Ajax mimics better web pages since it uses same technology (HTML) indeed,
it's just about the only way it can go (unless you go to certain lengths to
reinvent the GUI with CSS tricks and images).
Flash doesn't need to mimic web pages since it can simply do better.
It mimics full-blown desktop application interface, which is also something
people are used to. We have buttons, checkboxes, scrollbars, progress bars.
Can you say with a straight face this is incredibly hard for a casual user
to grasp :)?
And the accordion - it's something you can see in Office and plenty of other
places, it's far from being new weird kind of component noone ever used. And
further, we have tabs, windows, panels and what not, accordion is not forced
on anyone.
One of the reasons Macromedia got on the "components" bandwagon in first
place was more consistent desktop-like experience. This was early in the V.1
framework when they were still experimenting but trying to bring some
consistency to Flash interfaces instead of forcing Flash developers to
reinvent the basic stuff as simple buttons with every SWF they make.
Flex 2 Framework is advanced, consistent, performant framework which
delivers easy to comprehend GUI targeted at business applications and widely
deployed consumer applications.
As such, it makes total sense to me.
Not long time ago, the widely spread opinion by "experts" and alike was that
JS is a terrible terrible way to use for any serious widely deployed app.
It took Google and its JS gadgets to convince web application developers
world-wide that *actually*, JS doesn't suck and maybe there's some value it
can add to web apps. Now virtually any web e-mail provider one could care
for rewrites their web mail app to use JS and "AJAX".
Now Flash meets the same skepticism by some folks as JS before. When Flex 2
final is out and big companies start using it and show there's nothing bad
in rich internet apps, this "fear" of Flash will go away just like it
happened with JS in web apps.
Regards, Stan Vassilev
I'm extremely jaded. I'm one of those guys that think Flash should stay
the hell away from what already works on the web and rather add to it
instead of restructure it. I think flash sites beyond the conceptual (ie.
the Donnie Darko site for instance) are so deeply and profoundly annoying
they're actually upsetting. In particular the sites that simply emulate
what's already doable online but with some extra bells and whistles; ie
the sites that don't even try to be special. I'm sure there's an enormous
market out there for Flex, but i'm tempted to say ...
...
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