The days of Flash as a creative luxury are long gone. After months of downsizing, Flash creativity has been on a huge rationalization program. It is no longer enough to present animation in millions of colors and a hundred transparencies. It is no longer sufficient to provide interactivity and dynamism for their own sake. The purpose of this collection is to show how designers have taken Flash and made it work for its supper. What we discover is a series of creations that place Flash at the hub of cutting edge web content. The end result is a snapshot of Flash as the Ideal Medium. In these amazing examples we see the software pushed to its limits to create unbeatable applications - a collapsible family tree, an interactive video learning system, and a drawing tool, capable of running online Beyond this we dip into the back-end capabilities to look at how to improve Flash still further. Some staple XML and PHP routines are brought in to add a bit of spice, while Flash's mysterious sharedObject command is hunted down and tamed to create a hybrid Tamagotchi houseplant - perfectly suited to lure surfers back to your website Table of Contents: 1:: Designing Preloaders 2:: Creating interfaces with the Drawing API 3:: Real-Feel Sites 4:: A Flash Family Tree 5:: Making XML work for your Interface 6:: A PHP Site 7:: Promoting Site Stickiness 8:: Interactive Video: Karate 9:: Drawing on the fly — t-shirt designer

This book takes an in-depth look at purposing Flash skills towards developing fully functional Flash Applications. Taking its lead from the design element, each chapter takes users a step further into evolving design skills into application development.

This book takes an in-depth look at purposing your Flash skills towards developing fully functional Flash Applications. Taking its lead from the design element, each chapter takes you a step further into evolving your design skills into application development. It will look at: - Focusing your interface design for ease of use - Shaping up the back end to keep things simple - Delivering complex content, including video Using a blend of instructional and inspirational chapters, this book looks at Flashís strengths ñ graphical dynamism, interactivity, back-end punch and multimedia delivery. - Make gorgeous sites in tiny files with the Drawing API - Look at the marriage of data and beauty with a Flash Family Tree - Create real-feel interfaces that mimic different media - Make XML do the donkey-work in site structure - Ease up you navigation with PHP - Create an entire drawing application - Deliver video and make it interactive with Flash ...and so much more! From the Publisher This book is for people who want to hone their Flash skills to make their code really work for its supper. With one look at these inspiring interfaces, youíll see that everything pitches in to the final design. Itís foxy and functional, and will show you some indispensable techniques.

9:: Drawing on the fly — t-shirt designer