This is the book for you if youve been using Flash 5 for a while and are making the switch to Macromedia Flash MX: its designed to help you get the maximum benefit from Flash MX at the maximum speed. It focuses on whats new and whats important, describing the new features, demonstrating how to use them, and discussing what they mean in the bigger Flash MX/web design perspective.

Flash MX is a seriously powerful tool with a wealth of new features, including a new interface, mightily reinforced ActionScript capabilities, enhanced video and multimedia support, accessibility and usability elements, and a formidable object-based programming paradigm that might change the way you think about Flash and ActionScript.

Sham Bhangal, best-selling author of Foundation Flash 5 and Foundation ActionScript, and a contributor to many books on Flash and ActionScript design, was invited to work closely on the Flash MX beta development programme. In Flash MX Upgrade Essentials Sham takes the reader on a power-users trip through the seriously cool areas of the MX release and shows what awesome potential lies within.

Concentrating on new and upgraded features, this book assumes you are comfortable and competent with Flash 5. By the end of this book, you will be fully familiar with all the fundamentals of Flash MX, and ready to start exploring the new technical and creative avenues it has opened up. Flash MX Upgrade Essentials offers the most efficient way of getting up to speed with the latest version of Flash.

About the Author

Sham has worked on books in new media for 5 years, in which time he has authored and co-authored numerous friends of ED books, including critically acclaimed, award winning, and best selling titles like Foundation Flash, New Masters of Flash, Flash MX Upgrade Essentials, Flash MX Most Wanted, and the Flash MX Designer�s ActionScript Reference. He has considerable working experience with Macromedia and Adobe products, as well as other general web design technologies (such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc). In addition to speaking appearances at FlashForward, the biggest Macromedia Flash developer conference, Sham has also been a Beta tester for Macromedia and Discreet products for a number of years.