From the book lists at Adware Report:

All information current as of 02:20:15 Pacific Time, Tuesday, 1 March 2005. Flash MX Magic (3rd Edition)    by Matthew David / Mark Baltzegar / Veronique Brossier / Jim Caldwell / John Dalziel / Aria Danika / Robert M. Hall / Andreas Heim / Jason Krogh / 2Advanced Studios   Paperback:     New Riders Press     11 April, 2002    US$29.70       Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks Click the button below to . . .      (which will add the book to your Amazon U.S.A. "Shopping Cart") . . . or use your browser's Back button to return to the search-list page.

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Editorial description(s):

Amazon.com
Flash MX offers the interactive Web designer a suite of powerful features, and Flash MX Magic describes how to use them in a solid, tutorial-based approach. Fourteen topnotch designers penned this compilation, covering a variety of intermediate and advanced features.

To make the most of this inspiring book, the reader should have Flash MX installed. The opening chapter covers Components, an important new feature in Flash MX that allows a designer to create modules that can be dropped onto the Flash stage. Components is an important new feature that changes how Flash movies are designed, making it much easier to build, integrate, and reuse parts, and the fact that they are featured in chapter 1 signifies this. Components are used in almost every subsequent chapter, covering such subjects as preloading movies, building interactivity using ActionScript, and adding database interactivity.

All the data and project files needed for each chapter are included on the CD-ROM, along with finished versions of each project. Also included are demo versions of Flash MX, Director, Dreamweaver, and FreeHand. Like other books in New Riders' Magic series, Flash MX Magic is rich with color screen shots, concise language, and clear explanations. These are not books for the casual Web coder, but for the serious Flash designer who intends to make the most of the medium. --Mike Caputo


From Library Journal
Older patrons are attracted to audiovisual material on the web, but this video unfortunately misses the mark. It only covers usage of AOL which the narrator consistently conflates with the Internet. Shots of computer screens are blurry, nearly unreadable, and often cut off at the edges. Explanations are incomplete and, in some cases, incorrect (a modem, for example, is defined as "a piece of software"). Not recommended.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Book News, Inc.
Fifteen tutorials demonstrate how to use the scripting features and design tools new to the latest version of Flash. Written for web developers, the book provides examples of object-oriented scripting, Flash application development, client/server interaction, rich media content development, and animation. Color screenshots accompany the step-by-step instructions. The CD-ROM contains project files and demonstration versions of Flash MX and Fireworks 4.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


From the Publisher
QUICK FIRST NOTE: Flash Magic books aren't for most absolute beginners. If you're brand new to Flash, you may want to start with an entry-level book that gets you familiar with the basics of motion graphics and Flash's tools, before jumping into a Magic book. When you're ready, we promise, it'll be worth it...

ISN'T THIS JUST ABOUT THE FIRST FLASH MX BOOK RELEASED? The only way to get a software-dependent book to market so quickly after the software's release--without writing the book on beta and hoping the final release doesn't change too much--is to find a lot of people to contribute a little bit apiece. The Magic series is perfect for this, since its non-linear design doesn't require one chapter to flow into the next: each contributing writer or writing team does their own deal.

And, regarding Flash MX Magic: Such a deal. New Riders is absolutely honored that so many bright stars in the Flash community (riff the cover art) managed to make time to contribute to this all new, third entry in the Flash Magic series.

Matthew David, Mark Baltzegar, Jim Caldwell, John Dalziel, Aria Danika, Robert Hall, Andreas Heim, 2Advanced Studios, Veronique Brossier, Jason Krogh, Jessica Speigel, Helen Triolo, Glenn Thomas, and Joe Tripician. Framework provided by the one and only David Emberton (of Flash 4- and Flash 5 Magic). Project art created by the best new talent in graphic design today. As always, the project files are on the CD, so you can try these yourself and learn from some of the best and creatively varied minds in motion graphics. Yo-ho-ho, and happy Flashing... PLUS: We're also honored to acknowledge the presence of Scott Hamlin and David Emberton, the forces behind Flash 4 Magic and Flash 5 Magic. Although Scott didn't work on this project, and David's efforts were on the front end, building an outline for the book, New Riders hopes that this new version of Flash Magic will do them proud and hold a candle to the previous two bestsellers. Thanks, guys.


