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I have always been wary of using actionscript for anything other than banner ads and website introductions. One thing I have seen is that people use actionscript for login systems; which can usually be hacked in less than 1 minute (with exception of SQl based), most people use this tutorial infact.

there are many java emulations of it on the web, here's one I've seen one somewhere that played well online.

I agree.

A lot of the bashing is legitimate annoyance at the Truly Evil practice of the "flash intro" to sites, and at putting content in Flash that would be much better handled in HTML.

However, for the things it is better at, Flash isn't just better than HTML, it's better than anything else that's widely accepted. Of course there are things Java can do that Flash can't, but my own experience has been that few of those things add value to average users, while the bugginess of different Java implementations has always irked me.

Oh wait, now I'm bashing Java. Sorry.

Anyway, the sites that use Flash well are really amazing, and you can pack more interesting rich media into 10K of tightly-written Flash/Actionsript than into just about anything else.

For anyone interested in checking out the Flash world, I highly recommend Flashkit, a community site with very good forums and howtos.

(And yes, I do sometimes surf with lynx and links.)

Just spent 4 years in Computer Arts school. Here's the bibliophile equivalent:

• Creating Motion Graphics (After effects)
• Photoshop for Dummies (yea yeah I know, but this one really is well written)
• ActionScript: the definitive guide Colin Moock (for programming interactivity in Flash)
• Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color Leatrice Eiseman (Color theory important)
• Flash Math Creativity Friends of Ed
• JavaScript: the definitive guide

  I would also recommend browsing around your local bookstore's typography / design section and just picking up whatever books mirror your aesthetics, these things are subjective.
  

And the magazines:

• Wired (great graphic design)
• Adbusters (same as above, and will make you remember what is fucked up right now)
• Communication Arts
• Colors

The URL's:

• Cool Web Design
• Flashblog
• Larabie Fonts
• Flashkit

Right away I found one possibility in Flash MX:

1. Surf to a page with a Flash 6 object
2. right-click Settings
3. change some settings
4. now click the little blue question mark
5. a new window opens
6. Read/write access to your settings for all web sites

What happens if you crack a router and spoof Macromedia?

Here's a question for you in order to help answer your problem. How exactly do you intend to use Flash? Because as much as I love Flash and spend lots of time coding silly fun things, it's not the be-all end-all development tool for web content or web-based training. It is very strong in interactivity, vector graphics, and recently scripting, but every release before Flash MX is incredibly poor at displaying and manipulating text.

So if you at all intend to display large amounts of text (and since this project is a learning tool I am assuming that you are) you might be better off not using Flash at all - especially if money is a concern. Good ol' fashioned HTML will always be easier to create and run faster than any kind of in-Flash text manipulation (Alternatively, if you have interactivity requirements that you'd like to use Flash for, like a quiz, you can always keep the main text HTML and embed individual Flash movies into the page for the interactivity). Now, I really do think that MX is making leaps and bounds in this area, but you said yourself that the price is very high - and I agree with you. Others have suggested the educational version (which is ~$99) and I would also recommend that.

Now I might be reading too much into your question, but you said that "We'd really like to use Flash as our main language." Very few people ever refer to Flash as a "language" (it's mostly seen as an animation tool), and fewer of them would post your question to Slashdot (you might want to try the Flash message boards on were-here or flashkit). So I'm assuming that you or the people on the project have technical experience and are coming from the prospective of programmers. In this case, you might want to consider doing at least some parts in Java. You don't have to pay anything, there's plenty of free tools out there, it can do interactivity, and the download requirement isn't going to be a whole lot larger than the Flash MX player (though that would depend on which version you'd use). The development time would almost certainly be a lot higher, but again that depends on the specific requirements of the project.

In any case, good luck and if you do end up delving into some serious Flash programming, I have a bunch of good links to advanced Flash actionscripting resources off my little university page.

I've been writing web applications with Flash for many months now, and I have yet to own any book on the subject. While I've seen many offerings explaining the fundamentals of animation and designed to get a newbie started, very few touch on scripting, let alone complex OO-scripting. So my guide to this point has been the Flash "Actionscript Dictionary" which comes with the application and is available at Macromedia's site along with a glorious number of technotes. After all, what more do you need to use a programming language other than its API and a description of that API? And, since Actionscript is simply an implementation of the ECMA-262 standard, a search on google for OO programming examples in javascript will give excellent examples that can be used in Flash.

So despite this, why is this the book I've been waiting for, the one that I would recommend to anyone considering the more complex side of Flash programming? It's mostly technique. Making code and objects reusable and elegant in Flash is _not_ an easy task. A book that specifically deals with this subject AND OO scripting is far, far more than any other book has touched on. Plus, the coverage of "the complete Flash Player movie clip stack"? That is indeed priceless. That alone is probably reason enough for me to get the book. I have _never_ seen a Macromedia technote on the Flash player stack.

So that's why this will likely be the first Flash book I'll own. For an interview with the author, Colin Moock, Flashkit (which is an excellent resource site) has one in their message boards. (Honestly though, it doesn't say a whole lot that this review doesn't, although it does mention the O'Reilly cover animal choice. It's.. well.. let's just say that O'Reilly must be running out of animals).

I've been writing web applications with Flash for many months now, and I have yet to own any book on the subject. While I've seen many offerings explaining the fundamentals of animation and designed to get a newbie started, very few touch on scripting, let alone complex OO-scripting. So my guide to this point has been the Flash "Actionscript Dictionary" which comes with the application and is available at Macromedia's site along with a glorious number of technotes. After all, what more do you need to use a programming language other than its API and a description of that API? And, since Actionscript is simply an implementation of the ECMA-262 standard, a search on google for OO programming examples in javascript will give excellent examples that can be used in Flash.

So despite this, why is this the book I've been waiting for, the one that I would recommend to anyone considering the more complex side of Flash programming? It's mostly technique. Making code and objects reusable and elegant in Flash is _not_ an easy task. A book that specifically deals with this subject AND OO scripting is far, far more than any other book has touched on. Plus, the coverage of "the complete Flash Player movie clip stack"? That is indeed priceless. That alone is probably reason enough for me to get the book. I have _never_ seen a Macromedia technote on the Flash player stack.

So that's why this will likely be the first Flash book I'll own. For an interview with the author, Colin Moock, Flashkit (which is an excellent resource site) has one in their message boards. (Honestly though, it doesn't say a whole lot that this review doesn't, although it does mention the O'Reilly cover animal choice. It's.. well.. let's just say that O'Reilly must be running out of animals).

At Flashkit. It's meant to be a resource for Flash users, but of course you can use the free sounds and loops for your own maniacal projects. ;)