Face it: Poorly designed, static Web sites just don’t cut it anymore. The Web (not to mention the technology surrounding it) has been around long enough, and people are used to seeing and expect a little razzle-dazzle when they go online. For just $12.99, this compact guide shows you how to deliver it! Whether your boss wants you to jazz up the company’s Web site or you’re burning the midnight oil trying to pull together some Web animations for a class project, this tightly focused, project-based guide shows you how to start creating Flash animations in an instant! Using big, bold full- pictures and streamlined instructions, it covers just the need-to-know essentials that will get you animating with the latest version of Flash: using the Flash 8 authoring tool, creating and animating graphics, tweening, adding sound, and more!

Face it: Poorly designed, static Web sites just don't cut it anymore. The Web (not to mention the technology surrounding it) has been around long enough, and people are used to seeing and expect a little razzle-dazzle when they go online. For just $12.99, this compact guide shows you how to deliver it! Whether your boss wants you to jazz up the company's Web site or you're burning the midnight oil trying to pull together some Web animations for a class project, this tightly focused, project-based guide shows you how to start creating Flash animations in an instant! Using big, bold full- pictures and streamlined instructions, it covers just the need-to-know essentials that will get you animating with the latest version of Flash: using the Flash 8 authoring tool, creating and animating graphics, tweening, adding sound, and more!

Not recommended
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 nor any FAQ. This edition is identical to the newer one for Flash MX 2004(ISBN: 0-321-32125-1).I do not recommend starting learning flash from this book, it is for more advanced learners.

Would have been great but ...
It seems like the other people who gave this book a low rating did so because it lacked detailed info as to why some of the steps were done. Well guys, maybe you should have read the front and back cover of the book before you bought it. This book was designed to walk you step by step through the process of creating a website in Flash 8. That’s what it does... sort of. The problem is (and this is the only reason I’m not rating it 5 stars) that it is RIDDLED with errors. Some of the steps just don’t work and you really have to spend a lot of time figuring out where the author has screwed up.

That said, it’s still a nice little primer and worth the nominal cost for beginners.

Informative, but arduous
This is a good primer or refresher for Flash 8.

This book serves two purposes: (1) Acquaints the reader with fundamental Flash principles and (2) demonstrates what you can do with Flash.

The author could have made the book a lot better by writing a paragraph at the outset of each mini-lesson giving an overview of the point of the lesson and the steps.

Retention with this book is difficult because it drones from one lesson to the next in linear fashion. If the book were broken down with reference points and summary overviews, it would even be a great little reference book.

Another reviewer noted that some of the steps do not function. He is correct. It appears that there are a few instances where the author is either unclear about the steps or loses track of whether the reader is to work within a symbol or the main stage. I just hacked my way through it.

Also, Flash is such a dynamic program that the learning curve is lengthy. To learn Flash, you MUST dedicate time and effort. It gets easier once you make up your mind to make the effort.

Informative, but arduous
This is a good primer or refresher for Flash 8.



This book serves two purposes: (1) Acquaints the reader with fundamental Flash principles and (2) demonstrates what you can do with Flash.



The author could have made the book a lot better by writing a paragraph at the outset of each mini-lesson giving an overview of the point of the lesson and the steps.



Retention with this book is difficult because it drones from one lesson to the next in linear fashion. If the book were broken down with reference points and summary overviews, it would even be a great little reference book.



Another reviewer noted that some of the steps do not function. He is correct. It appears that there are a few instances where the author is either unclear about the steps or loses track of whether the reader is to work within a symbol or the main stage. I just hacked my way through it.



Also, Flash is such a dynamic program that the learning curve is lengthy. To learn Flash, you MUST dedicate time and effort. It gets easier once you make up your mind to make the effort.

The Flash Book We Have Been Waiting For
I am very pleased by this book, because it is the only one that I have ever found that I can use to teach Flash to someone else. The books doesn’t get bogged down in the technical details of the program, it just shows you how to put Flash to work for you or your client.
The book is VERY well illustrated, and the website you make is nice enough to show to other people. This compares to other Flash books that teach you all about how and why you do something in designing a website, but never demonstrate how to put it together into a worthwhile product. So you end up with a "properly" designed website that either doesn’t work right or is too ugly to show to anyone else.
This book changes that. Using it, I can sit down and walk someone through the creation of a pretty AND functional website. If they want to know why something is done a certain way, I would refer them to another book, but most people really don’t seem to care once they have the project completed...

Good... if you just want to follow instructions
I was looking to design my first Flash-based website. This book may have helped me do it... but I learned nothing in the process. It did not answer any of my "whys" or "hows" - just merely gave me step by step instruction. Furthermore, several of the steps, when followed exactly (trust me...sometimes I’d redo them 3 and 4 times to make sure) would not produce the results the book said they would. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive, teach-a-man-to-fish type of book, this is not what you’re looking for.

Easy, step by step instructions
This book is an excellent introduction to flash. The easy step by step instructions have you creating a simple, professional flash website in less then a day.

Don’t miss the point of this book!
I really think the previous reviewer missed the point of this book. It is a $13.00, get your feet wet in flash, project book. It was a perfect re-introduction to flash for me, and then I moved onto some more explanatory volumes. I love books like these, I wish I could start everything in life with a quick jump-in project, don’t hassle me with the details, I’ll get those later. Love it!

