Macromedia Studio MX 2004 Step-By-Step is from Macromedia Education and Thomson Course Technology. It contains material and projects for all the Studio MX 2004 applications: Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Freehand. It is the official Macromedia education curriculum, edited by Kirsti Aho.
The book is in 8 1/2 by 11 format and uses four-color illustration. Instructor resources are on a CD with data files for the projects used in the lessons, exams for each lesson, lecture notes for each lesson, lesson plans, transparency masters, PowerPoint presentations and some other goodies.
The material focuses on using all four of the Studio MX 2004 tools in a coordinated and integrated manner to achieve specific project goals. It would be a very useful book if you were training people in using the entire Studio MX 2004 suite of products. The courses are designed to take 40 hours of instruction. The approach to each application could be described as just the basics or just the essentials. The crucial details for setting up each application and getting started with the essentials are included. An in-depth look at each application is not available here, but there is plenty of detail to get a user started and producing in a short time.
This book would not be an adequate solution to full semester courses concentrating on one application such as Flash or Dreamweaver, but would be perfect to train people who were looking for the essentials and needed to quickly learn to use all four programs together efficiently.
For business training or corporate training seminars, this would be a good curriculum.