ActionScript for the Pissed-Off Designer

First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others. —Thomas A. Kempis

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The transition from design to development for me has been a long and arduous one, my friends. My intent is to make it a not-as-long path for all of you reading this.

There are a plethora of great Flash tutorials in every form of media that exists today. But very few of them focus squarely Designers who are taking their first step into ActionScript, and therefore, for whom programming—oops, I meant scripting (sorry, hardcore programmers)—might as well be the equivalent of learning advanced trigonometric algebra—in Russian. From a professor with a thick Japanese accent. After having been sent back in time to the Roman Empire where they now have no choice but to pick up Latin in order to survive amongst the locals.

Well...okay.

Maybe it’s not that hard, but you get the picture. That’s certainly how I felt at times when I was first starting out.

Most of the stuff out there will teach you a great deal on how to use the GUI tools in Flash, or whatever lines of ActionScript you need to write to make that MP3 player work or that button rollover—all very practical, but rarely do they take the time—and I mean, really take the time—to explain the meaning behind those cryptic lines of ActionScript. Ah, yes. I’m talking about theory. Concepts, principles. Yeah. Stuff like that. Well actually, lemme take that back for a sec. There are resources out there that focus on “stuff like that”. But guess what? They’re in 300+ page books that you have to read. Yeah. Read. And, on top of that, they’re not very designer-friendly. My job is to dumb it down make it visual and fun for designers. Because everybody knows how much we designers love pretty pictures. Yay.

Who It’s For.

If you never have written a single letter of ActionScript, or are currently getting by with cutting and pasting other people's code without a full understanding what exactly you're doing, then this is for you. Specifically, this is for designers already familiar with the Flash the Application™ (its interface and its tools) but not necessarily with ActionScript the Language.™

The focus will be on learning the fundamentals of programming from a designer’s perspective and then applying those principles to ActionScript.

Who I Am.

Hi. My name is Moly. No, not “Molly.” Yes, with one L. No, I’m not a girl. Yes, it rhymes with “holy.”

And yes.

I know what you’re thinking: “Holy Moly.”

No, that’s not the first time I’ve heard it. And not the hundredth, either. But perhaps the thousandth. And fifty-second.

I’m an artist by nature, a designer by trade, and a developer by curiosity—and a whole lot of friggin’ perseverance.

I run a web-centric brand consultancy in Boston’s South End called Truth & Soul, Inc. together with my biz partner John Gonnella who also does kick-ass oil paintings.

You can read my bio here. I’m on LinkedIn, naymz, and soon, virb. Oh, and make sure to check out my photography.

Based on Hemingway ported by throughbrokenglass.

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