Chapter 11: Working with Movie Clips

Chapter List

Chapter 14: Adding Interactivity with ActionScript Behaviors

Chapter 15: Creating Interactive Controls

Chapter 16: Creating Flash Applications with Components

Hands On 4: Creating a Favorites Application with Behaviors and Components

Part Overview

One of the more elusive terms we hear as developers of digital media is interactivity. This word appears frequently in books, tutorials, and articles, and is usually used to qualify or categorize the media we produce. It has become a sort of buzzword , such that in many circles, interactive equals cool. In its defense, though, many things (digital and otherwise ) are interactive and require this cyber-savvy stamp of approval. One fear, however, is that the word is used so often that either it has lost its meaning or its meaning has been diluted.

So what exactly is interactivity? Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines interactive as "of, relating to, or being a two-way electronic communication system that involves a user 's orders (as for information or merchandise) or responses ." Well, that gets us started ”a two-way communication between a person and a machine, but how does this relate to Flash? That's where you come in. As a developer of Flash movies, you are the "ghost in the machine," the person responsible for determining the nature of communication between your movies and your audience. Flash movies can respond to audience input in whatever manner you define; your task is to decide how that response will be delivered. This part of the book opens the floodgates to the vast world of interactivity. You will begin to understand the techniques that afford communication between your audience and your Flash creations.