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Rating: 
Summary: The Printing Press
Review: I am a Psychiatrist who only ever openned a PC 10 years ago. I believe in GUI as a good unique way of presenting techniques.
Flash MX is the natural progression from Flash 5 but more so. It is much more than an improved version.
On reading Upgrade Essentials the learning curve is made much more manageable. The book is enthusiastic & encouraging. It is never simplistic but is always concise & takes nothing for granted.There is no rereading paragraphs to look "where did that come from?" similarly there is no skimping pages.
This is not just a "how to do book" it is much more. There is a genuine & open effort to retrain thinking & conceptualising. Whilst ActionScript is not handled as a subject in its own right it is comprehensively & adequately covered.
As the printing press enabled "us ordinairy folks" to share knowledge that we could not previously obtain so does this book enable us to levels of knowledge that otherwise we would not have.
The examples & explanation are sometimes devastatingly simple & yet highly effective. In a short time I was producing effects I had dreamed about or planned & never really thought I would handle the "Black Magic " needed. I can hardly wait to put it all into action!
This book is all it states to be .As many of we "autodidatics" know this is very seldom so.
A geat effective & efficient guide to a great tool.
Rating:
Summary: Certified flash developer
Review: I must say, its great to learn all the new features, without having to wade through a whole book on flash mx A-Z.I am glad that he covered the freetransform tool indepth with its new features of distort and envelope modifiers, this allows a programmer like me to make faux 3D and other fancy shapes that you could never do in flash 5, you would have to break out illustrator/freehand, which then you would have to know those application to accomplish the same thing you can do in MX in 2 seconds, yes you still need those apps if your gonna do really complex shapes etc... I think macromedia has solved 90% of the problems and complaints with flash 5 don't forget to donwload the source code and errata from the website.
Rating:
Summary: If you're upgrading from Flash 5, this is the book you need.
Review: I've always wondered why somebody didn't write a book specifically targeted at those who are upgrading to a new version of software they already know and use. Now somebody has. Sham Bhangal has created the perfect book for those that are Flash 5 users, wanting to hit the ground running in Flash MX. Many books cover new features, but if you already know the previous version of the app in question, you are forced to slog through page after page of information you already know. The brilliant thing about this title is that it not only covers the new features in depth, but it tells you specifically how these new features will change the way you work in Flash MX. It's not necessarily obvious, how radically different are some of the new features found in Flash MX. This book spells it out, with clear-cut examples of how to take advantage of each feature. Bhangal's conversational writing style makes the book an easy read. The depth and breadth of his knowledge of the inner workings of the new features makes it obvious that he worked closely with the Flash MX development group. If you want to cut through the clutter and get right to the heart of the new features in Flash MX, this is the book to buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Good... but not great....
Review: Sham is the author or the co-author on about 85% of the flash books I own... I'd have to say his way of explaining things is great. The only thing that irritated me about this book is that Sham continually rambles on about the new menu docking feature in Flash MX... You hear about it in chapter one... and then chapter two... I then skipped ahead to chapter 5 to read about the new actionscript features... and what's the first thing Sham starts talking about? Docking the actionscript panel... 'ohhh lets see.. you can put it over here.. or over here... ohh.. how about over here... yay!'..... My other complaint of the book is that it seems a little "dumbed down" for a book thats supposed to be for people with a pretty solid understanding of flash 5... Sham sometimes takes 3-4 paragraphs to desribe what could ultimately be said in 1 or two... Buy the book if you know flash 5 fairly well and plan to upgrade..(the reviewer that gave this book 2 stars because the book seems to be 'geared to those that already knew flash 5' needs to read what the book is about before makes future purchases... it says right on the book that its for people with solid background in flash 5... I had flash mx 4-5 days before I had this book and didn't notice about 75% of the new features because they are subtle and you might miss them if someone doesn't tell you they are there... Overall Sham is prolly my fav flash author still... he explains things great... and as this is the first MX book really written, I rate this 4 out of 5 mainly because I got tired of hearing about docking over and over and over again.... If you are a newbie to flash 5 and planning to upgrade to MX, don't buy this book. You really have no need to read about 'what's new' in MX if you didn't know what was in flash 5. Instead buy a flash MX newbie book and save yourself $.... Otherwise, this book promised to get me into flash mx as quickly as possible and I felt it delivered on that promise. I'm nearly done with the book and I'd to say it was worth the money to get up to speed on a great new version of flash
Rating:
Summary: Good... but not great....
