Animation and Effects with Macromedia Flash MX 2004

Rating:
Summary: Needs much better Action Scripting Examples
Review: I found the sections on Action Scripting to be seriously lacking in easy to follow examples. The accompaning CD had completed exercises that are useless to beginners (not enough step by step examples). I have some familarity with coding as a Macromedia Director User and could not get some the exercises to work (example:Excercise 1 Chapter 7). I got very little from this book and would not recommend it to anyone. Needs better step by step examples.

Rating:
Summary: Unfinished Business
Review: I preordered this book before it was released. For me it is useful, informative and worth its price. It has helped me to build on and consolidate previous basic flash skills.

However, it is disappointing that the accompanying web site FLanimation.com looks like it has been abandoned (as at Jan05) - especially since the book refers to it for checking out extra tutorials etc there. Unbelieveably they are listed as COMING SOON!!! After two months I am still waiting.
Also I don't want to waste time checking over a tutorial to finally conclude that the action script example was not my fault, but that the text was poorly written. I hope that any corrections in exercises will be listed on the website very soon.

This book is not near the excellence of ADOBE's 'Classroom in a Book' series. But then again, very very very few computer books are. The ADOBE textbooks are the benchmark. (No ADOBE doesn't write books for MACROMEDIA products.)

Overall I am happy that I purchased this book.