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What our customer's say!

"Very Well Done", I shake my head when I think about the amount of planning that has to go into a book of this caliber. They couldn't have done a better job keeping track of the ideas introduced in early chapters and building on them in succeeding chapters until they are well ingrained.

The tone is good -- occasional bits of levity but not so much that it becomes grating.

I came to this book with some familiarity with Photoshop and Illustrator, but none whatsoever with Flash. I'm nearly done with the book and am ready to take on the Flash projects I have in mind. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning Flash.



"Very Inconsistent", Having read all the positive reviews, I had a lot of expectations for this book, however, I was bitterly disappointed. I'm only on page 26 of the book and I've already become frustrated with missing steps in the instructions, inconsistent content in the digital files, not to mention, the book didn't even tell us where to download the files and I had to find them myself. Maybe PC users aren't experiencing the same troubles I'm having, as the book seems to be based entirely on the PC version with some Mac shortcuts mentioned as afterthoughts, seemingly for marketing purposes; however, some inconsistencies are doubtlessly cross-platform.

On the Mac, menu items seem to be named differently, functions don't seem to behave the same way, as least not according to the instructions in the book. But more frustrating is that the contents of the example files do not correspond to the ones mentioned in the book, as vague as the descriptions are in the book to begin with - eg. the book gives an example of 2 items on the stage, when we open the file, there are 3. Insert Layer is somehow misnamed as New Layer,it's not a big deal, we can figure it out, but is this kind of error forgivable in an instruction book we PAY extra for? When we add a new Layer "2" to the file, according to the book, it becomes Layer 5 in the software; let's not forget to mention that the book's "Layer 1" layer is somehow named "Box" in the actual digital file, what is going on here?? Now, this is not a platform issue, the digital files and the book simply do not match. The remaining instructions from the book on that exercise obviously cannot be followed as so many things are completely different, and this is only Chapter 1.

I can forgive books on general theories and analysis being vague and inconsistent, but this is suppose to be a step-by-step software instruction book, is it so hard for the digital files to correspond to what is printed in the book? Can't the authors at least take a few minutes to double-check the differences between the Mac and PC versions before claiming that this book works for both?

I'm going to try to guess through the inconsistent and frustrating examples in order to learn the software, assuming things do not get worse after Chapter 1, but I do resent having to make extra effort for all this guesswork from an instruction book. Time might be better spent learning Flash off the web.

EDIT.
Despite some inconsistencies, having read a bit further, the book does offer a lot of helpful information, and a lot of effort put forth by the authors to make learning Flash as painless as possible. If the reader has the patience and determination to persevere through some of the inevitable errors in such a large volume, the book does give a decent overview of Flash. In retrospect, I would give the book a 3.5 stars rather than 1. 8/28/2008

"Not recommended", As a true Flash newbie, I can't recommend this book. I found the sample lessons to be too much too soon and, in some cases, steps were left out. There wasn't enough time spent at the beginning on learning your way around the timeline and information about optimizing and publishing your move are like an afterthought at the end of the book. The book also bills itself as 'for designers' and yet the samples used to demonstrate Flash principles are poorly designed.

"OK textbook", Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (Foundation)
I think it is a very good overview book. You get tour of everything - drawing, sound, and video. There are some omissions in sequences of instructions but it keeps your memory cells on alert - it keeps you from being automation, you actually make an effort to remember something and then use it in as agile manner as you can manage. If you do not remember you have to backtrack and earmark, and it is not nessecarily a bad thing.
Good work overall. I am not giving it 5 stars because I am old grudge.



"Great book - no CD :/", I just started using this book to learn Flash CS3. I think it is very easy to understand. However, the one downfall I do not like about it is that the author keeps referring to examples for the user to open as if a disk was included with the book, but isn't. It is just difficult to keep up or understand where they are going. Other wise I am learning tons!

