u cannot finish this on 24 hours. I have Flash background but I finished "chapter 5" in 13 hours, which was supposed to finish in 5 hours. Sooooooo many text and difficult for ESL students. Not step by step and not too many graphic. No CD or resource files to do tutorials.

I recommend Flash 8 24hours...I believe it will take more than 24 hours to get through the book. But it is a good buy and I found it helpful in understanding flash.

I got this book in spite of the "...in 24 Hours" claim in its title... I just hate gimmicks. I'm very glad that I got over my distaste, because the first chapters were the most instructive introductory chapters that I have ever read and the rest of the book did not disappoint either.

Flash is unlike any other media creation tool and it requires a re-education that many content developers find challenging--much like an airplane pilot learning to fly a helicopter. What makes Flash in 24 Hours so special is that it not only teaches you how to use the software, but it also succeeds in teaching you "The Flash Way". You will find multiple "A-HA" moments where you'll set the book a side to extend on an example you just read.

If you are like me, you will be so caught up in the feeling of quick success that this book gives you that you will be tempted to complete the entire 24-hour process in one sitting.

This is the first book that I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn, and understand, Flash.

One warning though:

This book is not very deep. It touches on Action Script and some of the more advanced corners of Flash, but it will not help you build the next online store application or the next Home Star Runner web site. It's an introductory book that should be purchased along with a more specialized book that covers the particular needs that lead you to Flash in the first place.

As an absolute beginner with Flash, I've been very happy with this book. It's very well laid out, the exercises are very useful, and I think it strikes a good balance of drilling key concepts into your head without being repetitive and yet giving you room to explore things on your own.
The exercises were at times slightly challenging without ever being frustrating.
I had watched a good bit of online training video tutorials from a paid subscription site whose titles I usually find pretty useful, but this book did a much better job at explaining the program than those videos did.
Highly recommended !

I have been buying books with Amazon for quite a few years and have been extremely satisfied with their customer service and delivery.
On this book: one of the best I own in terms of material presentation and tutorials. Clear, easy to follow, without fluff and unnecessary repetition.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn Flash from scratch or just brush up whatever he/she already knows.

I haven't had time to read the entire book yet, but what I've read is very easy to follow and walks you through step-by-step. The author uses clear language that guides easily and the examples in the book are of good quality. I am new to flash and find the book easy to read yet very informative. From what I've read so far and by browsing through the later chapters, I am certain I will be more than satisfied with this book.

My friend lost his job and needed an interesting website design to illustrate his resume to potential employers. He asked me to design a website for him. Other books I bought I could not understand or follow because they were too complex. I am grateful that I found Flash in 24 Hours because it is easy and understandable to follow.

Do NOT buy the "Training from the source" book -- it will put you to sleep while building some bogus e-commerce site. This book introduces you to many of the widgets and tools in the Flash 8 application, while being interesting and engaging. Most exercises start from a new file, so you don't have to worry about getting lost, and you can skip ahead a couple chapters if there is something you really want to learn.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn Flash!

overall the book is a great way to start learning flash. my only real complaint is the way that the author throws actionscript at the reader... sort of like he pulled it out of a hat during a magic show. a bit more background on simple actionscript would make the book a lot better. i think that addressing this would have given this book it's 5th star.

i also thought that the title was just a little misleading. most chapters definitely took more than an hour (chapters are broken down by hour). sure you can zip through that fast...but not if you want to really learn flash. but i do like the way that the chapters are broken down. very nice concept.

also, there are a couple of mistakes that make one or two of the projects not work and may cause the reader to tear out their hair trying to figure out why. the author's web site addresses some of the errors, but even if you don't check his web site out... keep after it, use what you've learned and use your imagination and you can overcome those probs and get those projects to work. (and even learn a little more in the process of figuring that out.)

all that having been said, its still a very good place to start.

Good tutorial book, lessions are easy and the book helped me to understand Flash 8 better.

This book was a big surprise for me, because every book I read about animation was a fiasco, the people that already knows flash animation (expert people like computer science engineers) most of the time think, that average people knows everything about computers and animation, something that I disagree very much, this book has a very easy going way to teach you flash animation, many advice and a lot of useful information about flash and his tools, a few times you think that the author treats you like a child, but I ask you, learn like child is not the best way to learn anything?. So, go and buy this book, because is a worth reading.

After checking all the books about Macromedia Flash 8 and reading the reviews from the other buyers, I decided to buy this one. I'm very satisfied with the purchase. The subjects are very clearly explained and the tutorials given after each lesson are the best way to learn. Even though you could complete each lesson in 1 hour + or -, it is best to dedicate more time to practice each tutorial as many times as you need until you remember all the steps. The writing style is also very nice, sometimes with humor and the author keeps you interested and looking forwards to learn the next lesson. Very good choice !

