Michael Hurwicz

July 15, 2001

If you're looking for books to learn Macromedia Flash 5, these three are worth considering. The first two can be thought of as a companion set, with the first being for beginners and the second for intermediate to advanced intermediate users. The third is the most advanced, and not necessarily as specialized as you might think from the title.

Macromedia Flash For Windows and Macintosh 5 Visual Quickstart Guide

by Katherine Ulrich
List Price: $21.99
Internet Price (approx.): $17.50
Publisher: Peachpit Press

-- Pluses --

• Quick and easy. This is a great book for getting you going quickly and with minimum pain. Not just my opinion. Everyone says so.

• Visual. Typically, each page is arranged in side-by-side columns, with text on one side and visuals on the other. It really helps to know what things should look like on the screen. The abundance of screenshots is great, too, given Flash's complex user interface; screenshots help you find the right menus, panels, buttons, etc. more quickly.

• Cheap. A computer book that lists for $22 !

-- Minuses --

• Limited in scope.This book is most useful for beginners, less so for intermediate users.

• Very brief examples. Examples are brief exercises, rather than real projects.

-- Comments --

Companion Web site at www.peachpit.com/vqs/flash includes updates, Flash (.FLA) files, and a table of contents. The Flash files are helpful, though very simple. The table of contents is helpful for getting a more detailed idea of what's in the book, before you make a buying decision. (You can also get a table of contents at an online bookstore like Amazon.com, but the one at the above URL is formatted better, at least on my Netscape 4.7 browser.)

-- Summary --

A great book for beginners. Just like title says: "quick start".

Flash 5 Advanced for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickPro Guide (With CD-ROM)

by Russell Chun
List Price: $29.99
Internet Price (approx.): $24.00
Publisher: Peachpit Press

-- Pluses --

• Digestible chunks. The book is broken down into well-defined tasks, usually taking 5-15 steps and 1-3 pages. You can learn a lot without ever feeling overwhelmed.

• Lots of great little tricks. This book will show you how to make a button do cool things when the mouse rolls over it, how to simulate video without creating a Flash (SWF) file that could sink the Titanic, how to make a moving object that the user can control with the arrow keys on the keypad. On and on like that.

• Complete source files. The CD that comes with the book has all the source files (.FLAs) for the tasks in the book.

• Fairly cheap. Twenty-nine dollars is fairly inexpensive for a book with this much information in it.

-- Minuses --

• Limited in depth.I would call this book "advanced intermediate" as opposed to "advanced". It teaches you a wide variety of tasks that can be learned in bite-size chunks but stays away from things that would require more in-depth treatment. For example, the section on 3D is just three pages long and does not cover creating 3D with ActionScript.

• "Idiot" mode ActionScript. The author tends to give instructions for creating all the ActionScript in "normal" mode (by selecting actions from a list, and filling in blanks), as opposed to "expert" mode (by just typing the code in). Although normal mode is more idiot-proof, it's not always necessary. You could argue that there's no harm in having the instructions for normal mode, since you're always free to just type the code in anyway (or, better yet, steal it from an example file, and modify to taste). However, the normal mode instructions take up space that presumably could have been devoted to showing me more great tricks! I want more!

-- Comments --

• The CD also has a good set of links on it, to resource sites, mailing lists and newsgroups, design and inspirational sites, Flash galleries, sound clips and third-party 3D tools.

• If you want to read another review of this book, check out the French Amazon.com site here . For some reason, when I checked, this review was not on the American Amazon.com, but it was on the French one.

-- Summary --

A great value. You can mine this for treasures for a long time.

Macromedia Flash 5 ActionScript for Fun and Games

by Gary Rosenzweig
List Price: $45.00
Internet Price (approx.): $36.00
Publisher: Que

-- Pluses --

• Time-saving tips. For instance, in making a slot machine, the author warns you that the difficult part of the game is in the spinning windows -- you know, where you're trying to get three pineapples or whatever. The natural way to attempt this feature would be to create movies of the items (pineapples etc.) and animate the movies. The author warns you that, on most computers, Flash is too slow to imitate a real slot machine using that approach. Then he offers a workaround: make an animation with a few frames of blurred color. Most such tips apply beyond games, as well, but if you are actually making a particular kind of the game, it's great to know in advance where problems are likely to arise.

• Truly advanced. This book starts at an intermediate level, but it gets into truly advanced ActionScript, such as programming a 3D cube using trigonometric functions, performance optimization, copy protection, and implementing a "high score" function using Perl scripts.

• Fun. Learn Flash by creating games such as brain teasers, trivia games, casino and card games, word puzzles, ball and paddle games, and classic arcade games.

• All the source code is online. If you're creating a game, you can use these files as a starting point. That'll cut down on the carpal tunnel significantly, right there.

• Concise, clear and complete. No "normal mode" ActionScript here. Just code and a lot of good, detailed discussion of how and why things work the way they do. Maximum information per page.

-- Minuses --

• Reflects Flash's limitations. Because of issues such as limited performance and lack of built-in 3D functions, Flash is best suited to games that do not rely on lots of fast movement or highly realistic visuals. This book concentrates on those types of games. The types of games that most of us think of when we think of computer games (Space Invaders, Centipede, Lunar Lander) take up only about 35 pages in a nearly 400 page book.

-- Comments --

This book is not cheap, but it's not out of line with other books dealing with advanced ActionScript. Though you might think you could only afford this book if you are a professional, it could actually be a good way for anybody to get into the mysteries of more advanced ActionScript.

-- Summary --

Definitely a reasonable investment if you are just getting into programming games in Flash. But also an excellent value for anyone wanting to improve their ActionScript skills.

Copyright © 2001, Michael Hurwicz, All Rights Reserved