Adobe Edge Animate Preview 7: The Missing Manual – #bookreview #html5 #animation

Adobe Edge Animate Preview 7: The Missing Manual
Chris Grover
(O’Reilly, paperback – Kindle)

Chris Glover’s well-written new book shows you how to build animated HTML 5 graphics for the iPhone, the iPad, and the Web, using familiar Adobe features. By the sixth page of the first chapter, you are using the software to create your first animation.

The only problem is,Adobe released the 1.0 commercial version of its Edge Animate product on Sept. 24, 2012, very soon after this Preview 7 book was published.

And, for a limited time, Adobe was offering Edge Animate 1.0 free with a new membership in Adobe’s Creative Cloud.

Prior to the 1.0 release, seven Preview versions of Adobe Edge Animate were released as free downloads, and user feedback was gathered so the product could be enhanced and expanded.

Preview 7 was released about five weeks prior to the appearance of new 1.0 commercial version. And this book was created to fill a gap that was expected to remain open longer.

Here’s the good news – three items of good news, actually.

First, this book can help you get started with the 1.0 commercial version of Adobe Edge Animate. Second, O’Reilly will soon bring out an Adobe Edge Animate “Missing Manual” that covers the new commercial release. And, third, sources at O’Reilly tell me that readers who purchase this Preview 7 edition of Chris Grover’s book will get access to “the e-book version of Adobe Edge Animate the 1.0 version and all of its updates.”

Adobe Edge Animate Preview 7: The Missing Manual has nine chapters organized into four parts:

Part One:Working with the Stage

• Chapter 1: Introducing Adobe Edge Animate
• Chapter 2: Creating and Animating Art
• Chapter 3: Adding and Formatting Text

Part Two: Animation with Edge Animate

• Chapter 4: Learning Timeline and Transition Techniques
• Chapter 5: Triggering Actions
• Chapter 6: Working Smart with Symbols

Part Three: Edge Animate with HTML 5 and JavaScript

• Chapter 7: Working with Basic HTML and CSS
• Chapter 8: Controlling Your Animations with JavaScript and jQuery
• Chapter 9: Helpful JavaScript Tricks

Part Four: Appendixes

• Appendix A: Installation and Help
• Appendix B: Menu by Menu
• Where keystrokes are appropriate, Chris Grover lists both and does not make you have to translate between systems, as some how-to manuals do.

“Animate works almost precisely the same in its Macintosh and Windows versions,” he assures. “Every button in every dialog box is exactly the same; the software response to ever command is identical. In this book, the illustrations have been given even-handed treatment, rotating between the two operating systems where Animate is at home (Windows 7 and Mac OS X).”

 

— Si Dunn

For more information: (O’Reilly, paperback, Kindle)