Quick Guide to Flash Catalyst: A Designer's Guide to Visual Development

by Rafiq Elmansy

How do you transform user interface designs created in Photoshop or Illustrator into interactive web pages? It's easier than you think. This guide shows you how to use Adobe Flash Catalyst to create interactive UIs and website wireframes for Rich Internet Applications--without writing a single line of code.Ideal for web designers, this book introduces Flash Catalyst basics with detailed step-by-step instructions and screenshots that illustrate every part of the process. You'll learn hands-on how to turn your static design or artwork into working user interfaces that can be implemented in Flash Builder or Adobe AIR. Get an overview of Flash Catalyst's interactive components Import files from Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fireworks Convert your artwork into interactive components and apply specific actions Create animated transitions between the web pages in your project Test interactive components and transitions while you work Get optimization tips to help you create fast-loading applications Export projects to the SWF format for web use, or to Adobe AIR for desktop applications

76 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Rafiq Elmansy is design lecturer at the American University in Cairo, as well as a worldwide author and design manager. His experience includes more than 15 years in the design industry, working with clients from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Australia.

His design creative work is exhibited in many locations including Croatia, South Africa, and Spain. He is also a jury member and mentor in acknowledged design competitions including the Adobe Design Achievement Awards and Poster for Tomorrow. He writes articles for the Smashing Magazine, Tut+, Adobe and his design blog (www.designorate.com). He is a published author for many books for John Wiley, O’Reilly, and Focal Press, his books include:
- Teach Yourself Visually SEO (http://bit.ly/tyv_seo), published by Wiley.
- Illustrator Foundations (http://bit.ly/AI-CS6), published by FocalPress.
- Photoshop 3D for Animators (http://bit.ly/PS-3D), published by FocalPress.
- Photoshop 3D for Animators (Japanese version) by Born Digital (http://www.borndigital.co.jp/book/det...).
- Quick Guide to Flash Catalyst (http://bit.ly/FlashCata), published by O’Reilly Media.

Rafiq is a friend of ICO-D and recently he becomes an author and continent manager for the Interaction Design Foundation in Norway. Elmansy is an Adobe Certified Instructor, community professional, and user group manager for the first Adobe user group in Egypt and the Middle East, AUGE. For more than seven years, he has provided frequent support to the Adobe community around the world through events and online sessions in various Adobe applications. Elmansy is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in design management from Staffordshire University in the U.K., with a focus on strategic design.