From the Back Cover


Flash MX Magic follows a proud tradition of offering cutting-edge inspirational and customizable Macromedia Flash projects written by leading Flash designers and developers. Each of the 15 projects focuses on a project such as game programming, creating a poll with a dynamic database, movie-making, and e-Card creation. By giving you clear instructions, full 4-color graphical display of steps, all the code and components and an explanation of modifications, you have all the tools necessary to complete the projects and use them as a launching pad for your own sophisticated work.

New Riders is absolutely honored that so many bright stars in the Flash community collaborated to share their valuable insight on how to this all-new, third entry in the Flash Magic series. The Magic series is perfect for a multi-author book. Its non-linear design allows each chapter to stand on its own as an independent project. And with the leading Flash designers and developers authoring this book, you get the best tips and tricks from those who have proven themselves in the field.

Matthew David, Mark Baltzegar, Jim Caldwell, John Dalziel, Aria Danika, Robert Hall, Andreas Heim, Jason Krogh, Stephanie Novak and Eric Jordan, Jessica Speigel, Helen Triolo, Glenn Thomas, and Joe Tripician give you their latest insights and from-the-trenches experience with Flash MX. And the framework for the book is provided by the one and only David Emberton (of Flash 4- and Flash 5 Magic). And the artwork is designed by the best new talent in graphic design. As always, the project files are on the CD, so you can try these yourself and learn from some of the best and creatively varied minds in motion graphics.

QUICK NOTE: Flash Magic books aren't for most absolute beginners. If you're brand new to Flash, you may want to start with an entry-level book that gets you familiar with the basics of motion graphics and Flash's tools, before jumping into a Magic book. When you're ready, we promise, it'll be worth it...


About the Author


Matthew David has been developing Flash-based applications for more than six years. (That makes him very old in this business!) Examples of his work can be found at his web site, http://www.matthewdavid.ws, or you can email him directly at [email protected]. Matthew's most recent publications include content for Flash 5 Magic and Inside Dreamweaver 4. You can also see him popping up in many online magazines such as Sitepoint.com, Windowatch.com, and UDzone.com. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: There are only four people I need to thank: my three kids—Jake, Emma, and Liam—and my beautiful wife. I could not do any of the things I do without you. I love you all.



Mark Baltzegar is an award-winning art director and interactive designer at Terra Incognita, bringing eight years of experience in working with video, print, and animation. Mark's work has been awarded the NY Films International Festival Gold Medal, has won Telly and Emmy awards, and has been recognized in HOW magazine. Like the other members of Terra Incognita's team, Mark has a strong background in the liberal arts. Mark attended the Louisiana Scholars' College, where his concentration was in the humanities and social thought. Mark is also a contributing author to Step-By-Step Digital Design. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: My wife and son, for their generous support; the Terra Incognita family, for their generous support; the Institute of Human Origins, for the generous use of imagery and audio from the Becoming Human interactive documentary.



Vironique Brossier currently works independently, developing games and web interaction design. A technology and art enthusiast, her work aspires to transcend programming and design and to engage the user. Today, Vironique teaches "Interactivity in Flash" in the same program where she received her M.A. when the Internet was in its infancy, the Interactive Telecommunications Program of New York University. Upon graduating from NYU, she worked for the American Museum of National History, designing and programming exhibition kiosks. Afterward, she joined the design studio Funny Garbage, where for three years she held the position of technical director in the animation department. Originally a French import, she has made New York City her home for many years.



