Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

For newbies and freshers, not for pros

Customer Rating:

I was totally new to Flash. I knew Photoshop and Illustrator, but when I started Flash and tried to do anything I was lost like a drunken child in a mist. I have spent at least 4-6 hours looking for a book for me. I bought this one and that wasn't bad choice. I bet there are better books, I'm sure there are books that cover more subjects. But this one is pretty good if you want to start form the scratch. After reading it from cover to cover (and it was an easy reading, book is written quite well) I was actually ready to make some animations, some basic web page interactions (buttons, links). And most important of it all I was able to pick up (basic) scripts and .fla's from the web, and I knew what's going on. There are some inconsistencies in the text, but they are minor, and don't really matter. Just a word of advice - this is NOT a book for people that are able to do their own animations and write their own scripts. You may find some interesting things in that book, but it will be just a waste of money. This IS a book for beginners. Why only four stars? - because I wish they had cover more action script, but hey, you can't get everything!

Nowhere near as good as Dreamweaver CS3 Missing Manual

Customer Rating:

I ordered this book after being totally impressed by the Dreamweaver Missing Manual which was excellent, hoping this book would be the same. I was sorely disappointed as it doesn't flow at all like it's counterpart. I am not a beginner in Flash but found the book tried to explain too much too soon and I kept waiting for the walk you through tutorials but none came. I didn't get past the first 3 chapters as I was put off by the confusing flow. I have given up on it and sent it back and am awaiting a Visual QuickStart Guide and How to Cheat in Flash CS3 so let's hope they are better!

Great first book on Flash

Customer Rating:

Let's face it - no single book is going to tell you everything you might ever need to know about Flash but I'd say this is pretty much a perfect first book for anybody trying to get to grips with this software package. It's written in a very clear, accessible style - not at all the dry-as-dust style that blights so many of these technical books - but it's surprisingly comprehensive. I only started using Flash within the last month but this book got me off to a flying start. If you want to get into the inner workings of ActionScript 3.0 then you'll need a separate book for that. For everything else, this is the place to start. Highly recommended.