The Flash Usability Guide: Interacting with Flash MX

Usability makes everything easier, except the job of the developer. Usability is not easy. There are no macros to run on Macromedia Flash projects to apply usability. Applying usability requires a change in the development process. It requires a new method of thinking about a project from start to finish." - Chris McGregor, Macromedia Usability White Paper.

With the latest MX release, Flash has taken a significant step towards becoming the standard tool for delivery of web content. This brings with it a whole range of new challenges for those working with Flash, the biggest of which is making sure that their Flash material can be easily used by everyone that it is intended for.

This book isn't about stifling flair and creativity, this is about making sure that your viewers stick around to appreciate the fruits of your creativity (and your hard work), and that your skills stay current in a quickly changing web landscape.

As suggested above, Usability is not an easy topic when you depart from crass dictatorial statements and into the real world. This book exists to take the role of the user's web experience seriously and to show you how to remember them when designing. As such, it could be the most valuable Flash MX book you'll read this year.

Thanks to Cirque du Soleil for the use of selected images and content from their web site. Credits and more details can be downloaded here.

Summary of Contents

• IntroductionFlash vs. Usability
• Whose contribution counts where?
• Choosing Flash
• Choosing usability
• Conventions and metaphors
• Structuring Flash 6
• Usable interactions
• Showing users respect
• Think Accessibility
• First impressions
• Offline Flash User testing
• Appendix: Resources and Articles on the Web