Jim Caldwell is a self-taught and ambition-driven creative developer. His background lies within corporate surroundings, working for communications giants such as BellSouth and MCI WorldCom. At present, he is a senior applications developer with MCI WorldCom. Although he has been responsible for the company's intranet applications, his passion is creating new benefits and uses within Flash. His design studio, Innovative FX, LLC (http://www.innovativefx.com), contributes to his success by allowing him to serve clients such as Cisco Systems, Inc. Jim has always been a large part of the design community, moderating at forums such as Ultrashock (http://www.ultrashock.com), We're Here (http://www.were-here.com), and Flashmove (http://www.flashmove.com). Jim is the author of Instant Macromedia Flash 5 (Osborne McGraw Hill). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I'd like to thank my wonderful wife, Mary, for all the help and support she has given me. I owe the world to her.



John Dalziel is the U.K. correspondent for FlashMagazine. He has written tutorials on date and time for Ultrashock.com and tinkers with his own Flash projects at crashposition.com. He came to Macromedia Flash from a background in game design and is currently working for Pogo Technology, building Flash interfaces for mobile devices. John lives in London with his starfish. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I'd like to thank my wife, Emma, and my parents for their support; Andrew Gibson for his wonderful photograph; Tom, Gary, and Andy for their inspiration; Jensa and Miko for letting me loose; and Bill Hicks for squeegee-ing my third eye.



Aria Danika is a web designer/developer for BBC i based in London, a moderator at http://www.flashkit.com, and a member of the Hypermedia Research Centre at Westminster University, where she currently pursues a graduate degree in hypermedia studies and interactive design. Aria comes from an arts background and was trained in photography and multimedia. She enjoys working with mixed media across various platforms and also works with Flash at a personal level for experimenting with her art and digital photography. When she is not Flashing or rollerblading, she can be found over at FlashKit.com or actionscript.com, talking all things Flash with the rest of the community. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: There are many people I would like to thank for their time, support, and encouragement and for sharing their skills and knowledge. Many thanks to David Emberton for the opportunity and the inspiration. Also to Mark Fennell, John Starkey, David Petley, Jeremy Carney, Sven Goewie (thanks for all the support guys), and everyone at FlashKit for the opportunity to learn, experiment, and share with other developers our common passion whilst having great fun in the process. Finally, my parents and especially my mom. Thank you!



Robert M. Hall, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is currently the senior developer for mCom LLC (http://www.mcom8.com) located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Robert architects projects and develops ATM machine interfaces, award-winning Internet banking software, and wireless device applications. Prior to mCom, Robert was a consultant at Citicorp and a web developer for USABancshares.com. When Robert is not enjoying the outdoors with his girlfriend, he can be found listening to music, reading, tinkering with electronics, and trying out new technologies. Usually a piece or two of his experiments will wind up on his personal web site: Feasible Impossibilities, http://www.impossibilities.com. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks to Mike Chambers, Anna Marie Pises, and Niamh O Byrne of Macromedia; Phillip Torrone of Fallon & Flashenabled.com; Steve "Leo" Leone of NexusGroup; Daniel Taylor and my friends at mCom LLC; and all the folks who post to Flashcoders. Special thanks to David Dwyer and Theresa Gheen and the rest of the New Riders family for this opportunity; my friends Scott, Bill, and Chuck; my brother, Jimmy; my parents; and my girlfriend, Melissa, for all their support and inspiration.



Andreas Heim is from the small town of Hattenhofen, close to Stuttgart in Germany, a center of German car engineering. Originally intending to become a professional soccer player, his education took him into the area of media studies and programming. After creating an interactive CD-ROM, his focus shifted from film and video to interactive media. His school required him to do a six-month internship, which brought him to Smashing Ideas, where being a soccer-playing-and-beer-drinking German intern was highly respected. He had so much fun in Seattle that he extended his stay to one year before deciding to stay permanently. Andreas currently works on all kinds of cutting-edge digital-media projects, including bringing Flash to devices, while enjoying his time outside of work, snowboarding, and playing soccer. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks to the Flash team for creating the most excellent version of Flash yet, to Troy Parke for his help with designing Flatzee, and to Anna Hall for her support and for feeding me during the nights of writing.



