The authors express when creating a Flash program, organization is the key. This book is far from organized. They spend too much time talking about things instead of doing them. Self-help books should have tons of visuals and tutorials, this lacks in both areas. The authors should have sought self-help in organizational skills before selling this book to the masses. One more thing, and this is to all authors of self-help books in any area and that is put your books in a spiral notebook form, its a real pain trying to keep the book open and do the tutorials at the same time. I won't torch it as of yet, but Chicago winters can be brutal.

I felt compelled to write a review because my experience with the book and the "interactive" tutorials on the CD-ROM was mediocre. Take the high praise you see from others, especially that which is not really backed up by specific examples, with a grain of salt.

First, about me: I'm a new Flash user who has experience creating multimedia presentations in Director. I've also taught myself Photoshop using self-help books (which, by the way, were better than this one).

The authors have taken the easy way out, giving the user a simple list of commands/actions in a reference-style manner -- yet recommend that the user read the book from front to back. This presents a problem because to read the book from front to back is boring, yet to use it as a reference gives no additional insight into the best way to create a flash project. Plus, it would take forever to complete each mini example if one were to follow the book with Flash open. Who really wants to go through the menu options of "How to rotate an object" or "How to format text?" These need to be given in context.

For example, the authors detail how to Cut or Copy an object very precisely, step by step. Useful, perhaps, if one catchs it the first time. But what if one didn't? The tutorials don't necessarily flow from the chapter and won't address everything you've learned. A great example comes right away: The Chapter 2 Quicktime tutorial includes Motion Tweening animation, yet the authors wait until chapter 10 to even address animation with paragraphs titled "How Animation Works" and "Understanding the Timeline." Obviously not very smart.

It appears that Franklin and Patton have taken the easy way out with the tutorials. These tutorials are pure movies intended for one to watch and follow at the end of each chapter, with a simultaneous Flash project on the side mimicking their actions. Where's the backup documentation? There is none. Instead, the Quicktime tutorials should be written down, progressively incorporating new tasks and skills. Did I learn from the Quicktime tutorials? Yes. But I now find myself wanting to use them as references -- and using a movie as a reference is impossible. The Flash files are there, too, but that's like trying to learn how to build an engine by examining the car after it's rolled off the assembly line. You can do it, but it takes extra work! WHY the car was built that way is still a mystery.

In summary, the authors have done a good job in writing a Flash How-to dictionary, but leave the user finishing the book without a clear sense of how to put a whole project together from beginning to end.

Un libro interesante para aprender a usar flash 4, pero que cae en decir que es para usuarios avanzados cosa que no es tal, pues solamente llega -a mi parecer- a usuarios intermedios.

Posee un buen método de enseñanza para quienes poseen nociones sobre el programa y para aquellos que no tienen idea sobre el, sin embargo si ya sabes usar el programa no te recomiendo este libro, a menos que tengas vacios técnicos.

This Book is probably the best book for Flash 4, It has exellent tutorial's on the CD. Everything from creating basic graphics to advanced action script is covered.

I higly Recommend this book!

Also Recommended: Javascript Bible, Truespace Bible, Photoshop Bible, Using FrontPage 2000 (que), and Mastering Access 2000

Very dry reading. This is the 2nd time trying to go through this book and I remember why I didn't get through it the 1st time. It makes you get fustrated at the program. Very bad teaching style.