Flash Actionscript F/X and Design

I wish there was a book on LINGO like this. Most gripes about this book pertain to what is meant by "Advanced"- a relative term. Before you purchase, know that that this book is obviously written for a non-developers, and is perfectly suited for this audience. The book's style and structure matches the powerful but oddball, hybrid applicaiton that is both an animation and OOP authoring tool it explains. Bottom line - if you're a non-programmer, you will be able to comfortably incorporate some "fairly advanced" ActionScript into your Flash projects after you read this book (and do the 50 projects it contains); none of the other Flash books I've read accomplished this (for me, anyway). However, it does not cover XML extensibility and other "highly advanced" topics experienced developers might be after. I would say it covers a good 75% of ActionScript's capabilities, and 90% of what you will likely ever use. I think part of the problem with the 3rd party Macromedia books is that authors (and users alike) can't keep pace with the all their upgrades (wasn't F4 only around for a year or so before F5?)

If you want to really take advantage of the advances in Flash 5, this is the book to buy. I've been using Flash since version 3, and I'm amazed at how Macromedia has made it more flexible and interactive with each new version. Unfortunately, I've tended to stick with the carryover elements and not explored the full potential of Flash 5's innovations. This book is a fast study in utilizing Flash 5's potential. If you already know the basics of previous Flash versions, start with the Handling Events chapter to get a feel for what the new features can do for you. Then move on from there to Conditionals and Operators and your websites will never be the same. Flash 5 is a big advance over previous versions, and this book is the guidebook to use.

I've had this book almost a month now, and it keeps getting better. Having a good deal of experience in Flash 3 and Flash 4, I've put off learning ActionScript until now. The book is definitely not for the Flash novice, and the back cover classifies it as an intermediate to advanced level book. If you're intermediate or advanced in Flash, even if you're not a programmer, this book will help you learn and use ActionScript in real applications. Prior to using this book, about all I could do with ActionScript was "Go To and Play," but now I can do things with movie clips and buttons and frames that just aren't possible without ActionScript. It gives you total control of Flash.Each part of ActionScript is explained and then the author takes you through an example, and these examples aren't blow-offs. They range from simple to medium size projects so you will not just know the surface materials. I really like the Example Glossary, because when I've completed a chapter and I'm working on one of my own projects, I can look up the aciton without having to go through the chapter again to dig up what I need.Initially, I had a few problems, especially in Chapter 2 (Chapter 1 is great for non-programmers), and I fired off a nasty email to the author. He got back to me almost immediately, explained everything I didn't understand (which was right under my nose in the book) and didn't make me feel dumb. He even sent me an extra FLA file. After I finally got the idea of different timelines and how ActionScript addresses them, everything just opened up. My programmer friends (who keep borrowing the book) seem to think it does a good job but point out it's not written in the usual computer science style. I'm glad of that. The author is talking to me, and every time I use this book, I find something new. In the projects, in addition to ActionScript, the author keeps putting in these cool tips for using Flash 5. Each project is carefully crafted and I wish more Flash books included the substance this book has. No matter what else, this book gets the job done, and it's the kind of book you keep on using again and again.

I'm a designer/developer and I've been putting off learning ActionScript--until now! I have never seen a book that is so clear, understands what I need so well and carefully explains and illustrates everything. I have used Flash professionally, but sooner or later I needed to learn ActionScript, and I'm glad I waited until Flash 5. What little ActionScript I used (goto and play/stop was about it) gave me far more flexibility and control than I had using Flash without ActionScript.The back of the book says it's for Intermediate and Advanced users, and I suppose it is. However, if you're new to ActionScript but have experience with Flash you'll love this book. Each of the projects and examples is very carefully crafted down to the color schemes. The author integrates ActionScript into the examples and projects rather than just laying out the ActionScript in ways that I would not use it in the real world. The author explains the concepts but he never talked down to me (as a reader) and all of the parts come together. In going through the examples, I not only learned how to use ActionScript effectively, I learned a lot of new Flash 5 tricks. My programmer friends (who keep borrowing it) and I both like the Example Glossary in the back where I can look up stuff quickly. It's great for reminding me about the exact format of the different actions and I don't have to re-read entire sections to be reminded that I need a double equal (==) when I use conditional statements. (I'm even talking like one of THEM now.)I ran into a little trouble in Chapter 2, and I fired off a very nasty email to the author. He responded almost immediately, sorted out my question and didn't mention the fact that I acted like a jerk in my email. He was extremely helpful and even sent me an extra FLA to play with. After getting the hang of things, I've been having a lot of fun with AcitonScript, and not just using the examples. I really have learned how to use ActionScript, and the book still has a lot more for me. So if you want a carefully crafted, thoughtful, well written book on AcitonScirpt and not some computer science tome, get this book, learn ActionScript and a lot of added Flash 5 material to boot.