Macromedia Flash Professional 8 is a very powerful and complex program; if you plan to do any kind of work with it at all you are going to need some top level training and unfortunately a better user's guide then comes with the software. That is where Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Training from the Source comes in. This book is written for those that want an in-depth yet quick self-guided education in Flash Professional 8. Generally speaking you should be able to get through this book in 20 to 22 hours give or take. What's nice is you can of course work at your own place as well as work when you have the free time to do so, so the amount of time it takes you is really up to you. The 20 to 22 hours is the approximate time given by the author/publisher.

The book is in black and white, it includes lots of screen shots, step-by-step instructions. Each lesson starts off by telling you what you can expect to learn from the lesson and ends by telling you what you should have learned. Also included at the beginning of each lesson is the approximate amount of time need to complete the lesson as well as what media files, starting files and completed files there are on the included CD for the lesson in question, there are tips throughout the book as well. The included CD contains all of the files you will need to complete each chapter, but besides including the unfinished files they also include the finished files so that you can see what the goal of the project is, also when needed there are the media files (graphics, sounds, etc.).

The book is nicely laid out, easy to follow and very in-depth for something that if one was to work non-stop on could complete in less than 24 hours. If you don't know anything about Flash Professional 8 or want to know more than the basics this book could be what you need. It certainly has helped me get to know Flash 8 better.

Lessons:

Lesson 1: Learning the Flash Interface

Lesson 2: ActionScript Basics

Lesson 3: Graphics in Flash

Lesson 4: Text in Flash

Lesson 5: Using Audio in Flash

Lesson 6: Creating Animation

Lesson 7: Creating Flash Video

Lesson 8: Building a Custom Flash Video Player

Lesson 9: Manipulation Video

Lesson 10: Communication Server: Audio and Video

Lesson 11: Using Dynamic Data

Lesson 12: Going Mobile with Flash Professional 8

Lesson 13: Publishing a Flash Movie

This is a very nice book. I like the way it is laid out and the lesson metaphor with the step-by-step instructions is great. This is the perfect book for the beginner or novice Flash Professional 8 user. It is easy to follow the lessons are useful and practical and with the included files on the CD you can do the lessons knowing that if you follow the directions your end result.