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When the concept of Rich Internet Applications was formally introduced, it required developers to start thinking about the web a little differently. RIA's are capable of providing a much smoother user experience, but there are other design changes that we must consider as well....beyond the user interface.

One of the most obvious differences between traditional, page-based web applications and RIA's is that page-based apps generally require page refreshes, while Flex applications don't. This presents new challenges for web developers who have just started building Flex applications. Developers are now forced to change the way they think about the view state.

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Do you sometimes scratch your head and ask WTF (I said "frick" in my head. Really.) when projects suddenly fall apart? Suppose you're a project manager. Your team is steadily moving along on a project. There is no indication that anything is wrong, and your team says they're on target to hit their deadlines. Then, all of the sudden, things seem to be out of control with the application, and there seems to be no explanation as to why everything is screwy. Everyone begins to panic towards the end. Features that should have been completed a long time ago still aren't working, developers are sweating profusely, and throwing up in the corner periodically. If your development team seems to have a hard time estimating tasks or consistently misses deadlines, then this article is for you.

Organization, consistency, and having realistic expectations are key to predicting more accurate timelines and avoiding unexpected last minute failures.

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Cliff Hall hosted his "PureMVC Pirate Radio Conference Takeover" tonight, and I must say it was very cool to hear how the framework is being put to the test in production. Technical (Acrobat Connect) difficulties aside, it's obvious that PureMVC is the real deal.

Thanks guys, for taking the time to talk about how you're using PureMVC.

A very notable aside by Brendan Lee was his plug about the Ribbit $100,000 Killer App Challenge. If you're interested in developing an app on the Ribbit Open Telephony Platform, you definitely need to take note of this developer contest. Cash is good.

I just read a little about the new beta technology that they have released today called Cocomo. It supposed to solve a bunch of problems, like "real-time social capabilities" and "real-time multi-user applications." Features of the Cocomo beta include things like whiteboards and chat.

Ok, Adobe. Help me out here. What's the point? Don't we already have all of those things in Flash Media Interactive Server and Livecycle Dataservices? What problem are you trying to solve exactly? The biggest difference I can see at first glance is that this is a hosted solution, but....we already have that too (ie Influxis). We've had the technology to build real-time apps with Flash and Flex for years now.

I'll investigate a little more, but man this seems a little redundant, and I definitely don't see the value here. Hopefully they aren't planning to ax FMS or LCDS. I would love to know more about where they are going with these different technologies. Sorry, I just don't understand the "big, big deal". They don't seem to compliment each other very well....they're almost in competition with themselves.

Off to learn more...

This is a follow up to my previous post, For Designers: How to Create a Flex Skin.

Ok, so you just received an email from a designer, since they are scared of Subversion, with an attachment of a fresh new glossy Flex skin (just kidding, we must be nice to our designers....otherwise, they will draw degrading cartoons of us). Below are 3 short tutorials on how to apply the skin, from start to finish.

Setting up Flex Builder:

Importing Skins into Flex Builder:

Testing and Customizing Skins:

I've noticed that many designers are completely scared of Flex. I understand. Flex is scary. However, Adobe is making Rich Internet App design very approachable for UI designers now. So, if you're a designer, it's time to stop complaining and jump on the Flex bandwagon. It's easy. Really.

Below are a few tutorial videos on how to create a skin for a Flex application in Fireworks from start to finish. You can also create skins in Photoshop using a very similar technique.

If you're a developer, don't bother with the mind-numbing nonsense below, see my other post: For Developers: How to Apply a Flex Skin

Setting up Fireworks CS3:

Editing Skin Templates in Fireworks:

Exporting Skins From Fireworks:

As of the first Creative Suite, Adobe made the decision to remove the simple yet uber-helpful feature from Photoshop that allows you to see thumbnail previews of PSD files in Windows Explorer. If you upgraded your older version of Photoshop, you still have this feature, but if you installed CS, CS2, or CS3 from scratch you don't.

ThumbView Lite solves this issue immediately. Enjoy your thumbnails. I know I am.

˙˙˙˙ʇsod sıɥʇ ƃuıdʎʇ ɥsıuıɟ ı sɐ uoos sɐ ʞool ɐ ǝʞɐʇ oʇ uɐld ı ʇnq 'sʞɹoʍ ʇı ʍoɥ ǝɹns ʎlʇɔɐxǝ ʇou ɯ,ı ˙uʍop ǝpısdn ʇxǝʇ ɹnoʎ dılɟ oʇ noʎ ʍollɐ llıʍ ʇɐɥʇ looʇ (lnɟǝsn ʎlǝʇıuıɟuı puɐ) ʎʇɟıu ʎɹǝʌ ɐ sı ǝɹǝɥʇ

FLIP YOUR TEXT

The concepts introduced around "Web 2.0" have shifted the way users interact with the web and their data. This presentation is an excellent vision of where the web is going (beyond rich user interfaces)...

