Flash® CS4 for Dummies®

Chapter 1. Getting Acquainted with Flash CS4

In This Chapter

• Introducing Flash

• Figuring out what you can create with Flash CS4

• Knowing when not to use Flash CS4

• Starting Flash

• Perusing the screen

• Using Help

• Creating your first animation

• Closing Flash

Once upon a time in a galaxy that seems far, far away by now, there was the Internet, which contained only plain, unformatted text. Then came the Web, and we gained text formatting and graphics. Then the Web grew up a little, and Web page graphics got fancier with things such as small animations in banner ads. But people, being used to movies and TV, wanted an even more animated and interactive Web experience. Along came Flash.

Flash, once from Macromedia but now from Adobe Systems, is the software that runs some of the coolest Web sites around. When you surf the Web and see sites that contain animation across the entire page or buttons that do spectacular stunts when you click them, you're probably seeing some Flash magic. If you create a Web site, you can use Flash to rev up the basics and actively respond to users' choices so that your viewers will say, "Wow!"

In this chapter, you find out what Flash is all about, what the Flash screen looks like, and how to use Help. Then you create your first, simple animation so that all the rest of this book makes sense.

Discovering Flash

Flash offers a powerful system for creating animation for the Web. In ...