Jason Krogh operates zinc Roe design, a small shop that specializes in advanced Flash development and training. He is actively involved in the Flash community and is a regular contributor to Ultrashock and the Flash Forward conference series. Under Jason's direction, zinc Roe has established itself in the world of children's new media. The company has developed projects for Canada's leading children's broadcasters, including the Family Channel, Teletoon, and TVOntario. Jason has been teaching advanced Flash techniques for more than three years and offers regular ActionScript workshops in Toronto. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks go out to Allan Kennedy for his help in reviewing this chapter, to Dave Yang and Sam Wan for putting up with my questions about OOP techniques, and to David Colquhoun, Jerrold Connors, and Anne-Sophie Brieger for their ongoing support. I would also like to thank all my students—past, present, and future—for their questions, curiosity, and inspiration.



Over the past four years, 2Advanced Studios has flourished from its humble beginnings as the personal portfolio experience and digital canvas of renown motion-graphics designer Eric Jordan into its present form as a leading full-service interactive design and multimedia agency. Based out of Dana Point, California, 2Advanced Studios services a wide array of clients and industries worldwide in the disciplines of web design, interactive multimedia, custom video, and audio production, as well as 3D rendering and traditional print design. For Macromedia Flash MX Magic, contributing 2Advanced authors Eric Jordan and Stephanie Novak have combined their collective design and development expertise to deliver a rewarding presentation of both form and function.



Jessica Speigel co-founded We're Here Forums (http://www.were-here.com), a haven for knowledge-seeking Flash users and the largest privately owned and operated Flash resource site. Jessica began her career as a designer creating web sites for high-profile jewelry designers. Realizing Flash's power for dynamic content, she took a position with PersonalGenie developing unique personalization web applications using Flash as the front end. During this time, Jessica created the front-end to applications for Fortune 500 companies such as Procter & Gamble. Jessica has also contributed Flash-related articles to sites such as CNET's Builder.com, and she has been a contributing author on Flash 5 Studio, New Masters of Flash: The 2002 Annual, and Flash MX: Application Design & Development. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys painting, pottery, and secondhand-furniture shopping and restoration.



Glenn Thomas is one of the founders of Smashing Ideas, a leading digital media services company. Smashing Ideas' projects include the Madonna "Music" Shockwave Single, Email Chess, webcasting the Sydney 2001 Paralympics, Pocket PC games, and web animation shows such as Zombie College. He has been involved with Flash since its inception and has spoken at numerous industry conferences. He authored the book Flash Studio Secrets, which details innovative ways to use Flash in the real world.



Helen Triolo is the owner of i-Technica, a web design shop in the Washington, D.C. area. An electrical engineer turned programmer turned web designer, she became fascinated with Flash after obtaining a copy of Flash 4 and discovering its limitless possibilities for programmable animation and database integration. Addicted ever since, she has used Flash in a variety of client web sites and CDs, has posted an archive of Flash Q&A's (http://i-technica.com/flashlist) and ActionScript tutorials (http://actionscript-toolbox.com), and teaches and writes about ActionScript whenever possible. You can find more of Helen's work at http://www.i-technica.com (business site) and http://www.actionscript-toolbox.com (Flash ActionScript samples and reference). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: My thanks to Theresa, Matthew, and Dave Yang for providing me with the opportunity to work on this book; to my husband, Paul, for providing endless technical support and encouragement; to Nic and Sarah for being willing to cook their own mac-and-cheese when Mom's too busy to cook dinner; and to the many Flashmeisters at the chinwag, flashmacromedia, and flashcoders email lists, from whom I've received a ton of inspiration and support.



