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Creating a Web Site with Flash: Visual QuickProject Guide
vBulletin Book Store > vBulletin books beginning with C
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Creating a Web Site with Flash: Visual QuickProject Guide |
Author: David Morris
Published: 2005-03-31 |
List price: $12.99
Our price: $11.69
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Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: December 02nd, 2008 03:21:46 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Do not recommend it
All words are written in large, childlike print, to give an impression that this book is easy to read and thus also easy to execute. But the execution instructions are not very well described. Some steps have missing photos. The book is also way too short for the kind of book it is supposed to be: visual introduction to flash for beginners. It also has no troubleshooting. I do not recommend starting learning flash from this book, it is for more advanced learners.
 good introduction to Flash
This book is only meant to be a brief introduction to Flash. Not really for the novice. A CD with source code should NOT be included for this price. If you want more than a brief into to Flash, buy a more advanced book. I think you people who give negative reviews are just a bunch of whiners.
Quite Worthless
I got this book under the guise that I would be able to create a website in Flash. I didn't need a fancy website, only something to house my online portfolio and CV for work-related purposes. This book does not tell you anywhere in the text, but you need at least Flash MX 2004. Flash 5--which I already had--wouldn't open the source files (not included, but available from the publisher's website--another flaw; CDs are VERY inexpensive to manufacture and one containing source files SHOULD have been included with the book), and neither would Flash MX. Of course, how are you supposed to know if the author doesn't tell you? The author completely operated under the assumption that EVERYONE would have the lastest version of Flash installed. This was a BIG mistake, and it renders the book worthless to many people.
 Can't recommend it
I wanted to explore Flash from a site-building perspective, and since I've done some animation in the past -- meaning I'm already familiar with concepts like "key frames" and "tweening" -- I figured that this book would be a great way to explore the technology. I'm a great fan of the Visual Quickstart Guide series, and since "Creating a Web Site with Flash" is from a related imprint, it seemed likely that I'd be able to follow closely what they did in the book and then apply those techniques to a project I had in mind.
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br /Fat chance. I'd read some of the earlier reviews and although several of them were negative, I imagined that being reasonably intelligent and technically savvy, I wouldn't get stuck the way the book's other readers had. Nor did I: I got stuck in entirely different but equally frustrating ways. Often I'd find myself instructed by the authors to perform a particular action, but have no way of completing it because that menu choice wasn't available. (Often it would be visible but greyed out, meaning I'd have to do something else first -- but what?)
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br /I will admit I don't like the user interfaces that Macromedia comes up with (for Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, etc.) but that's precisely why I wanted a step-by-step guide like this one. I figured all the full-color illustrations would make it fool-proof. Unfortunately, at least least twice in the first few chapters, this fool got to the point where he just couldn't make Flash do what the authors said it should be doing. I finally stopped about half-way through in frustration, without either the demo website or any understanding of what I did wrong.
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br /The publisher does provide chapter-by-chapter "snapshot" versions of the files you're supposed to be constructing (on its website), but I don't consider that a useful substitute for clear instruction. Sure, handholding someone through a complex application like Flash isn't an easy task, but I'm wondering whether Peachpit Press actually road-tested the book with a true novice, or just had people already familiar with Flash simply spot-check it for any obvious errors.
Good intro to wet your apetite
It got me started on using Flash in less than 3 days. I have a couple of Visual QuickProject books they had been helpful. Yes, they lack in-depth details but that's what they are - quick intros... very good at that. Part of learning a program is to find out yourself thru trial error anyway. I had to refer to Flash' built-in help tool to understand some stuff further (like what's the difference btwn graphic, movie clip button behaviours in Symbols).
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br /I have not encounter any errors in this book tt obstruct my learning. I like that it uses one single project (just like other books in this series). The project covers a lot - drawing, animation, buttons, effects, navigation etc. You can see how things connect by using a single project. Enough to get you interested to find out what else Flash is capable of.
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