Flash Enabled: Flash Design and Development for Devices

For many, interactive Flash content is viewed through a desktop computer connected to the World Wide Web. For a rapidly growing number of developers and users, though, Flash content goes way beyond the PC. In Flash Enabled: Flash Design & Development for Devices, a talented group of leading-edge Flash developers describe how to create compelling Flash content for everything from cell phones to TVs to ATMs and more.

Far more than a how-to book on Flash development, Flash Enabled takes the reader by the hand into previously uncharted areas of development. Samples, tutorials, and design rules, tips, and theories spanning more than a dozen chapters explain how to create content for PlayStation2, television, Pocket PC handhelds, and, of course, the Web.

The first two sections constitute an introduction to developing Flash content for devices. Discussions on interface design, typography, animation, and game construction are interlaced with sidebars, tips, screen shots, and code examples. Part three details the specifics of creating applications for devices using Flash, and subsequent sections demonstrate how to create content for television and game consoles like PlayStation2.

Contemporary developers face a big challenge when creating a Flash movie; making one that plays on every Web browser with every version of the Flash plug-in on every version of both Windows and Mac operating systems is a feat unto itself. Introducing more platforms with their own limitations is enough to send a Flash developer screaming into the woods. However, creating Flash content that can be viewed on more than just a desktop computer opens doors to growth and larger audiences. The authors of Flash Enabled have already started creating for a variety of platforms, and we can benefit from their experience rather than playing a perpetual game of catch-up. –Mike Caputo

Book Description:

Flash Enabled guides Flash designers & developers in creating content and applications for multiple devices with Flash and other tools. Focusing on the Pocket PC platform, this book also discusses considerations in developing Flash for set-top box systems, cell phones, and lays the foundation for devices such as the Palm. The book targets four main concepts: 1)design/development considerations, 2) creating content once & deploying to many platforms, (including info on using MM Generator to author content in Flash and serve it to Palm Pilots and cell phones that don't yet have Flash Players), 3) creating Flash content for Pocket PC, and 4) application development using Flash integrated with middle-ware. Throughout this book the authors provide guidelines, step-by-step tutorials, workflow, best practices, and case studies.