Macromedia Flash MX Magic

As some of you might recall, I was very pleased with one of the earlier New Riders' Flash Magic books, Flash 5 Magic with ActionScript, and I was really looking forward to reading their new Macromedia Flash MX Magic. The word "ActionScript" has been dropped from the title, and for a good reason, because this book is not only for programmers of ActionScript, but for every user.

Authors: Matthew David with contributions by Mark Baltzegar, Veronique Brossier, Jim Caldwell, John Dalziel, Aria Danika, Robert M. Hall, Andreas Heim, Jason Krogh, Jessica Speigel, Glenn Thomas, Helen Triolo, Joe Tripician, and 2Advanced Studios
Pages: 308
CD-ROM: yes
ISBN: 0-7357-1160-7
Publisher: New Riders
Purchase from Amazon

To be honest, even the most die-hard designer must use ActionScript from time to time, and there simply is no reason for emphasis of ActionScript if the book does not focus solely on that part of Flash.

Like its older brother, this book too has many authors showing some of the most interesting parts of Flash MX in 15 self-contained lessons. The authors are well-known figures in the Flash community, so it is not surprising that the material contained in this book is of very high quality.

Unlike examples in Flash 5 Magic with ActionScript, which had a couple of weak spots, the examples in this book are all non-trivial and of very high education and visual quality. Also, since they are not examples for example's sake, they can be easily adapted to individual reader's needs.

The lessons that grabbed my attention were the ones on preloading, charts anf graphs, and accessibility (a very timely topic). I also noticed that the lessons on XML and database access are much better done than it was the case with Flash 5 Magic with ActionScript. There's even a good discussion of server-side programming for Flash.

Other topics discussed include components, video, game programming, dynamic masking, templates, programming new user interface components (sliding tray), working with audio and bitmaps, eCards, and more. Every example has a note stating the level of difficulty, file size, download time for modems (the worst case scenario), and the time it takes to finish the project. This information is very handy to both the readers and the tutors looking for the contents that's most appropriate for the level of knowledge of the people they teach.

The book's layout is an improvement on Flash 5 Magic with ActionScript, it looks better, and does not bore, as the earlier New Riders's Magic book did at some places.

Macromedia Flash MX Magic will be a very good beginner's companion, that's the primary target it's aiming at, but I think it should be read by intermediate users who started their Flash education with Flash 5 and are now moving on to Flash MX.
I also recommend this book to teachers and instructors. It can be a valuable classroom tool for beginner and intermediate students alike. The mixture of beginner and advanced topics make is a worthy addition to anyone teaching Flash.

 

Copyright 2002 Jacek Artymiak

 

 

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