My plea to software boffins.
I've just been looking at a new presentation of `Flash Catalyst' on the new Adobe Creative Suite 5 
site. It's sensational stuff and it's what I've been crying out for for years. An application to create websites with all of the benefits of Flash
but intuitively and with the application handling the code `under the hood'.
A bit of background here; I'm a designer, a visually creative person. In my early years of using Flash I had a go at learning the code side of the program and got a pretty good grasp of it and I was quite happy. I had a basic knowledge of coding and it was enough for me to make interactive websites and animated promo's for my clients. Then another version of Flash was released and they decided in their wisdom to change the way Action Script operated. This went on for a few years, tinkering with Flash and with how Action script worked within it. I kept up a bit, but honestly not that much. Flash wasn't the only other program I used. There was Photoshop
and Illustrator
to get my head around as well as trying to teach myself 3D (something I still haven't got the hang of). I have a friend who quit his job for a couple of years to go and learn 3D exclusively so I was battling upstream trying to learn that, keep on top of Photoshop, illustrator, Flash and improve my drawing and animation skills while working Freelance within an Ad Agency at the same time. Oh, and not forgetting to have a life.
But I had to make a decision with Flash. Did I want to dedicate time to learning how to code or improving my skills as a designer and artist. I went for the latter because realistically, that's what I'm best at and what I enjoy the most. But a job came up last year where I had to use ActionScript. I'd just moved to the Mac platform and bought CS3 which had the latest version of Flash in it. I also found out that they'd changed how Action Script operated again. I had a go trying to work it out but with a deadline approaching I had to work in the old way that they, luckily, still supplied.
I was angry. Why should I have to keep relearning this shit every time they release a new version of Flash? I don't care about it. I just want to design and implement my work. I don't need this shit! I don't make websites now because of this. There's too much code to learn and relearn and I'm just not interested in it. Well it looks like they've solved that problem with Catalyst and kudos to Adobe for finally doing it.
However!
What about the iPhone & iPad? What about the move away from Flash to more open sourced & faster Html 5, CSS and Javascript? A lot of folk say that there's more people using Flash now. Don't bother with Html 5. But I figure, to use a surfing metaphor, that I'm sitting out back of the break and I've spotted a swell with potential (no, I'm definitely not a surfer, I'm just stealing a metaphor and no doubt, badly). In a few years I figure we'll be looking at Flash the same way we look at animated gifs now. Therefore my question is; Where is the Flash Catalyst for Html 5?
Will we have to wait years for someone to design a program to make animated, interactive, database driven elements and sites where we don't have to know how to code? Where a designer can design, confident in the knowledge that it's being handled efficiently behind the scenes by the application?
Am I asking for too much?
site. It's sensational stuff and it's what I've been crying out for for years. An application to create websites with all of the benefits of Flash but intuitively and with the application handling the code `under the hood'. A bit of background here; I'm a designer, a visually creative person. In my early years of using Flash I had a go at learning the code side of the program and got a pretty good grasp of it and I was quite happy. I had a basic knowledge of coding and it was enough for me to make interactive websites and animated promo's for my clients. Then another version of Flash was released and they decided in their wisdom to change the way Action Script operated. This went on for a few years, tinkering with Flash and with how Action script worked within it. I kept up a bit, but honestly not that much. Flash wasn't the only other program I used. There was Photoshop
and Illustrator to get my head around as well as trying to teach myself 3D (something I still haven't got the hang of). I have a friend who quit his job for a couple of years to go and learn 3D exclusively so I was battling upstream trying to learn that, keep on top of Photoshop, illustrator, Flash and improve my drawing and animation skills while working Freelance within an Ad Agency at the same time. Oh, and not forgetting to have a life. But I had to make a decision with Flash. Did I want to dedicate time to learning how to code or improving my skills as a designer and artist. I went for the latter because realistically, that's what I'm best at and what I enjoy the most. But a job came up last year where I had to use ActionScript. I'd just moved to the Mac platform and bought CS3 which had the latest version of Flash in it. I also found out that they'd changed how Action Script operated again. I had a go trying to work it out but with a deadline approaching I had to work in the old way that they, luckily, still supplied.
I was angry. Why should I have to keep relearning this shit every time they release a new version of Flash? I don't care about it. I just want to design and implement my work. I don't need this shit! I don't make websites now because of this. There's too much code to learn and relearn and I'm just not interested in it. Well it looks like they've solved that problem with Catalyst and kudos to Adobe for finally doing it.
However!
What about the iPhone & iPad? What about the move away from Flash to more open sourced & faster Html 5, CSS and Javascript? A lot of folk say that there's more people using Flash now. Don't bother with Html 5. But I figure, to use a surfing metaphor, that I'm sitting out back of the break and I've spotted a swell with potential (no, I'm definitely not a surfer, I'm just stealing a metaphor and no doubt, badly). In a few years I figure we'll be looking at Flash the same way we look at animated gifs now. Therefore my question is; Where is the Flash Catalyst for Html 5?
Will we have to wait years for someone to design a program to make animated, interactive, database driven elements and sites where we don't have to know how to code? Where a designer can design, confident in the knowledge that it's being handled efficiently behind the scenes by the application?
Am I asking for too much?