Definately take a look at the Flash MX Visual QuickStart guide. I can't remember the author's name, but its a really simple, easy, and informative guide to FMX...I use it :-P

Thanks for the heads-up. Generally I dislike the QVS format, but if I wind-up needing a second basic book I'll definitely take a look at it.

???

LOL! Sorry to have stepped on your toes aeinstein! I'm also picking up FLASH and forgot that I wasn't actually the one who started that thread! ;-)

QVS? Did you mean VQS (Visual Quick Start)? Their format is ok if you're in a hurry to learn the material. It's also cheap. But because its aim is to get you up to speed fast, it misses in depth issues.

Just remember that the overall quality always depends on the author, not the publishers.

First, yes, I did mean VQS, sorry about that. Second, don't underestimate the importance of both good publishers and good - hopefully, very good - editors. They can both make or break a book depending on their contributions, or lack thereof. The publisher with understanding the needs and outlook of the genre, and, in particular, with viable publicity and effective distribution of the work. And the editor, who, in being the coxswain of the literary world, needs to know the very pulse of the topic as well as understand it's goals in order to give the ever so needed independent perspective necessary to properly nurture a work of any worthwhile significance. Of course, starting with a half-way decent author helps! ;-)

I guess I disagree. I think a good author can make a good book no matter what. I know what you mean by the publisher and staff. They might restrict the author in some ways, and probably even "break" the book, like you stated.

I think though, if the author is good, he can work around that. Overall, to me, if the author can explain the material well, I'm satisfied. Even if it has mistakes, I'll excuse that if he has a web site for errata, for which most do. Let me give you an example. I despise the O'Reilly format. When I open up one of the books, the layout reminds me of man pages (linux documentation). It just gives a very dry appearance. This is not the author's fault, it's the standard layout all O'Reilly authors have to follow. But then when I read "Programming ColdFusion," by Rob Brooks-Bilson, I forgot about the way it was layed out by O'Reilly because the author was good enough to explain the material in a way that kept me interested.

I'm speaking from experience by the way. I buy an average of two books a week and own several online books from Sams, QUE, Wrox, O'Reilly, New Riders, McGraw Hill, Osborne, and Coriolis, and Friends of Ed. I already know the layout of each publisher. I'm not going to tell you which one is the best because again, in my opinion, it all depends on the author. You can however distinguish them on length, but I'm not going to do that because that also depends on the reader.

I think for flash the following book is very good.. For Scripting

John.Wiley.and.Sons.Macromedia.Flash.MX.2004.ActionScript.Bible.Feb.2004.eBook-DDU.pdf