Quick and Easy Flash Prototypes: Bring Your Wireframes to Life

To tackle the classic “how to prototype rich interactions” problem, Alexa Andrzejewski developed a process for translating static screen designs (from wireframes to visual comps) into interactive experiences using Flash. Requiring some fairly basic ActionScript knowledge, these prototypes proved to be a quick yet powerful way to bring interaction designs to life.

Andrzejewski, Alexa. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>Web Design>Interaction Design>Flash

Sympathy for the Plug-in

If Flash is indeed a cancer on the Web, how come so many artists (and viewers) adore it? The much-maligned multimedia plug-in bites back, with help from Flash artist Peter Balogh.

Balogh, Peter. List Apart, A (2000). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Want to know what’s RED HOT? Adobe Flex

I am not going to insult your intellence and try to teach you how to use Adobe Flex because frankly, I am just learning. Over the past few months, every major project and intitiative I’ve heard about has components built using Adobe Flex. With the emergence of Flash as a usable technology and ActionScript as a top notch coding language, Adobe Flex has quickly become the hottest new tool in ubertrendy web development circles.

Robbins, Kyle. ReEncoded (2008). Articles>Web Design>Flash>Interaction Design

Web Clients Fatten Up with OpenLaszlo

OpenLaszlo is a rich client application architecture that uses Macromedia Flash as a deployment vehicle. Declarative in design, OpenLaszlo relies upon JavaScript for logic and offers advantages over traditional Flash development, including an advanced UI constraints system, an object-oriented design methodology, and built-in support for Web services and a variety of flavors of Remote Procedure Call (RPC). This article details the basic concepts of OpenLaszlo, and gives examples of situations in which an OpenLaszlo solution might be beneficial.

Woods, Joshua M. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Standards>Flash

Will Macromedia's Flash Plans Cripple the Web?

Macromedia's Flash-everywhere approach brings new innovations to Web design but carries hidden potential liabilities that could negate its benefits.

Becker, David. ZDNet (1997). Articles>Web Design>Software>Flash

Introduction to WAI ARIA

This article is for those who are new to ARIA. You need an understanding of HTML and the potential difficulties that people with disabilities can face using the Web. It is useful to be familiar with some Rich Internet Applications from a user's perspectiveAfter reading this article, you'll understand what ARIA is for, how to integrate it into your sites, and how you can use it now to make even the simplest of sites more accessible.

Lemon, Gez. Opera (2008). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Flash

Captions for Video with Flash CS3 (Part Two)

In this article, we’re going to look at a method of captioning a Flash video file: embedding the XML directly into the FLV file. In very simple terms, the XML document will contain the cue points for the captions. When one of those cue points is reached, the caption appears over the video.

Green, Tom. Digital Web Magazine (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Flash

Captions for Video with Flash CS3

In the exercise that follows, and in the second part of this series, we are going to add captions, using both methods, to the same video. For those passionate about web standards, the first method involves the use of Timed Text captions. If you go this route, you need to follow the standard laid out by the W3C. There is a lot to it but, in a nutshell, it requires you to create a specific type of XML document using the required tags.

Green, Tom. Digital Web Magazine (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Flash

Modeling User Workflows for Rich Internet Applications

As Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) become more advanced, the tasks, problems, and processes they address become increasingly complex, making it more important than ever to accurately model user workflows. Early Internet applications were often narrowly focused in scope, and the steps were relatively simple and sequential, for example, purchasing items through simple e-commerce, reserving hotel rooms, or renting cars. But as productivity applications move toward a web-based distribution model, the tasks become more complicated.

Hogue, David. Adobe (2008). Articles>Web Design>User Experience>Flash

HTML 5: Could It Kill Flash and Silverlight?

HTML 5, a groundbreaking upgrade to the prominent Web presentation specification, could become a game-changer in Web application development, one that might even make obsolete such plug-in-based rich Internet application (RIA) technologies as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Sun JavaFX.

Krill, Paul. InfoWorld (2009). Articles>Web Design>Flash>HTML5

Ten Common Mistakes When Building AIR Applications

Adobe AIR has grown immensely popular over the past months. With its popularity, many new applications have been released. During this period, the following 10 issues have been the mistakes I have seen most often among developers. Hopefully, this list can help you avoid the same mistakes when building your next AIR application.

Tucker, David. Adobe Captivate Blog (2009). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Best Practices: Six AIR Features that May Annoy Your Users

I get to see and play with a lot of really cool AIR applications (even when they’re still being developed). Every now and then I come across an app that totally ignores any best practices or usability rules. AIR provides developers with a lot of features that could potentially annoy users if not used wisely. I thought it was a good idea to write this article. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use these features, I just want you to think about them before you add them to your application.

Jespers, Serge. Web Kitchen (2008). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash