Synopses & Reviews
What began life as a simple Web animation tool has evolved into a powerful platform for Web application development—which means that if you’re serious about developing for the Web, you need to get serious about learning Flash. With its breakthrough motion-graphics capabilities and powerful run-time effects, Flash 8 provides the tools, authoring power, and rich video capabilities you need to provide stunning interactive content. This Macromedia-certified guide provides the key to learning the basics of Flash 8. Through a series of hands-on projects, master trainer James English provides a firm foundation in everything Flash—from graphics, animation, and video to ActionScript fundamentals. Simple step-by-step instructions and tons of screenshots guide you through the process of creating buttons and links, drawing and animating in Flash, formatting text, adding video and sound, loading data, and more—in short, everything you need to develop sophisticated, professional-looking Web sites. A companion CD includes the lesson files needed to complete the book’s projects as well as a trial version of the program itself.
Synopsis
If you¿re ready to begin integrating video, text, audio, and graphics into dynamic, interactive Web sites using Macromedia¿s Flash MX 2004, this is the place to start. As the official Macromedia guide to its motion-graphics and animation powerhouse, this volume uses a series of hands-on projects to provide a firm foundation in every aspect of Flash MX 2004 use: from graphics, animation, video, and text to ActionScript fundamentals and dynamic data integration. Simple step-by-step instructions peppered with plenty of visuals and a CD that includes lesson files and a trial version of Flash MX 2004 leave you with a solid understanding of basic Flash development and design. In the process you¿ll learn about all that¿s new in Flash MX 2004¿from its redesigned interface to its improved scripting language, better text tools, native support for PDF and EPS formats, first-ever third-party extensions, and more. You¿ll even learn how to build movies that integrate with dynamic data, stream video, and include forms that ask for user input.
About the Author
Jen deHaan is a freelance web designer/developer based in Calgary, Alberta. She has been involved in writing, contributing to or editing many computer books on Macromedia Flash, ActionScript, digital video, and ColdFusion. She has co-authored three books on ActionScript, is coauthor of the ColdFusion Developer's Handbook (Sybex), and the soon to be published Dreamweaver MX: ColdFusion Web Development.
Table of Contents
Introduction.
1. Learning The Basics.
2. Creating Graphics.
3. Using Text.
4. Creating and Editing Symbols.
5. Creating Animation.
6. Adding Basic Interactivity.
7. Adding Sound and Video.
8. Using Screens.
9. Creating Forms Using Components.
10. Incorporating Dynamic Data.
11. Actionscript Basics.
12. Optimizing Flash Content.
13. Publishing Flash Documents.
Appendix A: Installing Extensions.
Appendix B: Resources.
Appendix C: Keyboard Shortcuts.
Index.