Rating: 
Summary: Not much help
Review: "How to do" should not be in the title of this book. This is more of a reference manual with not nearly enough hands on work or tutorials. Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Best AS Book out There!
Review: As a professor of multimedia at an art institution in Boston, I must say, I was quite impressed by the thoroughness of "How to Do Everything with Macromedia Flash 5" by Bonnie Blake. I am using this e-book in a Basic Motion Graphics class and student feedback is very positive. It is an easy read and basic Flash info is simple to absorb. I also highly recommend the Colin Moock, ActionScript book from O'Reilly. For those ready for the next step, this is the best AS book out there.Gary Witworth
Boston, MA
Rating:
Summary: Best AS Book out There!
Review: As a professor of multimedia at an art institution in Boston, I must say, I was quite impressed by the thoroughness of "How to Do Everything with Macromedia Flash 5" by Bonnie Blake. I am using this e-book in a Basic Motion Graphics class and student feedback is very positive. It is an easy read and basic Flash info is simple to absorb. I also highly recommend the Colin Moock, ActionScript book from O'Reilly. For those ready for the next step, this is the best AS book out there. Gary Witworth
Boston, MA
Rating:
Summary: Best AS Book out There!
Review: As a professor of multimedia at an art institution in Boston, I must say, I was quite impressed by the thoroughness of "How to Do Everything with Macromedia Flash 5" by Bonnie Blake. I am using this e-book in a Basic Motion Graphics class and student feedback is very positive. It is an easy read and basic Flash info is simple to absorb. I also highly recommend the Colin Moock, ActionScript book from O'Reilly. For those ready for the next step, this is the best AS book out there. Gary Witworth
Boston, MA
Rating:
Summary: Great Flash Book!!!!!
Review: As a seasoned computer user, I find this book refreshingly entertaining and personable while filled with many brilliant pearls of information. The step-by-step examples and the online files are terrific. The author really has a feel for what readers need to know. A really solid Flash book!!
Rating:
Summary: Authoritative, easy to understand reference
Review: Before reading this book I was struggling with Flash. Thanks to the author's thorough coverage of the software and the helpful tutorials, I am now able to create professional looking Flash movies. The book is well written and easy to understand. I keep it within arm's reach whenever I'm working with Flash. I can highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to master all the features of Flash.
Rating:
Summary: I wonder about some of these glowing reviews...
Review: Despite the author's impressive credentials, I found this book to be poorly written. Despite the incessant mention of careful planning when using Flash, the author didn't seem to plan well herself. The chapters often tend to veer off topic, and the explanations are excessively wordy and often ambiguous or unclear. The useful content of this book could be easily condensed into one about 1/4 the size. There are also numerous mistakes throughout the book. While this is not uncommon in technical books these days, one would think that somebody would sit down and actually read the book before it is published. The code examples, which must be downloaded from the publisher's web site, often don't match up with the text. This as well as the errors and typos can make it very confusing to somebody actually trying to learn something. In addition, despite the glossy, colorful cover, this is a one-color book. Several times, there are references to color in the figures as if the book was originally intended to be printed with color examples. If you want a wordy, haphazard guide to Flash with poor direction and basic content get this book. If you're starting from scratch and want to learn how to do everything with Flash, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: I wonder about some of these glowing reviews...
Review: Despite the author's impressive credentials, I found this book to be poorly written. Despite the incessant mention of careful planning when using Flash, the author didn't seem to plan well herself. The chapters often tend to veer off topic, and the explanations are excessively wordy and often ambiguous or unclear. The useful content of this book could be easily condensed into one about 1/4 the size. There are also numerous mistakes throughout the book. While this is not uncommon in technical books these days, one would think that somebody would sit down and actually read the book before it is published. The code examples, which must be downloaded from the publisher's web site, often don't match up with the text. This as well as the errors and typos can make it very confusing to somebody actually trying to learn something. In addition, despite the glossy, colorful cover, this is a one-color book. Several times, there are references to color in the figures as if the book was originally intended to be printed with color examples. If you want a wordy, haphazard guide to Flash with poor direction and basic content get this book. If you're starting from scratch and want to learn how to do everything with Flash, look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Reference Book
Review: I bought the Flash Bible 5 because I needed a backup for the Flash manual (which is terrible). The Bible did not answer many questions I had and it also has a lot of irrelevant things in it. The How To book on the other hand, answers many of the questions that the Flash manual and the Bible do not talk about. So I recommend this How To "Everything" book to people who are looking for answers to Flash questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Review
Review: I bought this book based on all of the good reviews but I am dissapointed. The information is good but if your goal is to teach someone how to use a design program, you have to show some graphics on it! The book is 90% text and 10% graphics and screenshots. I agree with the other reviews: the book is by far better than the manual but I think it could be better. It even has no companion CD, you have to download the files from their site and it's a little difficult to find them. If you really want to create something interesting and useful, I recommend 'Macromedia Flash for Windows and Mac 5 Visual Quickstart Guide' by Katherine Ulrich, which is cheaper and better.
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