<img src="http://www.ubbdev.com/columns/bookie/mx.gif" align="left">Reviewed by: Bookie
Product Reviewed: Macromedia Flash MX

Flash is a tool that has revolutionized the web. It seems that thousands of sites have turned to using Flash to spice up their sites. After all, there is no reason not to. Relatively small file sizes, jam packed with action to keep users entertained.

The only problem with Flash is that it is so darn hard to learn. It is obvious that in Macromedia's latest release, they are trying to make things more simple for users to use. There is a new type of interface in Flash MX that has all dockers docked, so they are not just floating around and getting in your way. Of course this kind of compacts your screen, but a higher resolution will fix that! Many of the panels have also been redesigned. One thing Flash has aded is the property bar. If you have ever used Dreamweaver, this is similar.It provides and obvious place to change almost anything by simple clicking and adjusting. another great addition to Flash MX is the transform tool. If you have ever used Flash 5, then you know how annoying it is to change an object. First you have to select the object, and then open the transformations docker, THEN you have to enter in the % to scale it as, and the angle to rotate it with. In Flash MX you can simply use the transform tool and scale and rotate as you please. But the transform tool goes even more in depth, instead of just scaling and rotating you can distort the object to appear in different perspectives. And also the envelope tool allows you to shape your object in a vector type manor. Best of all you can tween any modifications you make!



Speaking of tweens, flash animations revolve around the tweening of objects. there have also been several changes to Flash MX's timeline. Folders have been added to help organize your animations, because we all know how messy they can get. Other minor modifications have been added to add common feel to other programs. For example double clicking on the timeline used to bring up the actions menu, but now it will select the frames in the tween.

Flash MX even adds thre ability to load external images and sound. If you remember back to 5 where you could load a text file into a flash movie via URL, you can now also add images and sounds! No more editing the file, just upload a new picture and its there!

Major changes have been made to the Flash "actionscript". Actionscript is the type of programming language used in thats right.... flash. It lets you do all sorts of stuff, and is the main meat of flash designed web sites and other "high-tech" flash stuff. You can now draw using actionscript! Would you rather write out 5 lines of code to draw a circle instead of using the circle tool? Well now you can! There have also been many other changes, to actionscript.

Flash MX has created new components such as scroll bars, and form objects that you can just drag and drop, to add them instantly to a document! Very simple, very attractive.

Now the question is... Is it worth the $500 U.S.D they are charging for it. Well, there have been many great additions to Flash. But it is still quite difficult to use if you do not know what your doing. Flash takes alot of work and skill to learn, but once you have learned how to use it, there are no boundaries. Flash MX adds many great features to help you create an interesting web site with endless possibilities. However, if you find that the price of this software is too steep, there are many alternatives to Flash on the market. They do not have quite as many features as Flash may have, but they are great for beginners. Firestarter from CoffeCup software is a great alternative, as is SWiSH. Both allow you to export as .swf (flash format) files to create those attractive effects at a fraction of the cost.