Students at the Toronto high school where I teach are hinting broadly that the HTML Web site I created for us doesn’t cut the mustard any more (http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/jarvisci/). And I put so much effort into it <sob>! … um, 5 or 6 years ago. So this summer I want to learn enough Flash to jazz it up somewhat. I’m an English teacher, with no particular background in computer science, graphic design, etc., but I’m all we have at our school, so if it’s going to get done, it has to be I who do it <cool grammar, eh?>.
I’ve browsed through a dozen books and just about all the .pdf documentation, and it appears that it will be a very long road until I get anywhere worthwhile. They always spend so much time explaining simple stuff such as how to draw, how to colour, how to fill (seems pretty much the same as in any kind of drawing program) or creating really elementary effects with a circle or rectangle. The chapters on the timeline and tweening are useful, if perhaps over-long. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think I’d be making good use of my time if I started on page one and laboured to the end of any of the books I’ve seen. I doubt that even then I’d be ready to create the kind of things I need for my Web site.
Is there perhaps something more along the lines of a project-oriented a book that walks you through the process of creating something complete and pollished? Or maybe what I’m looking for would have a focus on adding Flash effects to an existing Web page.
I hope I’m explaining my problem well enough. Possibly I’m taking the wrong approach entirely to these books, and someone here can correct me and get me off on the right foot.
Suggestions by email are welcome at deschreiber at yahoo dot com
P.S. The material on the kirupa site look fabulous! I intend to come back to it once I gain some real competency in Flash.
