One of the biggest new features of Flash CS5 (no relaese date set) is the ability to develop iPhone applications right within the Flash IDE. How awesome is that!? Totally awesome. Adobe has been trying for quite a while to get the Flash Player on the iPhone in it’s native form, but Apple hasn’t given it a high priority. So whta does Adobe do but take matters into their own hands and incorporate the ability for Flash and Flex developers to expand their arena to the iPhone.

I am extremely happy about this because I’ve wanted to create applications for the iPhone for a while now, but I just don’t have the time to learn a 27th language… and I’m sure plenty of you feel the same way.

If you’d like to see a simple iPhone Application that was created by Lee Brimelow please check it out here.

Clearly there has been a lack of posts over the past couple of months and I do apologize for that. Just been so much going on with our server that staying regular with posts just wasn’t in the cards. However, without going into great detail, that has all passed. I am pleased to announce that we have switched hosts and have landed in Media Temple’s back yard.

So far so good. It has taken me a little bit of time to get used to their entire system, but I’d say that I’ve pretty much mastered it. Also, I’m extremely impressed with their customer service. Each time I’ve had a technical issue, after the call they send you rundown of the issues that you were having as well as the ability to rate their response time and the overall quality of their response. Believe me, having those notes for future reference is extremely useful.

Now since this move has occurred, I have discovered that WordPress does not do a very good job at backing up your blog. Preferences for layout, theme and plug-ins do not translate. So, over the next little while you might be seeing changes to the site. Do not be alarmed. At least the content is still here.

I need not preach to all why times are tough right now throughout the job market. We all – to a certain degree – feel the pressure. I was twittering this morning and came across a great post from Adobe. And if there were any doubts before regarding Adobe and their “right to rule” the creative and development world, certainly us peasents must appreciate the unlimited amount of which Adobe has given. They truly are the king of kings.

For a limited time, Adobe has offered unemployed developers a free Flex Builder 3 license. There reason for this is because the last thing that anyone in our community wants are uninspired geniuses. Since the current times will naturally get you down, Adobe is doing all that they can to keep the spirit of RIA passion alive.

Get your free license while they last here.

Adobe, we salute you back!

Admittedly I have been writing more about little tips and tricks than huge series’ about Flex or Flash. Oh well, I don’t hear anyone complaining, so here’s another one for you.

One of the most frustrating things about the Mac platform is that you can’t just maximize your browser to fit you entire screen like you can in windows. Safari has it’s “Plus” button, but all that ever seems to do is resize itself between two remembered states (or sizes), but those sizes only seem to cache themselves as you use them consistently. It’s a little difficult to explain but trust me, it’s annoying as hell!

Does Apple really think I have the time or patience to drag Sarafi out each time I want a true (really, untrue and inaccurate) fullscreen view? Seems a little odd. And what if you want your browser be resized to other more specific sizes such as: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768?

Well, I ran across yet another great resource website written by J.Y. Design. I’ll point you in the direction of their Safari Resources. Take a look at those links on their page, click one and you’ll witness the magic. They suggest saving these as bookmarks. I gone a step further and created a bookmark folder within my toolbar and placed each one of these resize scripts within that folder. Man, that was such a great find!

These links are nothing more than good ol’ JavaScript. Some seem to think they hate JavaScript but have no idea how important it is within our everyday Googling; but especially when it comes to browser interaction and manipulation. So cheers to those who have taken the time to wrap their head around JavaScript programming!

One site that I ran across recently is the ultimate shrine dedicated to preloaders. Yes, I know… so awesome, right?

Big Spaceship’s PrettyLoaded!

It’s a seemingly endless cycle of the most creative, dedicated, intuitive, ingenious, inspiring preloaders ever designed. This is a major recommendation for those seeking creative jolt or just an insane visual explosion!

