Friday, June 03, 2005

Macromedia Flash

Here's a summary of my view of the strengths and weaknesses of Macromedia Flash. Macromedia Flash is a powerful piece of software that allows designers to create animations and interactive interfaces.

Strengths:


Weaknesses:


  • The Macromedia Flash Authoring Software isn't free. It costs money. Visit http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/?promoid=BINT for more information. They do have Educational pricing structures however.

  • It takes awhile to learn Flash. It uses a combination of object-oriented design with ActionScripting to offer a wide range of possibilities. Many experienced Flash developers claim that anything can be done with Flash because it is so flexible but it’s this same flexibility that makes it a complex product to master. I've taken about 20 weeks of part-time instruction on the software and it was well worth the investment. Without structured instruction, I do not think I would have been able to learn as much as I did.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with your assessment of the many strengths of Flash. It is worth noting that there are many great tools other than Macromedia Flash that generate .swf files, including many Free/Open Source applications. One really cool app is Wink, which can be used to make screencasts. OpenOffice.org is also extremely cool - you can convert presentation documents, including .ppt format files, into .swf files so that the presentations can be viewed in any web browser using the Flash plug-in; as an added bonus, the resulting files are often one-third the size of the original PowerPoint files!

Anonymous said...

Hello there

"I've taken about 20 weeks of part-time instruction on the software and it was well worth the investment. Without structured instruction, I do not think I would have been able to learn as much as I did."

It's a pity to hear you said that! Come on now - you are a blogger. You should be confident on the power of collaborative, asynchronous informal learning through blog and/or forum.

This is not a theory. I learned flash - completely depending on Macromedia Blogs and user Forums such as Flashkit.com. Start playing around - you will reach somewhere.

BTW - I am using Flash before it was Flash. It was Splash then, before Macromedia brought it.

Cheers!

Anol