Flash® Development Experts Tell All

What’s the best way to learn to use Flash?

Because our experts came from a wide range of backgrounds, they each tended to have learned Flash differently over time. And because some of them work in settings where others are involved, they each have their own views as to the best way for beginners to learn Flash now.

Amanda Saba

I went to some Macromedia-certified courses. Those were usually three days long and they were a really good way to get inducted into the program. But I think it’s really good to mess around with it on your own before you actually go to a class. The classes really teach you how to use ActionScript and how to make Flash interact with other programs.

Editor: Did those classes address much of the XML knowledge you need?

No. I kind of learned on my own and through books. A book that I used a lot was the O’Reilly ActionScript: The Definitive Guide by Colin Moock (This book has been updated; see Sidebar 2: Resources). I didn’t find XML very complicated, and I don’t know if I actually had a book to reference for that. There are a lot of resources online. I usually go to Google Groups if I have a question about something and try to find resources.

Andrew Corbett

I had a lot of programming experience: C, Java, and Visual Basic. I didn’t come from a visual design background, but I very much wanted to take advantage of the capabilities of Flash and create visual interactions. I just learned on the job. I wanted to build these certain kinds of activities, so I dove in and figured out how to make them work. Some of my programming skills were helpful and others were not. There’s a learning curve at the beginning.

Editor: Is that how you developed your XML skills as well?

Actually, I took a two-day course on XML. Usually when I’m learning something new, I collect a bunch of books on it and have a very specific task. I dive in and learn while I’m completing that task.

Editor: Were there any resources for Flash, ActionScript or XML that stand out in your mind?

When I was first learning, Flash was in version 4, and there was a Flash 4 Magic series that New Riders came out with. That gave me a sense of what was possible. (Editor’s note: The reference is to Emberton, David and Hamlin, J. Scott, Flash 4 Magic. This book is now out of print, but New Riders published a successor in February 2004. See Sidebar 2, Resources for the details.)

For ActionScript, there wasn’t a lot of help. I found it pretty obtuse at first, but then they changed it in version 5. After that change, I relied a lot on ActionScript by Colin Moock (Editor’s note: This is the same book referred to by Amanda Saba, above.) That was my bible of programming in ActionScript for Flash 5 and after. Another book that I used, especially for components, was Branden Hall and Samuel Wan’s Object-Oriented Programming with ActionScript.

Ben Glazer

Most of the Flash folks that we have around here got started in some form or another as designers, and most of them are formally trained in design. They studied that in college and had some level of interaction with Flash at that time, to the point at which they graduated and developed their skills professionally. A couple of folks come from a Web development background and Flash was a tool that provided them with a higher level of interactivity multimedia.

Our Flash developers tend to have a Computer Science background, and although a couple of them didn’t know Flash at all when they started, they certainly knew more advanced languages like Java and had a high level of familiarity with JavaScript. Given that ActionScript and JavaScript are based on the same standard, it was very easy for them to get up to speed quickly and really start making an impact.

We have provided training at other companies for instructional designers who had no familiarity with Flash. What we’ve done to make Flash a bit easier for them to pick up and start using, is that we developed a simple framework that provides the basic functionality — Next and Back buttons, basic navigation, simple branching. We teach them the basic tools. We teach them the animation tools, we teach them about tweening and the basic drawing tools. I think that if they start with a relatively simple template and they’re not trying to do something too sophisticated, Flash is probably the best tool that’s out there. We have had a lot of success taking that softer approach. If you don’t have a template to start with, I can see how Flash may be a bit daunting. It’s not particularly targeted toward people that don’t have a design background or who aren’t very comfortable with new software programs.

Paul Clothier

I used to use the online tutorials. Various companies create e-Learning for Flash. Macromedia has tutorials online. Some third-party Flash introductory manuals are pretty good. In fact there’s one I found recently that I recommend. It’s called Naked Macromedia Flash MX 2004, by Jim Shuman and Piyush Patel. It seems to me that you quite often need to go to third party manuals like this because Macromedia manuals tend to be very dense and I think they put off the average user, even though they are fine for the developer. But a book like the one I just mentioned really does simplify things for the end user.

For ActionScript, I usually use the online Help.

Thomas Toth

For ActionScript, start with Macromedia Flash MX 2004 ActionScript: Training from the Source and Foundation ActionScript for Flash MX 2004.

A friend of mine said, “Thomas, I have to make this happen, the customer wants to use Flash with PHP.” So I referred him to a friends of ED book called Foundation PHP for Flash and it taught him exactly what he needed to know.

One of the guys I work with is constantly lamenting that it is so hard to stay on top of the technology in this industry. I’m a “front end person” — I know a little bit of PHP, I know a little about iSQL, I know a lot of Flash, a lot of HTML, a little bit of XML. You figure out all of your skillsets and then you augment that. If I need ASP and a SQL database, I can run ASP, I can kind of work SQL, but you know, my gosh, I’m going to go to Janice for that. If it’s iSQL or PHP, I can handle that, but if it’s Cold Fusion, I’ve either got to learn that or go find somebody who knows Cold Fusion.

