For a long time now Adobe's Flex IDE has been the only tool for developing ActionScript 3 applications. Now there is an alternative in the form of PowerFlasher's FDT 3.0. Read more – ‘FDT 3.0 ActionScript Development Tool’.
Whether you love it or you hate it, LinkledIn for Groups now has the UK Adobe User Groups for ColdFusion, Flex and Flash. To join the groups, simply click the appropriate link and start networking. Read more – ‘UK Adobe User Groups on LinkedIn’.
Many people who have worked on websites know that standard HTML and CSS allows the webpage author to assign any font of their choosing to a text element on a page. However, they also know that there is no guarantee that the element will show the desired font, as the browsing user may not have the same font, or set of fonts, installed on their local system. More often than not, only a set of "common" fonts are installed, for example Arial on the PC and Helvetica on the Mac. This has been a significant issue which has been addressed by two methods: the Fahrner Image Replacement (FIR) method and the Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR) method. Read more – ‘Rich Accessible Typography – FIR and sIFR’.
With the buzz around Rich Internet Applications (RIA) gaining a serious amount of steam and indeed press, with the likes of Adobe's Flash/Flex and Microsoft's Silverlight, Sun have now got in on the act with JavaFX. Announced at this years JavaOne conference, JavaFX makes use of a new scripting language and the Swing API for user interface (UI) design to position itself firmly in the RIA camp. Read more – ‘Lets Not Forget JavaFX’.
Rich Internet Applications are just the beginning. A key trend taking place throughout the Web industry is the urgency to integrate disparate systems and software tools to reduce costs, increase developer productivity, reduce the need for manual processing and intervention in transactions, and decrease time to market. To achieve these objectives, organisations have endorsed the adoption of standards-based systems combined with the migration to Web Services and Service Orientated Architecture. This has led to a requirement to create a consistent and intuitive interface to applications, data and services. The immediate goal of these efforts is to provide simpler, quicker and more efficient access and processing of information. Read more – ‘Future Directions for Rich Internet Applications’.
The Internet has emerged from obscurity to become a dominant platform for application development and is integral to the idea of Software as a Service (SaaS). Unfortunately the demand to build applications of increasing complexity has continued to outpace the ability of traditional Web applications to represent that complexity and expectation. Utilisation of AJAX technologies attempts to reconcile some of the issues, but frequently the result is a frustrating, confusing or disengaging user experience resulting in unhappy customers, lost sales, and increased costs. Read more – ‘The Future of the Rich Internet’.
