Organization of the Book

The book is divided into four sections of increasing complexity.

Part I: "Getting Started with Flash 5" (Chapters 1 “4) is introductory in nature. It's designed to bring new users up to speed fairly quickly in the basics of Flash. If you're familiar with Flash, but new to Flash 5, you might want to skim these chapters for tips on how to set up your work environment and use some of the new tools in Flash 5. If you've never worked with the Generator templates in Flash 5, Chapter 4, "Flash and Generator," gives you a quick look at the power of Generator.

Part II: "Building Blocks/Animation and Sound" (Chapters 5 “13) is primarily focused on using graphics, sound, and animation techniques in Flash. And yes, there is a sprinkling of ActionScript in there ”even before you get to the coding section of the book. The more time you spend working in Flash, the more you'll realize that knowing at least a little bit of ActionScript is indispensable .

Part III: "Building Blocks/Introducing ActionScript and Interactivity" (Chapters 14 “23) is aimed at programmers and artists who want to develop a better command of ActionScript. This section relies heavily on ActionScript to control the behavior of objects in Flash. You'll get an introduction to object-oriented programming and most of the new Flash objects. Toss in a dash of physics and a little XML, and you'll really be on your way.

Part IV: "Pulling It All Together: Implementing Flash in the Real World" (Chapters 24 “28) addresses some of the issues not explicitly covered in the other sections and is really aimed at issues that both artists and programmers have to deal with on a regular basis. Ranging from storyboarding to dealing with browser and platform idiosyncrasies to working with middleware, this section helps to tie up some of the loose ends you find in Flash development.