Rating: 
Summary: An Absolute Must Buy !!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: My name is Brian. I am certified in MCP, A+, I-Net+, M CIW D (Master Certified Internet Webmaster Designer) and a CTT(Certified Technical Trainer). I do web site design, consultation and I do corporate training for a living. All I can say is YES!!!!! Buy this book and do it now!!! I have recommended other books on here but this one is really a cut above! I just finished it and it really helped put the polish on my skills! Do you really want to learn Flash 5? Are you lost in a sea of confusion, trying to decide which direction to go? Do you want me to recommend step by step what books to buy? Ok, buckle up Spanky.... here we go..... BOOK 1)- As far as what is published right now I would tell you to start with this book! It gives you an excellent foundation of the tools, interface and abilities of Flash 5. It gives you smart ideas, suggestions and best practices for using Flash 5 alone and with a website, on top of teaching it. They go into sound and tweaking, layers, scenes, events and everything else!!! It even goes into modest depth on ActionScript!!! It gives you real world examples. The book takes you through Flash 5 step by step but at the same time has you building your own "Flash 5 website"! Cool huh?! You will actually put your skills to work! You do not need to complete the website to learn it though. It has plenty of pics to guide you. They are just black and white..nothing fancy! The book has a companion website that provides the file samples to practice with, a forum to post questions, a Developer's corner where you can really learn the ropes and other info. This book takes you from learning the interface to showing you how to publish your "movie" via FTP to a website. At the end of the book they have recommendations on how to get jobs in the Flash 5 arena, do's and don'ts for production, and where to look for inspiration. BOOK 2)- After you are finished this book ((and believe me it will go by quickly)) buy the next book in this series - "Foundation ActionScript". If you really enjoyed and devoured Foundation Flash 5 like I did then this book will give you more of what you are seeking! Foundation ActionScript gives you heavy duty introduction into programming theory, Flash best practices and gets you up to the intermediate to advanced user level in ActionScript fast! BOOK 3)- After all that the choice is up to you where you go and how far you develop your Flash 5 skills but I would recommend "Flash 5 Bible"...not as a learning tool but more as an excellent reference. It offers in depth instruction on each Flash ability and even goes so far as to instruct you in how to use Flash 5 with other software like Quicktime, Poser, and many other 3rd party programs. This was extremely valuable for me! I actually had to borrow a friends copy at work to save my rear! I hope I have helped you through the murky waters today. My last recommendation...go and review the book first person at a local bookstore and read the first chapter or two just to see if the book and its style are for you. Best wishes.
Rating:
Summary: Foundation Flash 5 heralds new wave of Flash authors
Review: Lately, Macromedia is giving birth to newer versions of its applications at faster rate than the Alien Queen in the Sci-fi classic movie, Aliens. So...it's only natural that a flurry of new books would be released to capitalize on those newer release version. That's to be expected. What's different in this case is that such a high quality book as Foundation Flash 5 is one of the first Flash 5 books out of the gate. At the time of this review (November 22, 2000), there are only three other Flash 5 books currently out (Flash 5 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide by Katherine Ulrich, New Masters of Flash (WITH CD-ROM) by Yugo Nakamura, et al, and Flash 5 Fast & Easy Web Development by Howie Green)with nearly 30 more books looming on the horizon in the next three months. However, Foundation Flash 5 has the punch of a book released at the height of an application version's mautrity instead of at its infancy. The trio of authors (Sham Bhangal, Amanda Farr and Patrick Rey) are part of the new wave of dynamic Flashers who can both create Flash works that qualify as pure art while being able to find a way to teach those very same skills and techniques to both Flash beginners and seasoned veterans. Foundation Flash 5 covers it all: Essentials, Tools, Motion and Shape Tweening, ActionScripts, Actions & Interactions, Sound, Optimizing, Publishing, Design, Content and much more. At more than 600 pages, this book definitely has space for plenty of examples. Screenshots are used very effectively with code samples and text that can help any Flasher of any level understand the concepts being presented. Foundation Flash 5 is easy to navigate with informative appendices on Sound Sampling and the melding of HTML and Flash. A glossary is also provided to help newbies familiarize themselves with Flash terminology. If you want to learn to use Macromedia Flash 5, and to use it well, this is the book to get for your library. If you are already versed in Flash and want to enhance your skills, this is also the book for you. With a very reasonable price for a book this size and with so much useful content, Foundation Flash 5 is a true bargain. I just hope that Farr, Rey and Bhangal are called upon again to author the Flash 6 version of this book whenever Macromedia releases that incarnation of Flash. I recommend Foundation Flash 5 highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Good starting point.
