Product Description

With most U.S. households having Internet connections, more people than ever are looking to develop their own sophisticated Web sites. The need for easy-to-grasp information on how to make an interactive and well-designed site has never been higher as more people need to learn or improve their Web skills. For the busy professionals whose boss wants them to jazz up their Web site, or the student burning the midnight oil to put together some Web animations for a class, Creating a Web Site with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional: Visual QuickProject Guide is just the book they need to start creating Flash sites in an instant. Pared down to just the essentials, this book shows readers who are short on time just what they need to know to accomplish their first project in Flash. Topics covered include using the Flash authoring tool, creating and animating graphics, tweening, loading dynamic data, and adding sound and video, plus coverage of new Flash CS4 features. It’s everything readers need to know to develop their Web site using Adobe Flash! The book’s companion Web site offers project files and updates.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39664 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780321591517
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
David Morris began creating Web sites in 1995 and has developed Web sites in corporate, non-profit, and educational arenas. In addition, he was an original member of the Macromedia Fireworks development team as well as product manager for Fireworks and Freehand.

Customer Reviews

Same project but new features and techniques
When I review a new edition of a book which I have previously reviewed, I look for new information that I feel should have been added to the book. In the case of this book by David Morris, the website project is the same but much has been added to keep up with the new Flash features. Morris has done a great job of choosing which of the new features and techniques will be most useful to his audience. So what new information has been added to this edition of Creating a Web Site with Flash CS4?

As mentioned above, the project website is a newer, updated version of the original project. The author uses many supporting screenshots to reinforce the step-by-step instructions as he walks you through building the website. Of course, he begins with a tour of the new Flash interface and introduces the new features that you will use during the project such as the Edit Bar and Motion Editor.

Beginning the project, you start by building the background for the website using the Flash drawing tools including the new graphic primitives and 9-slice scaling. Next, you use Text tools to add static text and hyperlinks. Moving on, you learn the new steps for importing graphics into Flash from other programs such as Photoshop. Morris discusses the new dialog box and object options for layers and objects when importing Illustrator files. You use layers and the Library to organize your assets. You add a mask layer and edit masked objects to add the finishing touch to the background.

The website structure is still organized along the Timeline, as in previous editions. And, as before, you build your own interactive buttons with Button Symbols. When its time to program the buttons, the code is updated for ActionScript 3. When building the animation for the website, you use the new Motion Presets for shape tweens and 3D rotation and the Motion Editor for fine tuning your animation. The website photo gallery is updated to use XML and UI Components and the dynamic text is now formatted by CSS. You will also learn how to use Flash form and video components. Finally, you set up the HTML and SWF settings for publishing your website.

David Morris has been a website and graphic designer for many years. He was product manager for Macromedia Fireworks and Freehand, as well as part of the Fireworks development team.

great quick learning guide
I'm familiar with a lot of the CS4 products already and needed to teach myself Flash very quickly. I spent about a week going through video tutorials online, but found that none of them were sufficient in explaining the work flow. This book does a wonderful job guiding you through an entire project and I feel like I learned almost as much in two days as I would with 8 weeks of classroom instruction. Of course in a classroom you would be spending time creating your own project and having specific questions answered, but I just feel that this is great for not having the time and money to invest in a full course. After going through the project in this book, I have a much better understanding of how to work with Flash and feel comfortable enough to build my own website/presentation in Flash.

At first glance the layout bothered me because it looked very messy. However, after working through a couple pages I didn't mind it anymore. In fact I find it helpful to have all the labels pointing to the images so there is no guessing what the author is referring to. The contents might take more time to figure out if you're not familiar with similar programs and terminologies already, but I still think it's worth trying.

Web Flash made easy
I love using flash since Macromedia flash mx 2004 came out. But have only done flash aniamtions and a basic website. This book was so easy to follow with its clear instructions and diagrams. It is a must for those who are new to making flash websites.