So what do you need? A graphics program? A web publishing program? Or maybe you are just looking for something innovative that can brighten up your personal web page. Whatever it is, Flash 4 is the answer to all the questions.

So, you get the program, and of course it comes with a bible-size instruction booklet that tells you every little detail about the program. But if you're like me, you want to get started playing with this brand new toy as soon as possible. Lucky for us impatient types, Flash 4 comes with 8 basic lessons that go through step-by-step instructions on how to draw, edit, and animate your objects in the flash environment. And then they show you how to publish it to a web page.

It helps to have a basic understanding of HTML before you start because Flash publishes their animated webpages as embedded objects in another HTML file. But with that knowledge, you can go in and edit the placement and size of the object, as well as put it in a different page.

So you agree that an animated web page is neat, but you fear that because of these new features, your web page is going to be so large that it will take forever to download to the viewer's computer. Not true! I don't know how, but the file size of a flash webpage is surprisingly small in contrast to the amount you actually have in their.

So it can animate, big deal. What else can it do? I don't have enough space to list all of it's features, but aside from just moving stuff around, you can have menus pop up anywhere. Innovative designs and formats for your webpage will grant you an edge in the dull and boring world of hypertext publishing.

If you have any other questions, or you'd like to see examples, go to http://www.macromedia.com



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