6. Effects and Transitions

In Chapter 5, “Managing States,” you saw how the Flex framework provides a simple solution to updating and altering the visual layout of your component. However, as you probably also noticed, it wasn’t the most graceful or engaging process from a user perspective because the user interface just flicks from one state to the other. This sort of interaction, or lack thereof, isn’t something that I’d be happy unleashing on the world, and I’m sure you feel the same.

Fortunately, the Flex framework and underlying ActionScript libraries nip those types of user-experience nightmares in the bud and enable you to be proactive and reactive when it comes to user interaction and updating the visuals of your components.