Review: Sham is the author or the co-author on about 85% of the flash books I own... I'd have to say his way of explaining things is great. The only thing that irritated me about this book is that Sham continually rambles on about the new menu docking feature in Flash MX... You hear about it in chapter one... and then chapter two... I then skipped ahead to chapter 5 to read about the new actionscript features... and what's the first thing Sham starts talking about? Docking the actionscript panel... 'ohhh lets see.. you can put it over here.. or over here... ohh.. how about over here... yay!'..... My other complaint of the book is that it seems a little "dumbed down" for a book thats supposed to be for people with a pretty solid understanding of flash 5... Sham sometimes takes 3-4 paragraphs to desribe what could ultimately be said in 1 or two... Buy the book if you know flash 5 fairly well and plan to upgrade..(the reviewer that gave this book 2 stars because the book seems to be 'geared to those that already knew flash 5' needs to read what the book is about before makes future purchases... it says right on the book that its for people with solid background in flash 5... I had flash mx 4-5 days before I had this book and didn't notice about 75% of the new features because they are subtle and you might miss them if someone doesn't tell you they are there... Overall Sham is prolly my fav flash author still... he explains things great... and as this is the first MX book really written, I rate this 4 out of 5 mainly because I got tired of hearing about docking over and over and over again.... If you are a newbie to flash 5 and planning to upgrade to MX, don't buy this book. You really have no need to read about 'what's new' in MX if you didn't know what was in flash 5. Instead buy a flash MX newbie book and save yourself $.... Otherwise, this book promised to get me into flash mx as quickly as possible and I felt it delivered on that promise. I'm nearly done with the book and I'd to say it was worth the money to get up to speed on a great new version of flash
Rating: 
Summary: some mistakes, but otherwise pretty good
Review: There are some great aspects about this book, but also quite a few that take away from them. First of all, there are some things which are errononous -- ie: just about all of the Accessibility coverage (quite an important new feature) -- some of the things it tells you to do won't work. That piece of code is for something entirely different, not checking accessibility. Secondly, some of what is said about video is not correct as well. Finally - some of the tutorials are not completed -- it says they will be in a "later chapter" - but this doesn't seem to occur. Perhaps this book was rushed out (the typos and grammatical errors might explain this - why the review goes from a "3" to a "2"). Anyway, apart from that some valuable points and lessons in this one.
Rating:
Summary: Straight to the point for those comfortable with Flash 5...
Review: This book does a very admirable job for what it was designed to do - to be a guide of the new features provided in Flash MX for those of us whom were VERY familiar with Flash 5. As a designer whom has used Flash since 1998, this book provided me with a simple tour of the newer features I should look for and use in Flash MX. While the book may not get much use past the first read-through - you don't have to worry about buying a book and skipping past the first 200 pages of fundementals to learn what was different - and that is very comforting. If you're new to Flash - this is not the book for you. If you made your living using Flash 5 - the time you'll save quickly skimming through this book and seeing the differences between versions 5 and MX (there's quite a few of them) is definately worth the book's cost.
Rating:
Summary: This book saved me time & $$!!!!
Review: This book is more than worth the price (even without the 30% discount!) I totally disagree with the negative reviews. Sham is a very
good writer, and makes learning Flash a fun experience. His book is geared to anyone who has a working knowledge of Flash5, and just wants to get up to speed on MX, and he states that
plainly. This book is invaluble in exploring all the new features of MX.
I'm verrrry happy with it! Thanks, Sham, and Friends of Ed for producing great Flash books! Keep it up, mates =)
Rating:
Summary: Good starter
Review: This was my very first MX book
(after about 10 on Flash 5), and
I was quite happy to get an overview of the new features.
As it is an overview, some details will be
missing; as you have a good choice now,
maybe get something more in-depth.
Still, one of FoED's best authors!
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