www.teleport.com/~phillip/ | phillip@teleport.com | Volume 4 Issue 2 |
Projects:
You'll find that covered in my book...____________________
Now that my book "Sams
Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash 5 in 24 Hours" is finally
out in the stores, you'll probably hear me mention it less and less. The
587 pages full of tutorials and discussion are actually quite advanced
compared to other books in the Sams series. But with only one chapter
dedicated to advanced ActionScripting the book is really pretty basic.
(See: www.teleport.com/~phillip/sty_flash) Paris France (www.parisfranceinc.com) has overhauled the M3 site: www.m3snowboards.com. This time I only helped by consulting and programming one section. The resulting site is pretty cool. In London, it won FlashForward Film Festival's navigation category. The site has an entirely different feel than last year's site (which, by the way, is still available from the splash screen). Oswego Group (www.oswegogroup.com) is still cranking out the "Product Presenters"... now with less and less help from me. It made sense to make a template which could be modified for each client. They've done just that by using the half-dozen completed projects as models. One thing I did help add was an "online update" feature which keeps the CDROMs up to date by checking for updates on their server every time the program runs. I'm not exactly sure how I managed to get an article in the February 2001 issue of Macworld (printed just in time for their big conference in San Francisco)... but I wrote the 7-page "Flash 5 Expert Guide" that's mentioned on the cover. It's not quite a review but more of a "how you can start making Flash 5 work for you" theme. Unlike my book where I could walk the reader through increasingly difficult concepts (over hundreds of pages), this super condensed article had to be fun and easy to understand. The hardest part was deciding what to leave out of the article as I couldn't say everything. |
Besides writing, presenting, and just a couple consulting programming jobs, the rest of my work involved training-and lots of it. (Naturally, all for Flash) Whitehorse Studios (www.whitehorse.com) had me in for a couple half-days of intermediate/advanced Flash 5. Eyescream Interactive (www.eyescream.com and purveyors of www.zthing.com) had me in for a half-day of advanced Flash 4. Via Training (www.viatraining.com) and ID Inc (www.id-inc.com) got a large group together for a couple sessions of me trying to tell them everything about Flash 5. I jetted down to Phoenix Arizona to do 32 hours of advanced Flash 4 training for a group of contractors at Cisco. Naturally, it was so hot that I was outside as little as possible. Elvis and Bonaparte (www.elvisbonaparte.com) had me back to tell them what's new in Flash 5 (and, consequently, what to forget about Flash 4). Planet Productions (www.planetproductions.com) hasn't had me in for years, but they wanted some Flash 5 training, so I could help.The Pacific Northwest College of Art keeps filling the Flash classes, though I've decided to only teach the Advanced Scripting class. It's kind of a shame because I can't require students to purchase my first book-though I've wanted to do that ever since college (when professors did the same to me). Perhaps the most challenging "jobs" I've had in a while are my two non-paid jobs. I walk down to a computer class at Cleveland High School to show them Flash and I mentor at the Intel Computer Clubhouse (in North Portland's Salvation Army). The clubhouse is just getting rolling, but they have some great software/equipment and a mandate to provide a positive alternative to other after-school activities. Call Ben Nunes (503) 493-3925 x17 if you want to help. |
Presentations____________________
FlashForward2000 New York
www.flashforward2000.com |
ThunderLizard's Web Design
World and Web Design 2000 www.thunderlizard.com A couple local presentations
with which I was involved: |
Editorial:
Usability's comeback____________________
Perhaps usability was never out of style, but it seems all of a sudden people have noticed that there are some crappy websites out there. Some of them use Flash and therefore Flash tends to make unusable sites. So goes the "logic" from such influential (and sometimes correct) people as Jacob Nielson (www.useit.com). Obviously this is a fallacy but it doesn't discount the fact that people should make their websites usable. Does this mean you must adhere to old-fogy rules instead of coming up with creative solutions? Of course not. But standards and rules of interface design should be studied so that you know when you're breaking the rules and you can justify your actions. I'm not going to break into my list of interface design tips but I find it amazing when producers who misinterpret their own interfaces during development don't take it as a sign something needs to be fixed. |
For me, the best reason to make good interfaces with Flash is that bad ones reflect poorly on the technology. Attacks on Flash may be stupid, but lots of people fall for stupid arguments. Fighting it doesn't make sense. Embracing it so you can make it better, does. Take Macromedia's response to such gripes against Flash. They've been pushing Flash developers to teach themselves about design since Flash 2. Now they've launched a "usability initiative" (a PR person's words no doubt): www.macromedia.com/go/usability.Another subject (perhaps best explored in a future editorial) is accessibility. If making your sites accessible to all isn't a priority now, it will be. Macromedia has also embraced this issue, albeit mainly for future product revisions (www.macromedia.com/accessibility/). I guess my point is: don't fight fallacies with logic. Those spouting dumb ideas won't readily accept arguments that make sense. Plus, sometimes the core "dumb idea" actually has some merit. |
Reviews: Yes,
there's other software besides Flash____________________
Dreamweaver 4: (www.dreamweaver.com) |
Fireworks 4 (www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks) Live Stage Professional
(www.totallyhip.com) |
Tech Tips:
The section of my newsletter that can't be called self-promotion____________________
Authorware 5.2 |
Flash 5 |
The
Phillip Newsletter: published twice a year by Phillip Kerman with editing by
Diana L. Kerman. Phillip rewrites his biography regularly. In addition he conducts
training for, does programming in, and writes about Flash, Director, and Authorware.
Subscribe: Subscriptions
are free for the asking! Also, if you prefer an email version just tell me.
phillip@teleport.com | www.teleport.com/~phillip/ | +1 (503) 236-7721 |
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Last update: 21 April 2001