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Good overview of Flash!", Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers provides a good overview of both Flash and Action Script 3.0, even for those who may be new to the program. The setup of the chapters was helpful, with the discussion of the topics being covered followed by the exercises that allow the reader to apply the skills taught in the chapter. The class files were relatively easy to find using a search engine. The instruction in the chapters was clear and proceeded in a logical manner. This is good for someone without a strong background in technical language. In addition to instructing the reader on how to use the program, the text also covers some basics of design, such as the possibilities of using fonts in Flash documents. The highly detailed table of contents made finding particular topics in the book easy to find, with clear lists of the chapters and their respective page numbers. Overall, this text proved useful for my Flash class, and it expanded on the basic knowledge that I already had of the program.

"Where are the source files?", Torn between 4 or 5-stars, it is the question "where are the source files" that makes the book less than perfect. Anyone that reads this book will ask the same question and hunt for the answer, so I'll answer it right now. Go to their website at www.friendsofed.com. Click on Downloads. Then scroll down and click on the title of the book. You'll get 2 ways to download the files - 1 big zip file (444 MB - about 2 hours w/DSL) or 14 smaller chapter files. I chose to download the individual chapters because it's quicker and Chapter 8 (video) is 324 MB by itself (Hint: download later!).

The book is so well thought out with a great layout, that I think it's unbelievable that they would overlook such a major omission. All of the content is upfront, even the tech reviewer and cover designer have their own bio pages. In fact when I looked at the blank white page that immediately follows the "introduction" but precedes the "layout conventions" I began to suspect that I probably missed it - and I did. It's written in micro-print as the last line on the copyright page (where?) just before the credits. So what gives? Probably a little joke on the readers and a gentle shove to visit their website for the clicks (uh, content).

If you can get over the fact that the pages are written in b&w or having to create your own cd (flash drive!)- it's really a great book to read and work with. I'll use Chapter 1 (Learning the Flash CS3 Professional Interface) to explain my reasons why. The title is a bit modest because it introduced a lot of material like concepts, keystrokes (PC & MAC), tools, timelines, symbols, movie clips, library, objects, layers, motion and more --- in every day language. Along the way, you're actually using them. At the end, I had a really good general understanding and a nice comfort-level with the features of Flash while being hungry for more. Perfect timing because the remaining chapters are more in-depth and build on Chapter 1. Moreover, I was excited to realize that it bridges the learning curve for the other CS3 programs. Afterwards, I jumped into another newbie book (Adobe's Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand) and nope - no fog! I haven't written a review on it yet but it's looking pretty good and it's in color.

"Learning the Basics", If you are new to flash and have no experience whatsoever, the Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers from Tom Green and David Stiller is an excellent choice to get yourself familiarize with Flash CS3. I am very pleased with this purchase and learned a lot from this book. Flash is a very powerful program that involves ActionScript. Flash CS3 includes the latest version, ActionScript 3.0, which is a code oriented programming language. However, the authors tried to approach ActionScript 3.0 so that beginners will enjoy Flash. I am not a programmer, but after reading certain chapters changed the way I think about the process of coding. I can pinpoint the code to manipulate easily because it is clearly labeled and commented. As you follow along with the book, your skills will quickly give you the knowledge of becoming an advanced user.

A good chapter to beginning learning the basics of ActionSript is chapter 4. The examples are dedicated to guide you through and inspire you to put your creativity to the test. They are extremely detailed and visually can follow along because of the screen shots.

I am a new user to Flash and this book guided me through the program step by step. Like I stated before, I am just astonished at how detailed and easy the examples are. Anything that I wanted to do, the book gave a detailed example. This is an excellent book to get you familiarized with Adobe Flash CS3, whether you want to create an interactive game or a web page, this book will get you started on how to accomplish your goals using Adobe Flash CS3.


"Awesome book", This book is awesome. I used it as reference for a flash course that i took and it was very helpful.

"Newbie to Flash", Liking the book a lot so far. This book does a clear and concise explanation of the basics and on. It makes designers like me who really just do print and have been only doing online stuff minimally. I'm almost half-way through the book and learning has been fun. The explanations and terminology is easy to understand. It is also easy to follow as you have Flash CS3 open. Great walk through. I'm so glad I found this book. Now I'm not as scared to face the Flash monster and Actionscript. My next goal will be Dreamweaver.