Joe Tripician is an Emmy-award-winning producer/writer/director whose work has been broadcast on network and cable television across America, Europe, and Japan. His humor book, The Official Alien Abductee's Handbook, was published by Andrews and McMeel in 1997. Joe is also the author of several feature-film screenplays, including a script optioned by veteran producer Ben Barenholtz. In 1998, Joe co-founded iStreamTV, a streaming media technology company based in New York.



Patricia Geneva Lee Hall is a web software developer from way back...at least as far back as 1998. She has two cats (working on more), one husband (one's enough), and an ever-growing extended family. When not busy tech editing, policing her husband's mad-scientist hobbies, or building random pieces of web software, she finds court TV shows strangely amusing. Everyone needs to have a vice, don't they?



Jennifer Hall is senior technology officer for JPMorganChase and is also teaching Flash and Director for Multimedia Enterprise. She has been a contributing author for Flash 5 Magic and Flash 5 Visual Insight. Jennifer has worked with leading multimedia companies including Top Drawer (Human Code Sapient), Thought Interactive (Meritage Technologies), Cortex Interactive, and Eyeland Studio for clients including Disney, Prentice Hall, Nokia, Lycos UK, and Holt, RineHart, and Winston. In her spare time, Jennifer eats, reads, runs, sits, rock climbs, dances, loves, and lives. Visit her at http://www.jennifershall.com.



Laura McCabe is a freelance Flash designer and developer currently living in Baltimore, Maryland. Her eclectic interests have led her through an undergraduate degree in psychology, studies in art and design at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of Baltimore, and, ultimately, to Flash. In six years of internet experience, she's honed her skills in web production, information architecture, design, and development while working with clients such as AARP. Her Flash designs have been featured at the collaborative site http://www.poemsthatgo.com, and her personal playground is http://www.stolenglance.com. In her spare time she is a photographer, writer, trainer, editor, and recovering book junkie.



Chrissy Rey is the vice president of education and a senior developer at digitalorganism. She is also the founder and webmaster of FlashLite and the founder of the Baltimore Macromedia Organization (BAMMO). A Maryland native, Chrissy graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in zoology (of all things). After a brief stint as a zookeeper, and then as an animal technician in a genetics lab, Chrissy discovered Flash and Generator. At digitalorganism, she uses her experience to lead internal, private, and public education efforts. She also leads digitalorganism's development efforts by capitalizing on her extensive array of knowledge.




Book Description


Flash MX Magic follows a proud tradition of offering cutting-edge inspirational and customizable Macromedia Flash projects written by leading Flash designers and developers. Each of the 15 projects focuses on a project such as game programming, creating a poll with a dynamic database, movie-making, and e-Card creation. By giving you clear instructions, full 4-color graphical display of steps, all the code and components and an explanation of modifications, you have all the tools necessary to complete the projects and use them as a launching pad for your own sophisticated work.



New Riders is absolutely honored that so many bright stars in the Flash community collaborated to share their valuable insight on how to this all-new, third entry in the Flash Magic series. The Magic series is perfect for a multi-author book. Its non-linear design allows each chapter to stand on its own as an independent project. And with the leading Flash designers and developers authoring this book, you get the best tips and tricks from those who have proven themselves in the field.



Matthew David, Mark Baltzegar, Jim Caldwell, John Dalziel, Aria Danika, Robert Hall, Andreas Heim, Jason Krogh, Stephanie Novak and Eric Jordan, Jessica Speigel, Helen Triolo, Glenn Thomas, and Joe Tripician give you their latest insights and from-the-trenches experience with Flash MX. And the framework for the book is provided by the one and only David Emberton (of Flash 4- and Flash 5 Magic). And the artwork is designed by the best new talent in graphic design. As always, the project files are on the CD, so you can try these yourself and learn from some of the best and creatively varied minds in motion graphics.