I’ll be honest and say that with every new Adobe release I get slightly defensive because they (Photoshop, Flash, Flex, etc) seem to be getting easier and easier to use. That, of course, means that what was once a small, elite group of educated people theoretically has the potential to expand. Is that a bad thing? I’m still asking myself question…

By the same token, each new release is extremely exciting in it’s own right! This brings me to Flash Catalyst.

While the word catalyst has a definition, how is it applied within the Adobe Suite? Well, let’s talk about what Flash Catalyst does.

Adobe® Flash® Catalyst™ is a new professional interaction design tool for rapidly creating user interfaces without coding.

Seems simple enough, right? But is it really that simple? Actually, is really is.

Flash Catalyst allows any designer who knows even the slightest about any of the Creative Suite design tools – Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, Flash – to create a visual design (keeping the end application in mind), save the file and open that exact same file up in Catalyst. Within Catalyst they now see their preserved file structure and begin assigning various component assignments, view states and even timeline transitions within mere minutes! Once the designer is satisfied, he or she saves their creation as an .fxp (Flex Project File) and can now be directly imported into Flex for further development. Oh, and if during your Catalyst glee you notice that you’d like to change something within the original design, don’t even sweat! Just use Catalyst to switch on back to Illustrator (for example) make your change, and move on back to Catalyst! Insane, I know.

The reason this article and any other tutorial or article couples both Flash Catalyst and Flash (Flex) Builder 4 together is because this was the missing link; a seamless fusion between Designers and Developers. This leads me to Flash Builder 4.

There aren’t many differences between Flex Builder 3 and Flash Builder 4 (other than the name change) but there are some new things. For those, I refer you to an official article.

If you would like to see these two new powerhouses together in action, I suggest you observe Lee Brimelow as he walks you through a simple Twitter Feed application.

I would consider this to be a bug within the Flex framework. If you would like to set the cornerRadius of a VBox, HBox, Canvas or most other container components, make sure you define the following:

borderStyle="solid" borderThickness="0" cornerRadius="20"

Example:

<mx:Vbox height="100" width="100" borderStyle="solid" borderThickness="0" cornerRadius="20">
</mx>

I just wanted to take the time to point everyone in the direction of Andrew McLean’s developing blog:

Drewcorp Coding

Andrew is another renaissance man of sorts with interests spanning from computer hardware to programming languages such as ColdFusion. At his blog you will also find a slew of knowledgeable reviews on current software, tips and thoughts on the latest releases.

Like myself, encouragement is always welcome. There is a deep ocean of practical advice and a desire to write tutorials explaining all of the answers to your programming woes. Please do not hesitate to send Andrew a line and participate by commenting!

I have been trying to decide what I want to do with my header and just couldn’t settle on a single image. I have also been lacking in inspiration and desired to write some sort of useful tutorial for Flex. I ultimately decided to develop FlexyGallery.

FlexyGallery is an XML-driven galley slide show of sorts. While it is certainly in it’s infancy, with your encouragement and shameless promotion, FlexyGallery will be a household brand.

FlexyGallery allows you to define several settings and as many images as you want. Once you’re setup, FlexyGallery will seamlessly fade in and out through your images. It’s simple, but effective.

Example

The Settings:

bgColor – This setting allows you to change the FlexyGallery background color (default is white; FFFFFF).
delayDur – This is how long (in seconds) the image stays visible.
animDur – This is the duration (in seconds) of the fade animation.
textVAlign – The vertical positioning of the image name text.
textHAlign – The horizontal positioning of the image name text.

With your comments of encouragement and inspiration, FlexyGallery will incorporate the upcoming features:

• Multiple animation effects
• Optional next / previous buttons for stand-alone gallery
• Meta information and links
• [your ideas go here!]

Download it here!

I am simply never happy with the way my website looks. But, I will say that I have finally found the theme that I will be sticking with for the foreseeable future.

Over the next few weeks there will be various additions, both multimedia and functional. The whole point of this perfectionism is not only aesthetic, but functional.

I hope you enjoy the changes and feel free to lend your criticism; although I cannot promise that I will do anything whatsoever about it.