Amazon.co.uk Review
When a book calls itself an "official guide" to something, readers inevitably get a little sceptical. But when you're dealing with an application as big as Macromedia Director, an official guide is actually a welcome sight.
Director 8 Demystified offers a much-needed road map to the latest version of the multimedia content creation tool, and as the officially sanctioned guide, it offers a complete rundown of the new program.
Written in part by the author of Director 7 Demystified, and the author of the official Director 7 and Lingo Authorized, this new book provides insight from a pair of experienced users, developers, and writers. Broken down into three well-illustrated main sections (four, if you count the one that contains appendices, references and glossary), this massive volume starts with the basics of using Director and then digs deeper into Lingo, scripting, handling multiple movies and Shockwave. Book Three, "Special Topics", goes into lengthy discussions on debugging, troubleshooting, using digital audio and video and Xtras.
Sidebars with tips, important points to remember like compatibility issues, pointers to chapter numbers where a mentioned topic was previously discussed, and most importantly, new or changed features in version 8 appear frequently throughout the book. Although there are also plenty of exercises and examples, more project-based tutorials would have been welcome, especially something on large projects. Content, media management, and handling large content backups aren't dealt with in enough depth either.
Director 8 Demystified is an almost mandatory book for the serious Director user. Comprehensive, thorough and filled with code snippets and examples, it should be bundled with Director itself. --Mike Caputo
Book Description
Whether you're a curious beginner or a seasoned multimedia pro, you'll find everything you need to author interactive Web sites, CD-ROMs, and other professional-level apps in Director 8 Demystified. Published in conjunction with Macromedia Press, it's training straight from the source.
Like previous editions, Director 8 Demystified's comprehensive nature makes it the book that stays next to your computer rather than on the shelf. Straightforward explanations are coupled with exercises that give you immediate, hands-on experience with the program and the related Lingo and Shockwave technologies. An accompanying CD-ROM contains many of the tools and scripts discussed in the book.
Among other topics, this edition covers Director 8's-
Improved design and authoring tools
Ability to sort cast members by name, size, and date using the Cast Manager
Enhanced media control
Multiuser connectivity
One-click publishing of Shockwave content
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