Macromedia Flash MX 2004 For Dummies guides beginning animators through the basics of creating their first Flash animations. Authors Ellen Finkelstein and Gurdy Leete, both experienced Flash professionals and trainers, help users create basic figures, add text and layers, incorporate user actions, edit and add sound, and publish the final results. Macromedia Flash MX 2004 For Dummies comes with a CD that includes all the examples used in the book, sample animations from other Flash users, and a trial version of the product itself.

Give your Web site flash the fun and easy wayandreg; Create and animate graphics and text, add music, punch up buttons, and more It s not a bad Web site, but it could use a little pizzazz, right? Maybe some interactive stuff? This handy guide will show you how! In a flash, you ll be creating great graphics, magnificent movies, and amazing animations that lead visitors through your site with buttons, pop-up menus, other navigation aids, and more. Discover how to: Create and upload Flash files Use shapes, symbols, and strokes Add text, layers, and sound Make your animations interactive Build slide presentations All this on the bonus CD-ROM Trial versions of Macromedia Flash MX 2004, Dreamweaver MX 2004, and Fireworks MX 2004 Macromedia Flash files and instructions for 25 great Flash techniques Author-created shapes and images you can use in your own Flash movies

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 For Dummies guides beginning animators through the basics of creating their first Flash animations. Authors Ellen Finkelstein and Gurdy Leete, both experienced Flash professionals and trainers, help users create basic figures, add text and layers, incorporate user actions, edit and add sound, and publish the final results. Macromedia Flash MX 2004 For Dummies comes with a CD that includes all the examples used in the book, sample animations from other Flash users, and a trial version of the product itself.

Usually Dummies books are good, but this one....
A horrible book to introduce you to Flash and a waste of money. At the end, I really didn’t understand how the program worked - only how certain tasks are done. There’s a lot of fluffy chapters. A much better book is Rosanna Yeung’s Flash MX 2004 Hands-On Training.

I bought this Dummies book based on the quality of other Dummies books I have, but this one was a real disappointment.

OK, but feels like a copy/paste from old book/flash version.
This book is pretty good but has some flaws.

1. Although I haven’t read the previous Dummies book for Flash MX (non-2004) by these authors, I get the feeling that the book inherits much of its content from it. Some of the features mentioned in the book just don’t seem to exist in my copy of Flash MX 2004 Pro, like the common sound library. I purchased & downloaded my copy of Flash from Macromedia, so perhaps I didn’t get the sounds because of that. Next time, I’ll definitely get the CD...

2. The examples from the CD are old and most of them give the warning to save in Flash MX 2004 when you close them, that is, they are from previous versions of Flash. The first example even uses an image file that I had to load & export using a graphics program to correct the transparency of the image. That said, the examples are not horrible, but most are contributions from others and not designed/developed by the authors.

3. There are some worthless chapters and appendixes like some of the top 10 chapters and how to install Flash appendix. Considering how sites come & go on the Internet I’m surprised space was used to list the authors top 10 favorite Flash sites. It’s only a couple of pages, but might fit better on the authors web site where updates can be more current.

Overall, about 90% of the book will be relevant but there may be other books that are more focused on the MX 2004 version of Flash. If you don’t know anything about Flash, you’ll come away knowing how to do a lot of the basic stuff after reading this book.

Fabulous for those starting out
Before reading this book, I had never used Flash and had only created websites by writting my own HTML. After reading the first few chapters, I was able to create my first movie! This book is definitley for beginners like me and is a great book to get you up and running. I would certainly recommend it for those starting out.

Perfect introduction and reference for Flash
Finkelstein and Leete have written the perfect introduction and reference for Flash.

I recently started using Flash because one of my clients’ legacy websites had a couple of Flash animations that needed to be updated. I stumbled around with Macromedia’s documentation and a couple of online websites, but somehow Flash kept doing things I didn’t expect.

Finally, I found this book and read it cover to cover. "Oh, of course!" I kept saying as I read. "There’s a neat technique for layering. That’s how to reduce the file size. That’s how to make it run faster. That’s how to get the sound to synchronize with the motion." On and on. Macromedia should just ship this book with their software. Plus the book comes with a CD-ROM packed with useful stuff.

My client is thrilled with my new versions of his Flash animations.

I want to especially commend the authors on Chapters 12 and 13, "Putting it all together" and "Publishing your Flash files." This is where I found that information that showed me how to put out a clean professional final product.

I’ve gotten so into Flash that I rewrote a complete interactive game in Flash. It used to be in Java, was 500,000 bytes (not to mention the 2Mb Java library), and only seemed to run correctly on a handful of machines. In Flash, the whole thing is under 100,000 bytes and runs EVERYWHERE no problem.

I couldn’t have done that rewrite without this book.

When you’re done reading this book, I also recommend "50 Fast Flash MX Techniques" by the same authors, to take your animations to "WOW!"

An Excellent Resource for Newbies
I am writing to thank you and Gurdy Leete for your wonderful book. I am creating an animated, web-enabled presentation for our non-profit association and consider myself an expert in PowerPoint. Many of my PowerPoint presentations include audio/video which plays through several slides. I have learned through my Microsoft research that when converted to HTML many of the wonderful effects and transitions in PowerPoint do not work. Thus I made an investment in Flash.

I spent about 15 hours working with my new software via the help menus. I was so frustrated by this past Friday that I went in search of help. Thankfully I found your book. It is Sunday and I have created a one scene, four frame small example with a movie clip on the first slide, compliments of the included CD. It will run slide by slide or you can select automate with the button. I am so pleased.

I am sure in your world this is a small accomplishment, but I just wanted to let you know that your book covers the simple to the complex in a clear and orderly manner. Being able to complete the animated logo by page 28 provided much needed positive reinforcement for me.

Again, thank you for the excellent training manual. I am sure it will serve as my major point of reference for a long time to come.