> development takes longer, there are more issues.. and you inevitably > end up rebuilding most of the browser functionality that you get with > HTML for free.
No argument if you are comparing, but they are different beasts. One of the reasons I love the Flash Platform is the ability for people to push past the limitations in HTML into making things more useable. Sadly they reinvent things that don't need to be reinvented, like scrollbars. Many of the issues you mention affect RIA's in general. Be it Flash, Flex or AJAX. It's the difference of maintaining state client side, turning it into an application, versus a page by page. Despite being HTML I've seen AJAX projects take far longer than Flash based sites, precisely because what's built into the browser starts getting in the way, and cross browser compatibility ends up eating into all the time. > All that aside, there is one huge problem I see with the SWF format in > general .. it's closed. Depending on your definition, It's been open for quite awhile now (http://osflash.org/flash9), though it does require a license. Since SWF's are like zip files, they contain vector, bitmap graphics, all streaming having it text readable isn't really practical..google can index swf file contents, but due to the fact that swfs aren't static, there's very little value in indexing them. Also Flex based apps ARE text based (declarative markup) like HTML, and many developers allow people to view the source via right click. > The web only exists because of the open > nature of HTML The flash community is incredibly open about most of their work. It's one of the best things about the community, and why (perhaps to your frustration) it's so pervasive on the web, the number of sites I go to that don't have flash somewhere is really small. > I was hoping to see some Flex examples that would blow me away.. Flex and AIR is young, as we both remarked, it's been a rough start. Many of the Flex 1.0 and Apollo examples on the web are broken as it's changed so much, that said is it's starting to settle down. Also Flash 10 will support autoflowing multicolumn text (newspaper style). Also I develop in RAW Flash, which is vastly different than Flex, and since they are technologies, it's highly dependent on who is doing the work, and their understanding of the limitations. HTML and Flash can be complimentary, I use Flash as presentation layer, and experience layer (animation, fading etc), all the text comes from the underlying html site (some of which is coming from WordPress), text styled with the CSS (and I could even do the layout in HTML from the CSS). If the user of the site has javascript turned off, they will get a basic html site that is compatible with Screen Readers/Accessibility. AJAX sites are on a spectrum, so we may be arguing diffferent things. Sites that do basic pagination, can get the no-refresh feel of AJAX cheaply and fastly. If you've outsourced the development, doesn't matter if it's Wordpress, Java, Oracle etc, it's always harder than just opening up a text editor and start changing. I haven't seen any AJAX sites really deal with dramatic font resizing gracefully, nor is this a requirement in every site. Flash in particular can embed fonts, which are easier to read IMO than html. It's trivial to change the text size (a process similar to CSS), but as you know that's not built in, if that's what you are expecting. Start getting into custom components with complex layout, calendars, tree grids, drag and drop, applications like Buzzword, and as yet I've never seen a AJAX site that hasn't taken *way* longer to develop. Applications like Photoshop online, video and sound editors, aren't possible in HTML. Thermo even outside of Flex is a great tool to develop prototypes, as that is what it's built to do. It integrates with sample XML data sets, and layout when neither Fireworks or Flash make drag and drop easy. Any time interactive design can be pushed more towards the IA, IxD, design before hitting implementation is generally a good idea. As wireframes without interactive flows tend to be filled with major holes, and at the point any change to the UI to fill them in, is hitting application logic, server logic, and database schema it's several orders of magnitude of cost. The concern I have is the same that many IA's UX face...not all companies recognize the value in a dedicated position and skillset, so they get filled in with sales, marketing and creative types. Troy. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