I came across an interesting article on Techcrunch that discussed How to Build a Web App in Four Days. I really like this approach, and I've always felt it could be extremely successful given the right team and the right environment...

I noticed an idea in the article that I liked so I thought I'd blog it. The author makes a great suggestion to paint an entire wall with blackboard paint. I've used blackboard paint in the past in my daughter's room, and it works really well. If you have an extra (yellow) wall, and creative people around, you should give it a try....I'm sure they'd fill it up in no time.

As for the website that they built in four days, well, you can watch more about it here:

jottit.com

Good news from Techcrunch:

Adobe has created a special Flash player for the search engines that acts like a virtual user going through each application. It actually goes through the runtime of each Flash application and translates it into something the search engines can understand. So all of those fancy interactive Flash Websites and other rich Internet applications that have been invisible to search engines, can now be seen by them.

Techcrunch Article

This is a very cool little application that will allow you to very easily install and run Internet Explorer 3, 4, 5, 5.5, 6 and 7. It's especially nice to be able to test pages in IE 6 and 7 on the same machine during development...

http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

This may not be a new technology, but it's new to me. And, I spent $9.00 calling information last month. So, if you like to call information, but don't like spending the cash. Check this out:

http://www.google.com/goog411/

I've found some helpful tools, cheeseball humor, jobs and other random information about freelancing on this site:

http://freelanceswitch.com/

Every now and then, there is an idea executed on the internet so well, it could make almost any concept look wonderful. But what if the concept was great to begin with AND was executed flawlessly? This is rare, but a friend of mine turned me onto such a case: Grooveshark.

Grooveshark allows you to search for and stream basically any song in the world. How this is legal, I don't know, but it works wonderfully. The interface has animation and smoothness not seen in many desktop, let alone web, apps. And its usability rivals iTunes.

I have a feeling this website could replace many iPods at work, having a phenomenal selection with no setup, installation, or signup required. Just logon and start listening.

So Adobe finally released their online version of Photoshop. It is a Flex based RIA called Photoshop Express. While the tool is a very nice tool, it only slightly similar to the desktop version, and IMO doesn't really deserve the "Photoshop" name. The Express version seems like more of an online photo manager repository type thing. Maybe I'm not seeing the big picture? Maybe Adobe is planning to integrate the online tool very closely with the desktop tool, which might justify the name. Either way, the app itself is pretty slick.

Check it out here: Adobe Photoshop Express

Here is a cool link for you to check out.. If you were ever a fan of IPIX this goes a few steps further!

Immersive Media

www.searchme.com

http://www.thepocketgeek.com/

Pretty interesting Flash game/site which seems to fall in with "The Sims" or one of those virtual pet-type websites. It's a fun idea, but the audio gets annoying real quick so you'll probably want to toggle it off.

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/hillary.htm

A little Flash game that is addictive and creepy all at the same time. Makes me wonder if ole' Bill isn't sitting at a computer somewhere, dragging her all over the screen, and laughing his head off. There are also some other variations - "Falling Hillary in a Bikini" (think I just threw up a little in my mouth) and "Falling George Bush."

http://robobrawl.com/

This little gem definitely takes the cake as "site of the month." RoboBrawl, promotional minisite for Intel Xeon, is very well executed on so many fronts - user experience, design, illustration, typography, animation, usability, sound, music... it's the total package. Build a robot, fight in matches, upgrade your weapons, and challenge friends to a full-on cage match. It's hard to hide the man-crush I have for this site.

Apparently there's this thing called Google, and you can just type in what you're looking for and it finds it.

Amazing, eh?

Hence, I found another tool. It's called Pixel Ruler. Take a guess what it does.

I just found a tool we all will probably find valuable. It's called Virtual Magnifying Glass. It basically allows you to bind a hotkey to transform your mouse into a magnifying glass. If you're like me, you're constantly squinting to assess some tiny graphic flaw, and then you may end up taking a screenshot into Photoshop and zooming in several times to be sure. This tool eliminates the need for that.

This is something that I've heard come up a lot in conversation and in a lot of different places across the web. Lee Brimlow brings up some interesting points in an article worth reading over at
The Flash Blog. Check it out. Flash is Not a Stepping Stone!

I have worked some with the AS2 Yahoo! maps components, and the AS2 version integrated pretty well with Flex, but I have been anxiously waiting for an AS3 version.

With only a couple of lines of code, literally, you can get their mapping component working in your own Flex app...

Check it out here:
Yahoo! Maps AS3

MINUIT
http://www.minuit.co.nz/
Cool site. I love the illustrative style and the game-like play. The overall concept reminds me a lot of Red Interactive, which is an awesome site. It was launched about a year ago, but since then they've added several extras.

RED INTERACTIVE
http://www.ff0000.com/