I took three courses in Flash 8, and was disappointed in all three textbooks. So I decided to teach myself, and set about to find the best textbook for self-study. Fortunately, I ran across Phillip Kerman's book in a local bookstore and decided to take a chance with it.

I'm on my third pass through the book. I went through it twice from beginning to end, reading every word and doing every exercise. I'm now teaching Flash 8 from it, and going through the book a third time as I prepare each classroom lesson.

PROS: Phillip has an outstanding ability to explain both concepts and procedures in a way that a novice can understand. He may be better at that than any other author of a computer book I've ever read. Even after taking three Flash 8 courses and studying three other Flash 8 books, there were many times reading Philips book when I said to myself, "Wow, that's so logical and easy to understand." From an instructional design perspective, the contents are presented in a logical sequence. The tone of writing is personal, as if he's writing directly to you.

CONS: There are many editing errors. Fortunately, most of them aren't critical to understanding the passage in which they occur. The Errata on Phillip's web page for this book are incomplete; many of the errors in the book aren't mentioned there. And there are places in the step-by-step instructions where it would be helpful if additional instruction was provided.

Despite the cons, I recommend this book highly. Whether you want to learn Flash 8 on your own, have a good reference for Flash 8, or have a book from which you can teach Flash 8, this is the best I have found and very possibly the best available.

I've been struggling with Flash for over a month now.. I even hired a few tutors showing me the very simple task of importing photos into Flash.. Alas, I wish that I had this book much earlier so that I wouldn't have wasted all this money... My jaws dropped and then I shrieked in excitement when I made an animation in just 5 minutes following Phillip's easy and clear instructions in this book!!! My confidence in using Flash has definitely boosted up!!!

I am a self-taught novice graphic/web designer and I bought this book hoping to be able to incorperate some flash into my works. I downloaded the free 30 day trial of Flash 8 Pro and started working on this book. It worked like a charm. I am half way through the book and I already feel that I have a decent amount of knowledge in Flash.

Pros: The cost is obviously the first reason to buy this book. Significantly cheaper than all the other flash guides. The lessons are well layed out and cover all of the features of flash (or at least the half of the book that I have read so far). Could very easily be the only book you need to learn Flash.

Cons: Very few pictures, though that may be a personal preference. B&W images sometimes are confusing when dealing with color specific content.

I was incredibly happy with Mr. Kerman's book, which, through the heavy use of tutorials, allowed me to become comfortable using Flash very quickly.

I was brand new to Flash and originally bought the Flash 8 Bible, which nearly turned me off Flash entirely after 100+ pages describing the user interface (I should point out the the Bible is a great reference work, just not much of a learning tool). I then Picked up Mr. Kerman's book, and within 3 weeks was feeling very comfortable creating animations and web content (including such detailed tasks as developing user interfaces). This book utilizes non-stop tutorials interspersed with just enough information to keep the reader feeling informed but not overwhelmed. If you like to learn by doing, I cannot recommend a better book (I have spent hours looking around the bookstore and have seen nothing else that seems to compete). If you are new to Flash, buy this book!

This is my first review of any book. I felt strongly enough about this book to write up a quick review.

I'm a software developer by trade, not really a web developer (so far). I've started down the Flash road a couple of times and have never really done anything with it. Until now. My customer had a need for a flash movie clip so I bought Phillip's book after reading the reviews and they are right on.

I does take a bit more than 24 hours and I'm only on hour 15, but I'm comfortable enough to get done what I need to. This is a great book to get the basics down as well as learn a few of the millions of tricks you can do with Flash. Very well structured - logical and clear, at least to me.

Flash is a very complex program and complex to navigate if you've never seen it before. Phillip does an outstanding job all the way around.

Also, I had a question after publishing my moving and Phillip returned the email within 30 minutes. Awesome!

Needless to say, I highly recommend this book.

As a 13-yr-old, homeschooled beginner in Flash, I enjoyed this book very much because of its clarity. I learned a lot of things that other authors didn't say anything about. If you are thinking of buying Flash 8 by Phillip Kerman I highly recommend it. It's a great book for beginners and experts alike. If you're looking for a book about Actionscript though, this is not the one. Yes, it covers the fundamentals of Actionscript, but it teaches you mostly about animating, drawing, layers, the library of Flash, etc.. Sams Publishing is also a great company, and you should not have any doubt about purchasing a book published by them. My rating for "Sams Teach Your Self Flash 8 in Twenty-Four Hours by Phillip Kerman" is too low: I wish there was something higher than five stars.

