Amazon.co.uk Review
The audience for the "idiot" and "dummy" school of instruction books is pretty well defined--either you like them or you don't. As with others of this fashion, the
Complete Idiot's Guide to Macromedia Flash 5 uses "bite-size chunks" to teach as opposed to a longer tutorial style or a concise step by step. Promising that readers "learn Flash in a fun, non-techno babble way", the author peppers mini-lessons with copious puns and jokes, cartoon-style illustrations and a familiar, friendly tone. He walks you through all the basic features to create simple
Flash movies, even ones that employ basic ActionScripting.
However, the user-friendly logic of Flash 5's panels go a long way in making this ease of learning possible--most readers could figure out each step on their own. On the other hand, this book can serve as the sugar to help the medicine go down: readers reaching for a book even jokingly aimed at idiots probably need some friendly help when staring at the Flash interface. If you fall into this category, this may help you overcome your fears and finally get you started.
Warning: there are quite a few errors in the book--mistakes in the text as well as incorrect screenshots. But, on the bright side (if there really is a "bright side" to any mistake), the slow, "idiot" pacing pretty much guarantees readers will be aware that it's an error. Perhaps readers could look on such errors as "pop quizzes". --Angelynn Grant
Topics covered:
Introduction to Flash 5, including basic instruction in Creating art, Working with layers, Working with symbols, Creating buttons, Simple interactivity, Creating forms, Simple ActionScripting, Tweening, Masking, Publishing.
Synopsis
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Macromedia Flash 5 teaches you the basics of using Flash 5 to create stimulating and action-packed Web pages. Whether you're a novice or more experienced user, this step-by-step, light-hearted approach will ease you into the world of Flash-y Web-page-building--with all the bells and whistles of streaming audio and video.
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