advanced users to projects that use external PHP scripts and JavaScript.

In addition to the finished and project files, the CD-ROM includes a demo version of Flash 4, some third-party demos (like Freehand 8 and Dreamweaver 2), and FlashPack 1 from NavWorks (a compilation of customizable Flash art and audio). --Angelynn Grant

Topics covered: Step-by-step instruction on 21 interactive Flash animation projects, including utilities like password keypad, jukebox, product catalog, poll, and shopping cart as well as games such as pong, whack-a-mole, hangman, and others. CD-ROM includes all finished and project files necessary to work along with the text, demo versions of Flash 4, other third-party software, and additional resources.

From Library Journal
This is the best Flash book on the market. It offers step-by-step instructions on 21 interactive Flash projects: lava lamps, jukeboxes, e-commerce (product catalogs, shopping carts), guestbooks, games, games, and more games. The CD-ROM includes demos of Flash 4, source code, and other third-party software. However, this is not for beginners; readers should be familiar with the software. Intermediate and advanced web designers will be inspired by the authors' considerations of Flash's aesthetic and technical potential.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Textbook Binding: 325 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Publishing (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735709491
• ISBN-13: 978-0735709492
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,397,228 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth every penny I paid, March 21, 2000

By	Dylan (Calgary Canada) - See all my reviews

As an intermediate Flash user, this book was just what I was looking for. After reading some of the previous reviews by people, I noticed many were dissapointed the book just simply gave you 21 tutorials to refer to. I believe many people were expecting something else from Flash 4 Magic, but how the authors go very in-depth through 21 unique tutorials, they all teach you something very different through each one. The point of these is simply for users to learn the various techniques the authors illustrate and to not just use them to build what is shown in the book, but to take these techniques and use them in variety to produce whatever kind of advanced flash job you are doing. Flash is software that lets you use your imagination, and here the authors help you expand your work and bring your innovative flash ideas to life.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only for Advanced Programmers, July 19, 2000

By	Jefferis Peterson "ScholarsCorner.com" (Butler, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The examples in this book are outstanding. So are the graphics. The problem is, you cannot take the examples and learn from them unless you are already an advanced programmer or a mathematician. I have been using Flash for over 2 years, so I am at least intermediate in my knowledge, but I was confounded by the book and frustrated because I hoped for something more. Advanced Flash uses 3D grahics, duplicating Move Clips, and advanced Action Scripts [algebraic functions for plotting, e.g.]. The examples give you the algebraic scripts, but the book doesn't explain how or why they work, so for someone who is a novice in this area, like me, I could not apply the examples to my own sites. In other words, I could cut and paste the code, but I didn't actually learn how to do it for myself. By contrast, I'm told by friends who are already programmers, they've learned a lot from the examples. So if you know ASP, PHP, or C, you can probably use the book to great effect. If you don't, I would learn to program first before buying this book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "NO" for beginners, "Absolute YES" for intermediates and up, February 26, 2000

By	C. Wang (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

After you've done your homework in the basics, you've got to get this book to know how to APPLY your basic skills through its step by step examples. As the name implies, this book tells you where the "magic" is!