Review: This book is not a reference to flash 5. This book goes through step by step how to make flash movies from the ground up. It assumes nothing; which is great for most beginners. I was definitly not a beginner when i bought the book. (i got it at the time of release because it was hyped up quite a bit). At the time i understood, and fast tracked through it to get at the good stuff to find out that it never really got any "great" stuff. Some of the examples are done very well, and are great in the tutorial sense, but i was disapointed that i didn't learn anything new. (or little). This is flash 5. You could learn flash just as well with tutorials online at any of the bigger flash websites. If you're new to flash: this is a great start. But if you have the least bit of flash knowledge then i can see someone getting bored with this qucikly. Bottom line:
Great place to start. Not a reference by any means. Remember its flash 5. Flash MX is out, and much more fun than flash 5.
Rating:
Summary: Great Flash 5 book
Review: First off, let me say that I am (was) totally new to webdesign/programming/and flash. In nearly all respects though, I can totally agree with all the reviews that give this book 4-5 stars. I'm skeptical about buying tutorials... I tend to lean more towards answering my problems via the internet. I've had instances with other books that spend the first 200 pages and the last 200 pages of a 450 page book talking about nothing but fluff. HOwever, this book I found to be great. The basics were covered, I was up and designing my site on the very first day. Granted, this bood will AT BEST get you to intermediate level... but thats what you should expect!.. after all.. its a FOUNDATION book. Addressing all those that had problems completing the code portion of this book, or following the examples, I too thought I had problems a time or two when reading this book, only to find out that when I went back and very carefully followed the instructions, my problems were solved. I am currently on page 510 of this book. For those of you looking into flash I would also suggest FOundation ActionScript as a good supplement to Foundation Flash. I eagerly consumned the first 5 chapters of FOundation Flash and went right out and bought Foundation Actionscript. I am now nearly done with FOundation Flash and about 2/3's the way through Foundation Actionscript. For me, this worked awesome reading both books at the same time, but only after chapter 5 or so of FF. I now how Flash 5 studio sitting on my desk waiting to be read and have ordered the rest of the studio series as well. Flash is nothing short of awesome. THanks for your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Well.....
Review: This book was ok in the fact that it spent the entire book building on one real project. However, I thought the book was a tougher read than the Teach yourself Flash 5 in 24 hrs book. I guess it's really a matter of preference. I found this book to be adaquate, but not anything close to the other book. Teach yourself had a unique way of teaching you that really hammered the techniques home. I guess I didn't feel this one accomplished that.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent intro to Flash!
Review: I've been working through this book for almost a week and I love it! The writing is clear and the concepts are explained very well. The authors include hands-on tutorials for each concept, and their step-by-step instructions walk you through your first try at each new skill. They are also very good about teaching you the keyboard shortcuts for common actions as you go along (and reminding you to use them!) Knowing the shortcuts for adding a keyframe, breaking apart a graphic, converting a graphic to a symbol etc. makes your project work go quickly and really builds your sense of competence. At the end of each chapter you practice what you learned in that chapter by using the new skills to add on to your ongoing "case study" website. This is one of the best tutorials on a program that I have come across and one of the few technical books I have ever read cover to cover. I have many technical books and usually end up using them for reference instead of actually working through them. If you want to gain competence in Flash in a week or two, get "Foundation Flash 5" and work your way through it. It's easy!
Rating:
Summary: A must for any beginner
Review: I believe that there are many good and reliable books out there teaching the basics for Flash5. This book is one of them. The author made a carefull study in how to present the neccesary information for a Flash beginner. The first ten chapters are explaining the core elements involve in creating tweening, buttons, how to manipulate vector graphics, how to create layers, new themes, sound....ect. He also carefully show how you fit all these elements together in creating an end result. What I like about the book is that the author gives insight in potencial pitfalls when creating your flash movie. He also tells how to publish your flash movie. The last two chapters gives a foundation for beginning to learn action script. Action scripting is the programming 'language' used in Flash. With AS you have much more ability to create powerful and impressive Flash movies. You can be confident that when you buy this book you will not waist your money. It is a good investment. Especially for those beginners who has no clue about how Flash is done, like myself.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Flash Resource for real beginners
Review: I'd say I know Dreamweaver fairly well, a little bit of Fireworks, and up until I ordered this book, no Flash. But within the first few lessons I was animating! This book is truly a beginners book and it reiterates important points throughout the exercises to help reinforce key topics. I've had this book for three days and I'm already on page 277 and enjoying it.
Rating:
Summary: Simple to Follow
Review: If you want simple, and I did, then this one's for you. I am a programmer trying to at least get respectable from a graphical point of view. If you're in the same boat or a graphics person just starting out, then this books for you. It makes basic Flash tremendously easy to implement.
Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners
Review: I just purchased flash 5 and since the last time I'd used any Macromedia products was Dreamweaver 1.0 I knew that I'd need a good book to quickly get me up to speed. I went to the library and got a copy of this book and was impressed with the structure and information contained in it. I went through the entire book in about two weeks and feel that I now have a good basic grasp on flash. However, it is hard to go back in chapters and review specific subjects or actions. The index is worthless and to try and find a specific topic you must scan the entire chapter. Now that I've read the book I am glad I used it as an introduction, but I think that I'll buy something that expands more on the topics and is a better reference manual.
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