Description:
Flash has moved beyond Java and even Shockwave because it's inexpensive, accessible, and powerful. If you need a specific Flash solution or you learn best by getting your hands dirty, the project-based Flash 4 Magic will work well for you. The authors have assembled 15 utilities-based projects (a calculator and an online book search animation, for example) and six games (one of which is a memory/match game similar to those found all over the Web these days). Each project is presented step by step and includes text and complementary screen shots. At the end of each lesson, a "How It Works" section gives insight into the software mechanisms and serves as a review. A brief discussion of how the project can be modified to fit the readers' needs follows. All the files, libraries, images, and even finished Flash .fla files and .swf movies are provided on the accompanying CD-ROM, helping readers follow along and debug their multimedia experiments. Not only do the projects highlight features that are popular on the Web today (a poll animation, a shopping cart, a guestbook, and a product catalog, for instance), they are visually attractive, using hip graphics and well-executed animations that make the learning experience both realistic and enjoyable. The book eschews jokes and lengthy discussion; readers are expected to be familiar with the software, and beginners will need to consult a reference manual occasionally, though there is a primer in the appendix on Action scripting. Another appendix lists URLs with third-party add-ons (for example, FlashJester's Creator utility that converts Flash files into screensavers). The book also treats more advanced users to projects that use external PHP scripts and JavaScript. In addition to the finished and project files, the CD-ROM includes a demo version of Flash 4, some third-party demos (like Freehand 8 and Dreamweaver 2), and FlashPack 1 from NavWorks (a compilation of customizable Flash art and audio). --Angelynn Grant Topics covered: Step-by-step instruction on 21 interactive Flash animation projects, including utilities like password keypad, jukebox, product catalog, poll, and shopping cart as well as games such as pong, whack-a-mole, hangman, and others. CD-ROM includes all finished and project files necessary to work along with the text, demo versions of Flash 4, other third-party software, and additional resources.
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