Flash Actionscript F/X and Design

ActionScripting in a Flash movie can mean the difference between a simple animation and a fully interactive game or interface. If you have used Flash 4 or 5's basic actions and now feel ready to expand your arsenal of coding, this would be the book for you. This conversational collection of tutorials and .fla walk-throughs is particularly suited to Web developers who come from a visual rather than a programming background. Flash fans fluent in C++, or even just JavaScript, may find it too elementary and slow-paced.

However, it is just those qualities that make Flash ActionScript F/X and Design an ideal starting point for script-wary Web designers. Author Sanders is a college professor, and his text has just the right amount of guidance to simulate a one-on-one with an experienced teacher. The many projects and miniprojects ("learning utilities"), all of which are provided on the companion CD-ROM, reflect lessons that range from working with conditionals and operators, handling events, and calling functions to passing data among ActionScript, JavaScript, and HTML. These projects take the form of a quotation guessing game, a drag-and-drop shopping cart, and an interactive cartoon by renowned retro font designer and cartoonist (and Betty Boop expert) Leslie Carbarga. Each project provides a good launching point for applying what's covered in the text.

Caveats: If you are completely new to Flash, this book will be too fast for you. It's also not quite a good fit for Flash-experienced users who are pressed for time and need a quick reference, although it does include a nice glossary of actions, operators, functions, and properties. It's also important to note that XML is outside the scope of this book. However, as an introduction to OOP (object-oriented programming) in general and Flash 5 ActionScripting in particular, this is an excellent choice. --Angelynn Grant