Adobe^R Flash^R has developed into a major player on the internet and is expanding into other areas such as mobile devices. Flash files can be viewed by just about anyone, anywhere. No matter what type of computer or operating system you are using, you can view a Flash movie with the Flash Player which is easy to download, if it is not already installed onto your computer. You can't browse the Internet for long before you encounter one of those "Download Flash Player" messages because of the increasing number of sites that have Flash content.

In my humble opinion, the reason for Flash's popularity is the flexibility of the Flash authoring environment which allows you to create such a versatile and expansive amount of Flash content. Anyone from the beginner to professional can get great results with Flash. A beginner can easily create Flash movies using features such as tween animation, drag-and-drop components, special effects and built-in ActionScript^R behaviors. On the other hand, the Flash professional can create complex interactive multimedia applications by programming with ActionScript.

So what can you create with Flash? When Flash was first released by Macromedia^R in 1996, it was basically a simple computer-based drawing and animation program. At that time, other software programs of this type were not as sophisticated in animation as Flash and for that reason, Flash quickly became the star of the Internet. But just like everything else in life, users of Flash quickly came up with a never-ending list of what they wanted to be able to do with Flash. So the program grew over the next decade into a beautifully sophisticated and flexible authoring environment for designers and developers of interactive multimedia content and applications. There has been many improvements in the Flash technology including progressive ActionScript development, comprehensive video support, improved drawing tools and support for mobile devices. Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems, Inc. a little over a year ago and Flash is now a major addition to the Adobe Creative Suite. It is fully integrated into the Adobe design and development workflow.

So now that it is a decade later, what can you create with Flash besides simple animations? Why not try your hand at creating a game or an impressive navigation menu for your website. Maybe you would like to create an interactive presentation of your company's latest product or instructional media for online or in-house training. You can even create an entire website with Flash. When it comes to Flash, the number of possibilities is always increasing.

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