Flash deConstruction: The Process, Design, and ActionScript of Juxt Interactive (Paperback)

~ Todd Purgason (Author), Bonnie Blake (Author), Phil Scott (Author), Brian Drake (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you're looking for a book to help you climb the Flash learning curve, this is not it. If you need help navigating the Flash interface or learning how Flash's tools work, do not buy this book. Nonetheless, if you have anything to do with multimedia design in general and Flash as a tool in particular, do not hesitate to buy Flash deConstruction: The Process, Design, and ActionScript of Juxt Interactive.

The owners and designers of Juxt Interactive, one of the best Flash design studios in the world, have taken the time to craft a book that succeeds on two levels. First, the book is a prime example, from cover to cover, of innovative and inspired design. Each page, image, section, and sidebar is thoughtfully laid out and concisely written.

Second, and unique to this book, we are given a peek behind the curtain to see how large Flash projects are handled in a multidesigner environment. Example scripts, tutorials, and how-tos based on experience make for fast learning and worthy reading. Many examples are taken from real-world projects, and there are chapters devoted to such important topics as Flash content management, innovative ActionScript navigation, and the Juxt Interactive process. Sprinkled throughout are interviews with top Flash designers, a list that reads like a Who's Who of Web design: Hillman Curtis, Fred Sharples, Josh Olm, Glenn Thomas.

There are no flaws or drawbacks to this book save that it isn't for the beginning Flash user, but even that isn't entirely true. All beginning Flash users ought to have this book, even if they may have trouble understanding it--the images, interviews, and examples are inspiring and exciting. From all viewpoints--design, aesthetics, layout, and instruction--Flash deConstruction transcends the software and medium it discusses and exemplifies the quintessential book on design. --Mike Caputo

Product Description

Imagine a seminar for web developers covering ActionScripting, pulled together and presented not by unknown, professional seminar presenters, but by a well-known and respected Flash design house. The first part of the seminar presents ActionScripting Fundamentals, not only for those new to ActionScripting, but also to explain best practices and proper workflow to those already using ActionScripting (this also helps correct bad habits). The second part of the seminar requires the class to walk through a deconstruction of the design house's own website; the third part requires the class to work through the building and deconstruction of a special site developed especially for the seminar. In each part of the seminar, three pedagogical methods are used: 1.) Basic lecture/exposition of the material; 2.) How-To sections focusing on hands-on learning of detailed areas; and 3.) special Inspiration Inserts, where the class explores and deconstructs other high-profile sites.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press; 1st edition (November 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735711496
• ISBN-13: 978-0735711495
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,301,083 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Flash deConsruct it by your self..., June 19, 2002

By	Cosmo (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is ment to be a warning for people who consider purchasing this book. DO NOT get deceived by few positive reviews!!!
Actually, THERE IS NO DECONSTRUCTION OF JUXT WEB SITE in this book. At least not in the fashion that I expected.
I expected, besides other things, specific instructions on how to build the movie clip architecture of the ENTIRE Juxt site (nesting symbols of different content within another and distributing them on the site with tips why it is done so) and the COMPLETE action script of Juxt web site.
Instead of that the hole book is general talk and description of Juxt`s process of creating web content. The author gives you only the IDEA of how something should be done not the specific steps of building Juxt`s web site.

Let me illustrate my thoughts for you with few lines of text from within the book (it`s maybe not right but I feel readers diserve to know what they can expect):
"4.3.1 ORGANIZING ARTWORK IN FLASH
Now that the file (or artwork) is in Flash, it needs to be further organized. The symbols are moved to levels, and the movie clip structure is ready to be built. It`s much easier to break apart a symbol than to make a group into a symbol after it has already been tweened several times.
Freehand, as drawing tool, deals with objects. In contrast, Flash deals with more wet, or editable, elements. We use the term "wet" because these objects are like wet paint on canvas that can be painted on and rubbed off. Freehand objects come into Flash as groups of wet elements. The groups might deceivingly feel like a symbol, but they aren`t. They lack the small crosshairs that indicate the center point of a symbol. It is important for you to get used to this to avoid creating unnecessarily heavy files.
It`s good to get into the habit of creating symbols out of everything and moving elements to their appropriate layers for animation once the Freehand file has been imported to Flash."

Believe it or not, this is ALL you get on building the structure of the Juxt site in Flash!!! You are left alone with file imported from Freehand and you are expected to create the symbols and movie clip stucture of the site by your self. Plus the action script, of course! Action scripting of some isolated elements is described, and having only that as help, you are supposed to figure out how to script the entire site. Hello!!! I am not a beginner, but I am not sure what is the best and most efficient way of doing that!!! I purchased this book hoping it would show me how to do it!!! What a mistake!!!
On top of that, there is no FINAL ".fla" file(s) of the site provided for download, with movie clips in place and action scripts assigned to them, for sake of deconstructing the site by your self.
What did I pay for?! To read how the author is proud to have Hillman Curtis for his friend?!
By the way, more than 70 pages is wasted on interviews and transitions between chapters!
This book is the worst purchase I have ever made!!!
You might try with "Macromedia Flash: Art, Design + Function", by Mighty Assembly.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Blah blah blah, March 26, 2002

By	Deacon Savoy (Bakerley, Australia) - See all my reviews

O.K. I read the book too but I'm not going to whip out all the hooplah and praise that everyone else above does (and strangely enough they all write with the the same abundent use of explicatives and adjectives ??). You want to read a book that interviews flash "geniuses" than buy it. You want to re-build the Juxt web site than click Purchase. You want to learn how to use the core functions of Flash ??? Then this one's not for you. But that's just my opinion.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, March 6, 2002

By	Igor - See all my reviews

I knew the Juxt interactive site so i just had to get this book and i didn't regret it. This book doesn't just give some recipes for trendy fx done in flash like many other books, it shows how to approach the creation of entirely flash-based websites. Workflow, concept development, designing, optimization techniques, dynamic database driven flash-sites, Flash with XML, it's all in this book.
It is not a complete manual and reference type of book. If you want to know flash inside out read the macromedia manual or one of these 1000 pages hefty, hard-to-digest books with loads of code written by programmers. But if you want to know how to actually use the tools, when to use them and how to make the best out of it in a real project then this is the right book for you. This wasn't my first flash-book, so i already had a basic understanding of that program but i believe it is good for beginners too because it also explains the actionscript-basics with short, easy-to-understand chapters. However, i believe it is best for those that are not totally new to flash but lack the routine of creating entire websites with Flash.