You can’t be a master of everything that’s out there. You have to pick and choose your areas. The technology changes so fast, and Macromedia upgrades the product line every year. Just when you get through your current training manuals and get on top of the software application, they come out with a new version.

I’m an early adopter, the kind of developer who downloads the product the day it comes out. In addition to doing the development, I go out to the Training Center and I train. The first couple of weeks after a product comes out, everybody wants to have that training course on their schedule. Two weeks after the product comes out, I’m in the classroom training. If I don’t have the time and energy to get on top of the products, or get it early enough to get on top of the product, I’ve lost that revenue. It gets expensive.

Do you have any “lessons learned” that you’d like to share?

Finally, I ended the interviews by asking the experts for their insights into the use of Flash for e-Learning development. It won’t be any surprise that each of them had a slightly different way of answering that question.

Amanda Saba

I think that there’s a misconception about Flash because it can be used for so many different things. Some people think it’s just for making pretty little intros to Web sites and they don’t understand that it can be a powerful tool. To convince these people that Flash can be used to create e-Learning (or anything else) can be a challenge.

To get into it, I think it’s easier now with Flash 2004 MX. It’s aimed more toward the programming side, at least the Professional side of it is. So I think that helps. But I haven’t had any experience with designers and SMEs who haven’t worked with Flash or ActionScript when they try to use the tool.

I would just suggest that people get into Flash and start trying to develop things — that’s the best way to learn it. Unless you try to do something in Flash, you’re really not going to understand how powerful it is.

Andrew Corbett

The only thing that makes me a little bit nervous about Flash is that it’s completely owned and supported by a single company. But in terms of its capabilities, I haven’t found anything I wanted to do that I couldn’t do. There is usually a way to do it within Flash.

As I said, there’s quite a learning curve for new users, but it may be a little easier in the new version because of the changes involving the time line, and the addition of the pre-built components and learning interactions.

Thomas Toth

The thing I tell my students all the time, even in my beginning courses, is “Learn ActionScript.” I force them to learn ActionScript. Yes, you can do a lot of stuff with Flash just sticking with the time line, but you really understand the power of Flash, especially for e-Learning, when you start learning ActionScript. I didn’t start learning ActionScript seriously until 18 months ago. I had been using Flash forever, I just stuck to the time line. I knew how to do a Stop command or a Play command but I never dove into the programming language. I kept saying, I’ll never use this, or it’s not strong enough to use. But when MX came out, it was like, “OK, I’ve really got to get my rear in gear and start learning this.” There’s a part of me that says I wish I had learned it sooner, I wish I hadn’t been as afraid of it as I was.

When you deal with graphics all day you make pretty interfaces and you write HTML code. ActionScript and JavaScript and some of those other server-side scripting languages are pretty intense. If you’re a PhotoShop master, you’re asking, “What do you mean I have to program this rollover in JavaScript? It does it for me.” That’s what my attitude was toward ActionScript — I don’t need to learn it because I can figure out another way to do it or I can borrow someone else’s code and get it done.

But once I started learning Action-Script, my Flash development rapidly accelerated and my ability to give customers what they were asking for in a shorter period of time made my life a lot easier. So my lesson learned is, “Learn ActionScript sooner rather than later.” Don’t be afraid of it and don’t get stuck on all the pretty graphics you can do. Really start diving into that development so that you can take your projects to the next level.

Ben Glazer

For beginners, it’s pretty easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of functionality that’s now built into Flash. It’s a pretty sophisticated tool. On the other hand, it’s easy to be seduced by the amount of power. I guess I would urge people to resist that temptation. Choose to focus on the core of what Flash has offered since it was first created. Have a clear understanding of what those learning objectives are, and what information you’re trying to convey. Plan it out before you actually start implementing it in Flash. Write scripts, draw storyboards, and make sure that your ideas and your teaching methodology are sound before you actually dive into the multimedia development.

Paul Clothier

For me the big challenge with Flash was always the learning curve. I think that has improved a bit with the past couple of releases. Even so, it’s not an intuitive program. What puts off a lot of people is, if they just sat down in front of Excel or Word they could figure it out. But if they sat down in front of Flash, there are so many terminologies — scenes and frames, movie clips, time lines, tweening — it’s a bit overwhelming.

Rather than try to learn Flash as a program from A to Z, pick a specific simple project with simple animation, and successfully do that. In the process of doing that, you will hit on a lot of areas that you can expand on later. When I was learning ActionScript, a lot of the ActionScript I learned was doing something simple and then tweaking it — if I can move it there, can I increase the speed, can I move that there? Rather than learn everything and take it on in huge chunks, I always recommend users take a simple project, and do something fun and interesting. Then you’ve got the basics, and in your own time you can expand it to a bit more code. Start small and with something real. That’s the way I’ll be approaching ActionScript in the Symposium.

Conclusion

Well, there you have the views of some of the top Flash designers and developers in the United States. I hope that these interviews will help you prepare for The eLearning Flash Developer’s Symposium (if you’re going). At the least, I hope you will find the insights and resources useful in your own projects!

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