Resource Exploration: The Search for the Perfect Tutorial

I decided to look at a few resource sites. Sometimes learning something new, at least in my case, can take a while to completely absorb. Even though some of these sites are pretty straightforward, they have helped me to push through some issues. Whether it was how the information was shared, or the fact that it was my fifth time trying to figure out a problem, I won’t know for sure, but these are still some great sites.

www.smartwebby.com/Flash/sound_in_button.asp

I stumbled across this site while having some button problems in Flash. The screen shots and step by step instructions were very helpful for that task in particular. This was part of the creating advanced Flash buttons page, and there were also instructions on how to make other kinds of buttons. They have information and tutorials for a number of different programs.

www.w3schools.com/flash/default.asp

I’m sure many people are familiar with www.w3schools.com. I used to frequent it often for help with html coding, but I never looked at it further until now. It also has a large amount of Flash information. What is nice about this site, as opposed to a lot of tutorial sites, is that there is an overview of the information. This way, you can see the major categories and go from there, as opposed to filtering through several pages of often unorganized tutorials that may or may not be relevant to the topic you are interested in.

http://www.flashdesignerzone.com/tutorials/

This website is also top on my list because of its easy to navigate library. The sections are further broken down into the actual topics that the tutorials cover. I also prefer the screen shot and text tutorials as opposed to most video tutorials. I feel like they go so fast, and with these, I can read at my own pace, and match my screen to the fixed image, not having to worry about the screen moving or changing.

http://www.flashdesignerzone.com/tutorials/t1014.php

What I also like, is how you can view the finished product. This allows you to “match” it with your work, to make sure the exercise has been completed fully and correctly.

http://www.tutorialized.com/view/tutorial/Animating-an-Explosion/60699

With this site, the uniqueness of the tutorials’ subject matter is what interested me. Instead of having the generic bouncing ball animations, or something that you see all of the time, this site shows a very interesting variety of animations. It makes the tutorials more fun, and it also allows newer users, like me, to more easily see firsthand the expansive nature of Flash.

As far as tutorials are concerned, most sites are similar, there are either videos are images containing step by step directions on how to complete a certain task. It is the way that this is executed that makes these sites successful for users. With so many different options, and people having their own personalized teaching and learning techniques, there are a multitude of resources. There’s something out there for everyone, you just have to go out and find it.