one of the best things anyone can do -- experienced or novice -- is use "view source" on working examples.
i've spent countless hours creating swfobject examples and posting them on my site (http://pipwerks.com/lab/swfobject/) with basic instructions. i've never included instructions that explain how to add a <script> element to the page, because i assume a certain level of competence in JavaScript. however, anyone wishing to learn -- or just trying to get it to work without caring *how* -- should always start by copying working examples. that's how i learned, and how i continue to learn. it's also what you'd do if you bought a book on a programming language and followed the book's examples. :) as for this group providing instructions for someone completely new to JavaScript, i believe that's outside the scope of the group and the SWFObject documentation. it's obvious we'd like to help, it's just that starting from zero requires an awful lot of explanation and teaching, and we're not really here for that. we do care, but our time and resources aren't unlimited. the best thing i can do is recommend some books or sites that help a person get the basics before trying to do the more advanced stuff. there are literally hundreds of thousands of JavaScript tutorials and how-tos on the www, the most famous probably being www.w3schools.com<http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp>and http://javascript.about.com/. as for books, i think Jeremy Keith's DOM Scripting<http://books.google.com/books?id=LBTQ83bAz6QC&dq=Jeremy+Keith+DOM+Scripting>is an excellent primer for JavaScript newbies; it's well-written in an easy-to-understand style, contains practical examples with lots of context, and follows today's best practices. RE: Adobe's poor documentation, i agree. I think most of it is very dense and hard to read, even for experienced developers. what's funny is that in their early days they had *excellent* documentation. i used to work in prepress as a typesetter, and the books and other printed materials that shipped with Adobe's software was extremely useful and well-crafted. i still use some of those books to teach people about printing concepts such as CMYK, registration, and basic color theory. - philip On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 10:46 AM, Jonathan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I wonder, will it be aimed at semi experienced people upwards. Have you > ever, or do you remember back to, when you knew little, tried to follow > Adobe product manuals. Even their on-line tutorials leaving yawning gaps > just when you think its making sense. As one who founded on DOS when a > 33Mhz > computer was leading edge and cost £6k, I think its even worse today. Even > their current website is frustrating to follow. I follow several Adobe > forums, the extent of questions and their nature shows just how others > struggle to get up to working speed with their products - hence the number > of 'xyz' for dummies books in my collection. But, Adobe is by no means > alone > in this. > > Anyway, I will do my suggestion over the next week and hope it will lead to > helping others. As I have gained much from your forums, I would like to put > something back in. > > Regards Jonathan > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Bobby > Sent: 15 October 2008 10:48 > To: SWFObject > Subject: Re: IE error message - swfobject is undefined > > > > Your wish has been granted, in the coming month Adobe Devnet will publish 2 > SWFObject introductory articles, so keep an eye on Adobe Devnet :-) > > I will also give a masterclass at the global Head conference (an online > event): http://www.headconference.com/speakers/bobby-van-der-sluis/ > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SWFObject" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/swfobject?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
