Flash: The Future, Pocket PC, DVD, ITV, Video, Game Consoles, Wireless

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Flash is escaping the desktop -- to Pocket PC, DVD, video, game consoles, even wireless phones. Knowing how to deliver Flash content on alternative platforms gives you a powerful advantage in the marketplace -- but don�t try to cope with these platforms� many limitations on your own. Flash: The Future gives you expert help from ten pros who are making Flash go where it�s never gone before.

Part I focuses on Microsoft Pocket PCs -- from screen size and resolution to the PPC�s idiosyncratic HTML wrappers -- and then on to optimizing appearance and performance and getting user input. There�s a full chapter on building stand-alone Flash apps that don�t require Pocket IE (Microsoft said it couldn�t be done). There�s even a chapter on enterprise development with Microsoft�s embedded VB and C++. This will be big business.

Next, Jon Warren Lentz and his team show how to author Flash content for video. They walk you through sticky format concerns, including the oft-neglected issue of whether your content will be compressed again. They cover software for preparing DVD-based Flash content and menus as well as interactive TV (e.g., set-top boxes). There�s also a chapter on authoring for the Nokia 9200 Communicator Series -- the first phones to run Flash.

Coauthor Ian Chia offers an excellent roadmap for the process of developing ubiquitous Flash content: design, production, coding, debugging, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Finally, three appendices inspect some vexing development issues -- such as coping with 12-bit displays. If you�re taking Flash off the desktop, take this book on the journey. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

FLASH: THE FUTURE is the most comprehensive guide to developing Flash applications for Internet-enabled devices and platforms. Readers learn how to design Flash applications for Pocket PCs; develop games for different portable devices; integrate Flash with Microsoft eVB and eVC business applications; and create Flash for DVD and interactive TV playback. The CDROM includes code and examples from the book, plus bonus developer tools for Pocket PC.

SYNOPSIS

San Francisco, CA-No Starch Press, the leading publisher of cutting-edge technology books, has released Flash: The Future, the definitive guide to developing Flash(tm) applications for handheld computers, wireless devices, and other platforms. Written by a team of expert developers headed by Jon Warren Lentz, Flash: The Futureis the latest and most comprehensive resource for intermediate to advanced Flash developers.

Macromedia Flash has been the primary format for delivering rich, interactive content and applications on the Web. Today, the most exciting area of Flash development is geared towards devices other than desktop computers, such as Pocket PCs, cellular phones, and interactive TV. According to Lentz, "it makes sense for Web creatives to stay on the bleeding edge of technology. Right now, for Flashers, the bleeding edge is Flash on devices."

"Although Flash content can be created with a minimum of fuss on cross-platform desktop computers," says co-author Ian Chia, "when it moves into devices, there are a whole range of hardware and software constraints that come into play. Flash: The Future guides the developer through every aspect of content development for devices, including user interface issues on devices without a mouse, to game development, to advanced Flash applications deployed in an enterprise setting."

Flash: The Future shows readers how to:
Work with either Flash 5 or Flash MX to design Flash applications and games for Pocket PCs Manage sound, button, file size, and other limitations that developers encounter when creating content for devices Work with color and optimize for different screen sizes, memory and CPUs Work within the limitations of the browser, Pocket Internet Explorer, or build custom standalone players Use advanced ActionScript techniques optimized for mobile devices Integrate with Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++ or eMbedded Visual Basic for advanced business applications Prepare Flash animation for video or DVD, and build interfaces for interactive TV (ITV)

Flash: The Future includes coverage of Flash 5 and Flash MX. The CD-ROM contains code and examples from the book plus bonus developer tools for Pocket PC. Available in bookstores or from No Starch Press (www.nostarch.com), Flash: The Future is an essential guide to developing the new generation of Flash.