I'm a techie not a programmer by trade and I wanted to spice up my company web site, so what the hey lets get some flash on it, ..........
I waded thru a couple of other books and didn't feel I was getting a handle on the technology, After the first 2 chapters of Phillips book I felt that on was on the right track. I like to learn thru concrete examples and this book excels at that. You work thru progressively more difficult tasks and in the process gain a solid understanding of the technology. Very nicely done and I recommend this book highly.

I probably have a different background than most readers of this book, because I'm a professional web developer. However, on-line banking doesn't require Flash, so I had never developed with it. But now I want to write some web games, and this book gave me all of the groundwork I needed to start working in Flash.

The learning curve for Flash's design tools was the toughest part for me, and the start of this book covers it perfectly. I understood the timeline, layers, keyframes, and all the rest through his clear explanations. The Flash interface is definitely unique, so the explanations made a lot of things clear that otherwise would not have been.

The programming side of Flash seems to give many people trouble, but that was the easiest for me. Either way, his chapters about Actionscript are clear, simple but not simple-minded, and paced properly.

On top of all that, he answers his e-mail promptly.

I learned Flash 8 with this book. I am VERY happy with it. Kerman covers how and why Flash does what it does. Make sure you have Flash 8 PROFESSIONAL to follow along. FYI...if you want to REALLY LEARN the basics, don't expect to complete this book in "24 Hours"...I would say my "adverage" time per chapter was 2 hours each (24 chapters). BUT, I was determined to understand what I was dealing with and I also checked out other "capabilities" while going thru each chapter. I am now reading thru "Building a websit with Flash 8" which is very general and I am glad I have the basics to understand easily what is happening.

THANKS Mr. Kerman!!!

Phillip's book is perfect for new Flash users, like myself. The examples and exercises walk you through processes with step by step easy to follow directions.

When I found myself in a jam, I e-mailed Phillip to ask him a couple of questions. Not only did he write back to me, he took the time to make sure that I understood what was causing the problem and how to fix it.

This is a great book by a fantastic teacher.I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to learn more about Flash.

Look no further, this book is great!
I had 0 experience in Flash before picking up this book. I just finished it and have gained a lot of knowledge. After finishing it, I wanted more. Phillip does a great job of making the reader excited about Flash. As you do tasks, you have a feeling of accomplishment because you're actually creating things, neat things.
He does a great job communicating to the reader step by step. It's so easy to follow what he's explaining and teaching.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested or just starting out with Flash 8. You'll get a complete understanding of the basics and you too will be wanting more!

This was the first book I purchased on Flash, and was my first time attempting to learn Flash. Right out of the gate, author Phillip Kerman has you building an animation that you can test and see for yourself! He goes to great lenghts to keep the 'tech-talk' and computer savy lingo to a minimum, which is a huge plus for those who don't consider themselves up to date on all things computers! He treats you like a first timer and tries to explain things on an elementary level, without giving too much detail or background to confuse you. His 'Try-It-Yourself' sections often leave room for you to customize them or try different angles. Some parts of this book seem complicated, such as the ActionScript language, which allows Flash its functionality characteristics, but a simple re-read of brief sections upon completion were almost always enough to grasp the concepts!
I would recommend this book for anyone who doesn't know anything about Flash, and wants to learn.

But, be SURE to take the authors advice in the beginning of the book and leave everything you ever knew about creating digital graphics at the doorstep. Trust me....you'll be glad you did!

I have always wanted to get into Flash but never found the time. Well after seeing a demo of Flash 8 I knew I had to include it into my production skills. At the time this was one of the only books available. I sat down and did all the lessons and was amazed at how easy the author explains it all! Great tutorials and little tests at the end! If your just starting out in Flash I highly recommend this book!

Written in Kerman's usual savvy and accessible way, Teach Yourself Flash 8 is 24 Hours is not a book to miss if you're interested in Flash 8. The book combines lessons that take you through the usual basics in a crisp and helpful way, but it also includes gems I haven't seen elsewhere. His chapter on video is particularly outstanding; the rotoscope demo can readily be extended to captions, hot spots, and other overlays. That section alone is worth the price of the entire book. ( I recently bought a component that does something similar; it cost me twice as much as the book and is half as flexible.)

But wait, there's more. Kerman, being the pro that he is, shares great ideas about workflow as well. He also presents the easiest way yet I've seen for controlling the combo box component with Actionscript. Both sections will save you much time and they're both worth the price of admission on their own.

This may not be the last Flash 8 book you buy, but you won't have to look for too many more.

Of the MANY manuals I have used over the years to teach Flash this is the best.
Kerman describes steps in enough detail, the chapters flow in a logical way and he makes actionscript not seem like a foreign language. I highly recommend it.
gwen