http://www.macromedia.com/software/flex/productinfo/brz_overview/
Better description than my jaded cynical self could provide. Keep your
bs filter in the "on" position though.
- Andreas
Andreas Rønning wrote:
Paul Steven wrote:
Been using Flash now for many years to create online games, CDROMs and
websites. I have always used the Flash program itself to create all my
content because that was the only option I had available to me (with the
exception of creating swfs in illustrator and the adobe flash program
(whatever it was called))
Anyway I see alot of talk about some program called "Flex" that seems
to be
something to do with Flash development. I have obviously had my head
in the
sand as it appears to have just appeared out of nowhere and everyone
seems
pretty clued up on it.
So I am asking for a simple decription of what Flex is and for what
sort of
content I should be using it for and why. I am not that familiar with
the
terms RIA or IDE so please keep the explanation in laymans terms.
I am about to begin developing a large website in Flash and was
planning on
just making it in Flash 8 in the way I normally create Flash stuff.
If there is a better way to do things using a different application
then I
would really like to know.
If there is a different list that would be more appropriate to my
question
then please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Paul
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RIA = fancy and completely useless buzzword that pisses me off to no
end, mostly because it IS a buzzword, and developers who work in that
field throw it around with insane abandon even though it means fuck
all. "Rich Internet Application". To the "untrained eye" it could mean
anything from a site with a video player through a flash game to a
dhtml riddled search engine. It's such an open and generic term it
actually angers me. It's the synergy craze all over again.
In practical terms, Flex is a serverside compiler solution that lets
you use actionscript in tandem with mxml (fancy pants xml) to throw
components around. What it means for the end user is they get fancy
alternatives to web shops and other things that might as well be
handled with ajax or even old fashioned no frills html pages. It's a
framework for stuffing sites full of components and things that go
bing when you hit them, presumably to avoid reloading pages and give
instant feedback, which is an attempt to improve usability, but in a
lot of cases do the exact opposite by forcing users to be accustomed
to YET ANOTHER set of buttons and sliders.
Company line: "The Flex product line delivers a standards-based
programming methodology and runtime services for developing and
deploying the presentation tier of applications that combine the
richness of the desktop with the reach of the web: Rich Internet
Applications."
What the hell does that mean, other than an attempt to get you to
throw cash at them for the sake of cool. This reads to me like another
ColdFusion, a syntax so contrived and painful it effectively locks the
CFM developer to specialise in a platform that offers nothing to the
greater good. When i do AS, that same script can be moved to php and
java, even c++ and c# with little alteration. CFM syntax is an
abomination. In some cases conformity is a good thing. Anyway, i digress.
By "presentation tier" they mean the user interface. In a web
application like google, this is the part where you put in the search
parameters and press "search". In RIA terms, this means the part where
you put in the search parameters should glow when you're typing, and
have audible sound effects for each keypress, in addition to a happy
fanfare and a fade transition when you hit "search". Even "richer",
let's add a dropdown menu for the last 10 searches, one that "unfolds"
like a chinese fan with an accompanying rustle of feathers sound
effect. I kid. But it's not completely untrue. The idea is to supply
users with more intuitive and direct feedback to their choices through
Flash.
I think it's a completely unnecessary product line that propagates a
design paradigm that's actually detrimental to the internet, in
particular usability issues. You could say the same for Flash, but
Flash isn't necessarily there to "improve" on the existing content as
much as it's there to add to it.
If you're comfy with the component framework and is willing to invest
a lot of time in stuff you'll find no use for whatsoever in other
languages, go Flex yourself out, i'm told it's great fun.
- Andreas
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