QUICK NOTE: Flash Magic books aren't for most absolute beginners. If you're brand new to Flash, you may want to start with an entry-level book that gets you familiar with the basics of motion graphics and Flash's tools, before jumping into a Magic book. When you're ready, we promise, it'll be worth it...






Reader review(s):

You're better off muddling through by yourself..., May 28, 2002
There are only two thing that a training manual has to accomplish: 1) Give step by step instructions on how to reach a goal and 2) Make sure those instructions are correct. This book fails miserably on both counts.

I only recommend this book if you're the sort of person who buys cool-looking books and sets them on the shelf, hoping your friends will see them, think you actually read it, and be impressed. However, since I like my books to actually be useful -- and in the very least FULLY FUNCTIONAL -- you can imagine my disappointment with "Flash MX Magic."

Time to give some concrete examples. I thought I'd try working through chapter 3 - Preloading. After typing in several lines of ActionScript, I noticed that some code listed in later steps were supposed to be placed inside the brackets of a previously defined function. You aren't instructed to do this in the text, but by loading up the example file I realized the error. Even still, when it came time to test my code, it didn't work.

Realizing that this could just be my mistake, I decided to move on to Chapter 5 - Immersive Panorama. I thought I'd look at the completed project on the CD first to see what I could expect to accomplish. Supposedly this project will teach you how to create a movie in which parallax is simulated in a landscape scrolling to the right. Several different layers move at different speeds, giving an illusion of depth. So what happens when you view their pre-prepared finished product? The absolute background moves, and everything else stays perfectly still. Who releases a book with malfunctioning examples!?!

I went to the NewRiders website to see if these issues had been addressed. What did I find? A ZIP file to download all the missing files necessary to complete the lesson -- not in Chapter 5 -- but in chapter 14, without which the entire chapter is WORTHLESS.

New Riders brags, "Isn't this just about the first Flash MX book released?" Maybe so, but that's no accomplishment. Since the book doesn't appear to have even been error-checked, I guess attempting to release it first was the only goal in publishing it. Here's a tip: Books aren't software. You can't release a patch. That's why you find at least ONE PERSON and have them actually WORK THROUGH THE BOOK to make sure it functions before publishing it. Try it sometime.

just another Flash MX book rushed out to make money, May 21, 2002
This is just another book in the series of the greatest copy and paste codes Flash book, if you're a fan of the last 2 books, I guess you will enjoy this. Anyone familiar with actionscripting should get something out of this book, provided you have a decent knowledge and patience to go through tutorials that are full of inconsistency in codes or lack of explanation. The reason I feel this book is rushed out of the door is apparent even from the first chapter, check out pg 10. The first set of scripts with two functions, setValues() and setAnimation(), only the second one is used, yet they printed out on the page, and leave no comments on the source file. This can mislead many readers that bought this book that want to learn the new Flash MX actionscripts. I find useful tutorials, but lack of detailed explanation. You're better off buying "Macromedia Flash MX ActionScripting: Advanced Training from the Source", which is an excellent book for the first generation of the FLash MX books out now. Again, slapping some well known authors and rushed the book out is always been the practice for this series, take your chances.

Flash Magic?, April 30, 2002
This book is decent...but leaves a lot to be desired. The cd that comes with the book includes source files to work on the different chapter projects...but it does not contain final versions of them....so you'd reason that they would be on the flashmxmagic website for download....that seems to have "magically" disappeared as well. Instead of rushing to publish this book so it would come out close to the release of Flash MX, the publishers should have made sure the website was up and that the cd contained final source files rather than demos of other macromedia software. This book is alright, but if you really want something intuitive, I'd recommend waiting until Phillip Kerman's Actionscripting in Flash comes out in July...or buying his book on Flash 5 actionscripting.