Overpriced and overly simple
Usually, I am extremely pleased with the Visual Quickstart series. Unfortunately, this volume does not live up to the expectations set by other volumes. I expected a quality comparable to the Flash MX Quickstart guide and the Quickproject volume fails to deliver that. Not only is the volume short, but the font is large, the white space generous-- and the content minimal. The book promises to walk its readers through the process of creating a website using Flash. It does provide a (very brief) script for creating a site using Flash-- but little insight as to why a designer would use which Flash features and why. There is also very little explanation of the Flash interface (granted, the Flash MX does a lovely and exhaustive job of this), but this means that-- for me-- the value would be in explaining why I would choose to use Flash to implement certain website features and when. There is none of that: it’s all poke this button, poke that, and voila-- you’re done. Unfortunately, as an instructional manual, it’s poor. It works for creating the sample site, but does not leave the reader with transferable skills or a greater understanding of creating a site using Flash. I would have done far better to work with the sample tutorials and examples bundled with my Flash application or to download ones from Macromedia’s own site. As an added bonus, those would have been both free of charge and of a much higher quality. Needless to say, I am returning this volume to Amazon.

May be good for getting your feet wet
Click this button. Type this. Click that button. Type that.

Yes, you can build a website. The author takes you step-by-step and click-by-click through the entire process of building a website - and that’s what the author promises.

The only problem is that you have little or no idea of WHY you’re doing what you’re doing, or exactly how these buttons and clicks and symbols and timelines fit together within the program. I suppose an explanation of what you’re accomplishing would have taken a lot more work on the author’s part.

There are a fair number of errors in the book, such as mislabled buttons and incorrect page numbers, but it’s not bad enough to really screw you up. You have to wonder why a company would publish a book with these kind of errors...

This may be a good book for getting your feet wet, but don’t expect to go out and do your own site after you finish this book.

OK Book, filled with errors...
Quite a few errors - the worst being page 30, "extra bits" which is referenced on page 21, is completely missing. A book this small and concise should never have been released with such pathetic mistakes.

Big book in a small package!
Unlike the 1000 page tomes out there for Flash, this little volume gets the job done. If your goal is to learn the overall concepts of a very detailed program quickly and with minimum of wasted effort, this is the book for you.

I really appreciate a book that gets the job done in 120 pages, and doesn’t carry a $50 price tag. Hats off to Mr. Morris!

Helped out a lot, but picked the worst example site
I’m almost through with this book and its gotten me going in the right direction with Flash 8. Its very straightforward and explains things multiple times to let it all sink in. The only downside is that they picked the worst site to create as an example. It is for a business called Timeless Blooms, which sells floral arrangements. The color scheme is pink and green with a touch of yellow. Its gross to look at and got me wondering why a florist would ever want a flash-heavy website. But all this aside, the book itself is great and I have jump-started my Flash interest with its help.

Exactly what I was looking for
I was looking for a book that would show me how to incorporate Flash into a website. This book is like sitting down for a few hours with someone who knows what they are doing. It gives you a shove in the right direction.

If you dont know how to use Flash at all, I think you would be okay reading this book, as it tells you where every button is and walks you through every step.

It is 138 pages of big text and pictures, so you can go through it quick. It is not a book I will refer back to because it is more of a tutorial and has a rather limited amount of information. I am happy with what this book taught me and want to learn more.

Great book for beginning flash web page creation
If you have ever wanted to know how to create a website in Flash 8, this book is a great beginning. You should not just jump to this book if you have no understanding of Flash 8, but if you have a understanding of the basics of Flash and wish to begin seeing how a website is created, then this book is a good choice.

I came to Flash wanting to create a site totally using Flash. Many books recommend this only for Intermediate and Advance users, but sometimes the best way to learn the program is to do some advance tasks and then learn along the way. This book was a great help for me in doing just that.

I highly recommend this book for those who are just beginning to develop their skills in Flash. If you are an intermediate or advanced user, then something like the HOT book, Flash Pro: Beyond the Basics is more appropriate.

Gets you started - QUICKLY!!!
I thought this book was really good. It’s gets you up and running in Flash 8 quickly, with easy to follow, step-by-step full color instructions. All the files you need are supplied thru it’s compainion website which also shows you the completed website project. Only draw back of this book is it sometimes doesn’t explain the details of why you are doing something - so "Macromedia Flash 8 for Window & Mac: Visual QuickStart Guide" is a great reference book to go with this book to fully understand Flash 8.

The Easy Way To Learn Flash 8
This book won’t teach you everything about Adobe Macromedia Flash but it does teach you the basic techniques needed to create a website with Flash 8. The author, David Morris, uses easy instructions with large supporting screen shots.

Morris takes you step-by-step as you create a working website. You can view this sample website and download the sample Flash files from the book’s companion site. These Flash files are very helpful as you work through the book.

So, just what new skills will you learn by reading this book? To begin with, you will work with the Flash drawing and text tools and learn how to import graphics created in other programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Once you have mastered these tasks, you move on to working with the Flash Timeline which is the control center of your website. You will use simple ActionScript to move from point to point, or page to page, along the Timeline.

The main features of the website you will create are interactive menu buttons, a slide show product catalog, externally loaded dynamic text with scrollbars, externally loaded Flash movie and an animated homepage.

For those who have read this author’s previous book, Creating a Web Site with Flash - Visual QuickProject Guide, you will notice that the sample website is the same. However, the screen shots and instructions have been updated for Flash 8. David Morris has been working in graphic and web design for many years and has worked for Macromedia, Inc.