[...]... Things have certainly changed in the industry and with Flash itself Designers can achieve advanced motion graphics and interface design treatments akin to what is seen in movies and on television Flash has a 98% install base More clients recognize the potential success of doing something innovative and different using Flash Developers can use Flash to create robust on-demand applications that rival... experiences This flexibility can be a Flash designer’s greatest asset and also his worse liability Flash is the only tool that gives designers total control over audio, video, animation, and lightweight graphics for the Web—which means the possibilities of a designed experience are endless Flash has groundbreaking new features that enable designers to not only craft tasteful motion design sequences, but also... Chapter 1 FLASH OVERVIEW by Guido Rosso and Michael Kemper Believe it or not, many people still harbor serious concerns about integrating Flash into their web strategy Countless implementations of poorly created Flash intros, confusing Flash interfaces, and long download times have taught far too many users, and prospective clients, to fear the Flash experience Despite this misconception, Flash is perhaps... ingenuity and creativity of the Flash community are constantly pushing the boundaries and solving the problems of Flash experiences From the user perspective As much as Flash can hinder usability, it can also enhance it With the right combination of Flash component sets, object-oriented programming, and design production, and understanding on the part of the designer, any Flash project can be far more... integration This is a very important time for online video and Flash There is no other way to have video brought into a website and made to look a part of the interface and/or design without using Flash to do it Flash has a great number of ways to seamlessly integrate video into interactive experiences Designers have many new options for Flash/ video integration, and users have the ability to view that... “creative developers” as we picked up these new programming skills This latest version of Flash has reactivated its base: designers Those designers who stuck in there and believed in the Flash platform have earned front-row seats for the next evolution of the Internet—and this time it is very much influenced by Flash- based design and technologies Newer users who have the skills and talent for creating unique... of us, and the users we design for, would rather be doing anything else Once again, Flash saves the day Not only do vector-based graphics in Flash download quicker than conventional bitmap graphics on HTML-based sites, but it is also easy to send and receive data and content in a Flash interface without page refreshes in the browser window Combine these factors with the way Flash has revolutionized... Photoshop as well as in Flash to create interface designs It is much easier to edit vector graphics than to modify raster images in Flash mainly because Flash is a vector-oriented application Since vector art is essentially mathematically created, it is very easy to manipulate and gets crisp results when used correctly Raster art, on the other hand, is pixel based and more limited in Flash with regard to... limited in Flash with regard to its post-creation edit options There is an overwhelming number of benefits to designing your Flash interfaces mostly in vector One of the greatest of these is the vast array of editing options you have once you work with the design in Flash Here is a brief list of Flash vector advantages: 5 5556ch01.qxd 4/7/06 4:24 PM Page 6 CHAPTER 1 Vector art requires less CPU power... indication as to how integrated Flash will become not only to the general Internet audience, but also to the products and workflow of professional designers and developers everywhere Now Flash is becoming the all-in-one creation tool designers and developers alike have wanted for years This book is for design educators, students, and industry professionals who have experience with Flash and want to elevate . Berry Indexer Toma Mulligan Cover Image Designer Bruce Tang Interior and Cover Designer Kurt Krames Manufacturing Director Tom Debolski AdvancED Flash Interface Design Copyright © 2006 by Michael. in the industry and with Flash itself. Designers can achieve advanced motion graph- ics and interface design treatments akin to what is seen in movies and on television. Flash has a 98% install. McSharry is a Flash developer of seven years who firmly believes that Flash developers should be as comfortable with design as they are with coding, and he practices what he preaches. Flash is about