Useless, September 25, 2002
There are no Source-Code Files added on the CD. Without that Files it is very difficult to complete the lessons, especially because there are isn't everything correct in the book. Additional to that the SWF Files added on the unkind designed CD are completely useless, because they don't work and some files are missing that are important for the SWF's to work. I looked at [the web site] and the Project Files downloadable from there are useless as the ones on the CD provided with the book. To the book: The book itself is written in a clearly and easily style. If you are new to flash but almost have written one or two lines of code in java or any other language it will be no problem to get through the book, if there was not the file-issue i described. The design of the book is very undkind and there are too many white blank spaces. This spaces would have better been filled with a good reference. But there's no refernce at all.

In my opinion the book was published for A) money making B) something cool to show-off with for the editors on their webpage as 2advanced did for example. Don't get me wrong, i appreciate the style and high skill from 2advanced but i do not appreciate with the style and the spare knowledge imparted to the reader.

Summary: bought, opened, closed, sold again. Thank god for the amazon marketplace. This book is no longer my property. I'll will spend the money wiser next time, "friends of ed" - books.

Another waste of time and money, February 27, 2003
I've been developing sites for over 5 years now. I don't know if that makes me an expert, as there is always something to learn, but I know a good book when I see and use one, and this is not it.

When I am given a project to follow along with, I need clear instructions that make sense. This book doesn't have them.

When I am given code to dissect, I need to make sure it works before hand. This book doesn't have it.

When I am given "final" examples, they should work. Heck, the example animations even play backwards in this book.

Don't waste your money. New Riders should be ashamed of putting this garbage on the market.

Errors in codes, July 11, 2002
The book looks good but can be frustrated to work with. I bought it last week and was working up to chapter 3 when I realized that the ActionScript codes supplied from the book did not work at all. I've had good experirence with New Riders with great books such as 'Flash Web Design, The Art of Motion Graphic' by Hillman Curtis. But this time, I'm very disappointed with this Flash MX Magic. ...

Flash Fraud MX, December 1, 2002
The only thing magical about this book is how quickly it made my hard-earned money disappear! Before I delve into the many, many problems with this book I want to make one thing perfectly clear: anyone who has given this a positive review either works for the company or has not yet tried to follow the projects. As others have pointed out, the only merit in these 300 pages is the style with which they are presented.

A week after getting this in the mail and I am still scratching my head. How on Earth could any publishing company, let alone one as well-known in this field as New Riders, allow something this incomplete to go to print?!

The code in the book is either incomplete or downright incorrect. A third of the "completed" project files on the accompanying CD do not even load, and a good number of the others do not function properly! It takes a few days for a competent team of proofreaders and beta testers to ensure there are no printed or scripting errors, but it takes less than 60 seconds to launch the 15 .swf project files to make sure they actually work!

Mistakes happen, right? Perhaps, but when you don't even back up the work with corrected files and a complete errata on the homepage, what can be said about that?! ... The New Riders site is no better.

I don't know what everyone else paid for this, but it cost me "alot of" Canadian "dollars", plus 15% taxes. Never again...

impressive but not that useful, September 29, 2002
like so many books of this ilk, Flash MX Magic prommises to show you how to create dazzling Flash effects.

It does, but a lot of them are style over substance - if you're looking for inspiration then maybe this book is what you need, but don't expect it to teach you useful techniques.

Great ideas, terrible code, June 7, 2003
I have been designing Web sites for years, and was a Network Engineer for years before that. This book is well written and talks about great examples, but it doesn't work. I know Flash. I know a bit about Flash Action Scripting, but I have not been able to get one single script to work correctly. You shouldn't have to read a second book just to get the one you bought to work right. Like someone else said, even the finished examples don't work right, so you can't look at that code to see what's wrong.
I expect much more than that from any book, and I would return this book if I still could. I spent too much time thinking I was doing something wrong to be able to return it now, though.
In summary, buy another book. You will probably be happier.

hard to understand, March 26, 2003
I had trouble with this book. The instructions were hard to understand and the examples didn't start from the beginning. The action script was already done for you and there were bugs in some of them. Not for beginners! If you have none or even little knowledge of flash forget about his book. It's not for you!

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