Book review: Flash CS3 for Dummies

I never had very high thoughts about the 'Whatever for Dummies'-series, but this book has changed my mind. It's actually the best Flash beginners book I've read to date and it's also the first "real" CS3 book as well. Want to know why? Read on.

TITLE: Flash CS3 for Dummies
AUTHORS: Ellen Finkelstein & Gurdy Leete
PUBLISHER: For Dummies (May 14, 2007)
ISBN: 978-0470121009
PAGES: 408 b&w
CD: No. Example files can be downloaded.
PRICE: £7.99 UK / $16.49 USA / $18.89 CAN
Click here to order

I've read about 20 beginners books on Flash and I have even written a couple myself. I have to say that Flash CS3 for Dummies is better than them all. I was really surprised at this, for I have read a couple Dummies books and I've always found them too light or inaccurate.

This is definitely a book for the absolute beginner, but so is all the books in the "for Dummies" series. Many Flash books give the user an information overload by showing the reader too much initially without putting it in context. Many Flash books start by explaining the program, panel by panel. This book has a different approach. Rather it starts by inspiring the reader to create a simple animation in the first chapter. Only the panels used to make the animation are explained here. Panels are explained only when required, so the reader does not have to read through what they all do. If someone would like to know that, they can find this in the appendix. The book only introduce what you need at all times, but contains pointers to chapters where the user can find the full details.

This makes the book really easy to read, since you feel that you're really making progress and you avoid the information overload that some of these books can give you. The language is good and the humor is warm. It just make you smile as opposed to other books that fail miserably at being funny.

First real CS3 book

All the facets of drawing and animating are covered and the book does a great job of explaining the things special to Flash such as symbols, library, timeline, instances and objects. When you understand these things properly, you'll have a better chance when you arrive at the chapter about interactivity and Actionscript. All the other CS3 beginners books we've seen thus far, bails out when it comes to this. They all dismiss Actionscript 3 (AS3) as "too difficult" and use Actionscript 2 (AS2) instead. This sort of makes all these CS3 books redundant since the user could just as well have picked up an old Flash-book covering any former version of Flash. The odd thing is that AS3 is actually easier to learn than AS2 for those new to Flash. We discovered this recently and the key is that AS3 is much more consistent than AS2 with all it's oddities.

Not only does the book plunge into Actionscript 3, it does it gracefully. Most commands that designers may need to know are covered, such as controlling interactivity using buttons, opening URLs, playing MovieClips, dragging and masking using code. Chapter 12 also includes examples of how to use components such as text fields, checkboxes, combo boxes with simple actionscripts. This won't let you create a full application, but it can get you a long way in creating basic things such as feedback forms.

Great advice

The book is full of good advice and you instantly notice that the authors are avid Flash users. This book even tells you when NOT to use Flash. That's a good sign! Every chapter is full of these small things that only a seasoned Flash user would know that new users really need to know. The last three chapters, called "The part of Tens", are especially good. The first chapter is a ten question FAQ that quickly answers some key questions that beginners may want to know. The next part shows the reader where to learn more and it also introduces the Flash community through highlighting forums, conferences and resource sites (this site is even mentioned). The last of the three "Tens" chapters aims to inspire the reader by highlighting "Ten Flash Designers to Watch". One can always argue over who to highlight in such a chapter, but the designers mentioned are certainly inspiring.

Boring stuff such as how to install Flash, setting preferences, explaining panels and what's on the companion site are hidden in the Appendix. Those that look for it will find it, but it won't annoy the average reader. The companion site offers the usual example file download, but also a library of Vector Graphics (like in free clip-art) and a bonus chapter explaining "obscure terms" for Flash Designers.

Conclusion

This book is organized very cleverly and that makes it an easy read for the novice user. The only few things we dislike is that some of the "info-boxes" detailing special subjects are not placed in the proper context. The authors also miss somewhat when saying that Flash can't do 3D, but for the readers of this book, this may be true. Papervision3D isn't for beginners and the new 3D features of Flash Player 10 wasn't showcased by the time this book was written.

I'm often asked for advice on what book to recommend to people starting out with Flash. Now I have an answer: Flash CS3 for Dummies. I can't actually believe that I'm recommending a book in this series, but it really is good and the price is really good as well. You can even get it for less than $16.49 if you buy it from Amazon.com.

 

 

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