August 27, 2004

Flash Anthology Book Reviews

There certainly seems to be some positive comments flooding in regarding 'The Flash Anthology: Cool Effects & Practical ActionScript', and I'm honoured to say that Kirupa has written a really nice review of the book which can be found hereGeorge Petrov et al over at DMXZone.com have the book on the front page and are looking to do a review in the near future.Keep the comments coming! Read more [...]
August 17, 2004

Creating a Spiral Binding with the Ribbon Auto Shape

This week we will use this Auto Shape to create a great looking graphic of a spiral binding. This Auto Shape was created by Hiroshi Miyazawa, who works for Macromedia on the Fireworks QA team. Read more [...]
August 17, 2004

The Flash Anthology: Cool Effects & Practical ActionScript – Chapter 1: Flash Essentials

Life without Flash would be uninteresting and mundane. Flash sites are to static HTML sites what a family-size, deep-crust pizza with all the toppings is to a piece of toast. Many of today's big-impact sites are either full-blown Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) or a prudent blend of HTML and Flash. This careful melding of technologies, coupled with seamless integration, means the difference between an online experience that's striking, and one that's utterly forgettable. Read more [...]
August 17, 2004

The Flash Anthology: Cool Effects & Practical ActionScript – Chapter 3: Animation Effects

The fads of Internet design may come and go, but one thing that will never change is that the more dynamic you make your Flash creations, the more engaging they are to the user. This dynamism can be counterproductive under certain circumstances, especially when multiple effects battle for the user's attention, or the effects are too garish. Identifying the key to effective animation is like the search for the Holy Grail. What some users think is a cool effect, others find patently uninteresting—and vice versa. Never lose sight of the importance of striking a balance between the interface and the animations you're attempting to produce. Read more [...]
August 17, 2004

The Flash Anthology: Cool Effects & Practical ActionScript – Chapter 5: Sound Effects

Sadly, sound within Flash projects is often included as an afterthought—if it's included at all. Hurried, last-minute sound additions typically amount to no more than a clichéd loop that serves little purpose. If you ever find yourself in the position of importing a sound clip into a project without a clear idea of why you're doing it, stop and repeat the Flash designers' mantra: bad use of sound can destroy the entire user experience. Read more [...]
August 17, 2004

Macromedia Announces New Flash Video Kit

For all you Flash MX 2004 Professional users out there, Macromedia has added a new weapon in the arsenal for web video integration.Via a Dreamweaver MX 2004 extension, the Flash Video Kit allows the easy addition of streaming / progressive video downloadThe good news is, for users who purchase and register online before September 30th 2004 will receive the video kit for free, for everyone else, the kit costs $49 and is available from hereThe kit includes four components: a Flash Video extension for Read more [...]
August 8, 2004

New Flash MX 2004 Commands

Two new Flash MX 2004 Panels released todayScatterBug and Dynamic Scaler PanelScatterBug: takes your selection, and creates multiple instances of it, including control for opacity and fading opacityDynamic Scaler: addresses a usability issue in Flash MX 2004 regarding scaling of objects, as this is usually done via the transform tool, with this panel you have complete control over the percentage scaling of the object in question! Read more [...]
August 5, 2004

New Flash MX 2004 Commands and Panels Available

Well, I've been making Fireworks panels for (well what seems years now!) ages now, and have taken the opportunity to start converting some of them for use in Flash MX 2004Over at the Sitepoint Flash Blog, there are several new panels and commands includingFont Adjuster Panel for Flash MX 2004 SitePoint Flash Blog Panel for Flash MX 2004Twist and Fade Panel for Flash MX 2004Selective Layer Lock CommandCreate Basic Layers Command...and Library Generator and Random Opacity CommandsI hope you enjoy using Read more [...]
August 2, 2004

The Flash Anthology: Cool Effects and Practical ActionScript Released!

Pretty exciting times, my new Flash book hit the shelves when I was away on holiday, so you may want to go and meander over to Sitepoint where you can view more information, view the table of contents, browse the index, or purchase the bookGo and grab Chapter 1 ( Flash Essentials) from Sitepoint which is online as an article now, where you can also sign up and get 4 free chapters from the book. Read more [...]
August 1, 2004

Phew…Back

Back off hols, and millions of emails to reply to, thank you all, I will get back to you asap! More tomorrow…