Flash Out of the Box: A User-Centric Beginner's Guide to Flash

by Robert Hoekman Jr.

If you believe the sky really is the limit when it comes to creating unparalleled user experiences and applications for the Web--then Macromedia Flash MX is sure to be your tool of choice. With Flash, you can integrate video, text, audio, and graphics into distinctive and compelling web content, stunningly interactive and expressive user interfaces, and rich applications for the Internet. Flash is all about helping you dramatically enhance the user experience. And Flash Out of the Box is all about helping you think outside of the box to get there--first, by diving into the Flash box and then becoming intimately acquainted with every nook and cranny of it. In Flash Out of the Box , you'll follow and work with a simple box through a "day in the life" style journey. You'll study, use, abuse, and transform the box as you move through exercises that teach you the basics of Flash, and much more, in an entertaining, unforgettable, task-oriented fashion. You'll learn to animate, work with video, load external assets, draw, mask, modularize, and many other things that will be essential as you move into more advanced techniques with other books. It's just you, Flash, and the box, mastering each technique along the way and adding others in a fashion that will let you practice and learn simultaneously. Most Flash tutorials you've looked at are tool-centric, focusing on Flash's individual features and how to use them (an approach that can quickly become tedious), whereas this innovative, engaging, and motivating book is uniquely user-centric. That means it concentrates on you and what you want and need to learn. Each successive lesson anticipates and builds upon your needs, capabilities, and questions as you evolve from Flash beginner to Flash master. Written in a fun and conversational tone, the highly accessible Flash Out of the Box makes learning Flash MX 2004 intuitive, logical, and, most of all, fun.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Robert Hoekman Jr is an American writer. He is the author of nine nonfiction books, and has served as an Arts & Culture journalist, magazine editor, and manuscript developer. He has published articles in Fast Company, Wired, Maxim, and many other outlets. His microfiction has appeared or is forthcoming in 50-Word Stories, Nanoism, Spelk, Genrepunk, and elsewhere. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania, and teaches creative writing through the Stanford Continuing Studies Program. He lives with his dog in Richmond, Virginia.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert's always been a great teacher. His Flash Out of the Box was a solid intro-to-Flash.