The Joy of Flex: Adobe Air and the future of the desktop (with Ben Forta)

I always look forward to Ben Forta coming to town. Not only does he always have something interesting to talk about, he is also a lot of fun to hang around with in general and he is a smart and charming fellow.

For those of you not familiar with Ben, here is a quick bio: Many moons ago he was a cold fusion programmer and liked the language so much he joined the company (Allaire) that created it. He became the products evangelist and toured touting the wonderful capabilities of CF. Subsequently; Macromedia purchased Allaire and started integrating Flash and ColdFusion. You have probably heard of Flash, as it is probably the most downloaded piece of software ever created.

Something like 3.5 billion downloads at last count since its introduction in 1996. That’s a lot of mindshare. And I remember in the 90’s when people said “users won’t download a plug-in!”

End tangent, back on track. Ok so Macromedia enhances Flash’s Actionscript capabilities and integrates backend data manipulation with ColdFusion and flash remoting. You can probably see a pattern forming here.

Macromedia had the hottest client-side software around but no back end database muscle to tie it together and deliver a full development environment. With the acquisition of Allaire they now had the server-side and client-side connection.



I promise that I will soon get to all the juicy cool details about what you can do with Flex and Air, and just what the heck Flex and Air are, as I really should have already known but apparently just haven’t been paying enough attention over the past few years.

Ok, where were we?

Adobe.

Adobe has, after some considerable time created the most ubiquitous piece of software around. From version 1.0 in 1993 they have created Acrobat Reader which allows for complex layouts to be ported to any OS. Hence the PDF file extension (portable document format).

Anyway I’m getting ahead of myself again. So in 1995 oops make that 2005 Adobe acquires Macromedia and takes over the entire suite and move into a whole new realm of the datasphere. Adobe has long been in the presentation layer business, starting with their first product, PostScript (circa 1982) for printer output, fonts, Illustrator and their most famous product (in 1990) which has itself become a verb, Photoshop.

So, graphic artists are already familiar with Photoshop and Adobe, the 800lb gorilla of image editing. Now with this latest play Adobe has positioned itself to become much more than just the presentation layer.

Coldfusion was already a powerful language when Allaire released version 4.0 back in 1998. Incidentally 1999 is the year I finally gave it a try and walked away from php and perl without even a backward glance.

So we have Coldfusion this really powerful backend server software, (technically middleware that works with a web server like IIS or apache, and a database like MySQL or Oracle). We now have ColdFusion version 8 which is a super powerful backend development environment that can do all sorts of cool things with integrated Ajax and webservices, Acrobat integration, captcha generation, rss and atom feeds, etc., etc.

Add to that a huge installed userbase of Flash client side interactive scriptable client applications. Combining the two allow for amazing things to happen, that is the entire bases of Flex and Air.

Now, before I do get into the guts and capabilities of these applications, I just want to fully express the position Adobe has achieved. It’s safe to say that every web designer in the world is well aware of, and probably uses on a daily bases Photoshop, Acrobat and Flash. Flex and Air will bridge the gap, and probably blur the lines between programmers and the designers.

Now, a lot of the capabilities that Flex has are not new. Flex is essentially a collection of technologies (as is Adobe Air) to create rich web applications. What’s new is the complete integration of backend logic data processing and front end user interface.

You can quickly create dynamic interfaces that can maintain connection to the server for live data interaction; this allows you to stream data like Java applets for stock tickers or instant messaging communication. You can create open sockets to eliminate page refreshes and load times.

The Flex SDK (software developer kit) is open source and available free from Adobe, this is a first for this company and has elicited a lot of excitement in the development community.

The beauty of this application is that you can knock out really complex data manipulation tasks very quickly, it gives a huge increase in development speed and easily integrates with XML. This essentially means you can build a complex database application in a day that would take a week using other open source (or commercial) languages such as PHP or ASP.

Flex gives you almost all the power of a desktop application (sans local file access) and it runs right in the users browser, it is the future of hosted applications.

So, naturally follows Adobe AIR which actually creates stand alone executable applications that can interact with the users local file system AND interact with a hosted database application. This allows developers to create hybrid applications which interact with the network and can also interface with users local desktop.

To really understand the power and possibilities that this technology opens up, you can take a look at some of the applications that have been developed.

Check out the Flex showcase http://flex.org/showcase/
Download Flex http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/
See a Flex application being built http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/media/flexapp/


- Reporting from Atlanta
Wesley E. Warren
CEO Vexcom


From Adobe

Adobe® Flex® Builder™ 3 software offers powerful new capabilities for creating rich Internet applications (RIAs).

Full support for the Adobe AIR™ runtime makes it easy to create RIAs for the desktop.

New integration with Adobe Creative Suite® 3 software helps designers and developers work together more efficiently.

New and enhanced data visualization features, including the new Advanced Datagrid, enable even richer presentation of business data.

New memory and performance profilers make it easy to optimize your application

Youtube:

Five Million Dollars in Design Projects Brokered by DesignQuote

In just over a year, DesignQuote has changed the way many designers do business. Designquote has brokered over 4,000 design projects since its launch in November of 2006. It posts an average of over 100 new projects every week.

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 19, 2008 -- In just over a year, DesignQuote has changed the way many designers do business. Designquote has brokered over 4,000 design projects since its launch in November of 2006. It posts an average of over 100 new projects every week.
DesignQuote has metamorphosized the very fabric of graphic design jobs. With the virtually impossible combination of high quality web design talent and affordable solutions the company recently brokered $3.5 million worth of work in 2007 alone. In an industry where facts speak more than self touted promotions, Design Quote stands out as a clear winner. Many IT companies are realizing that while amateur designers might save on costs, they end up doing a shabby job. This results in significant losses in terms of overall revenues and ROI. This is why an increasing number of companies are now looking at high end professional web design services irrespective of the costs involved. Design Quote has been able to provide not just high quality web design leads but also at very affordable rates.

Helvetica, sans-serif; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.designquote.net/" alt="Link to website">We plan on taking the things we learned with DesingQuote and applying it to other industries. Our focus is on taking a niche market and providing specialist with quality leads. We provide designers with low cost marketing services, so they can concentrate on their design work. We can do the same for other industries

As per their intensive research and findings, Design Quote found that there was a large disconnect between IT companies and professional web designers. While companies found it difficult to recruit the right kind of web design talent, professional designers found it tough to find graphic design jobs that were in accordance with their competencies. In order to bridge this disconnect, Design Quote was established. Today, Design Quote has managed to successfully bridge the gap between finding the right web design leads and mapping them to the respective competent designers.

The site has been running for more than a year now and in this relatively short span of time it has been able to provide lucrative graphic design jobs for professional web designers. Their database spans more than 21,000 designers who actively participate in various projects and the range of services is also extensive. Right from e-commerce solutions to web programming, website redesign and software development as well as front end modification of websites - Design Quote has been able to deliver on all these aspects.

One of the highlights of Design Quote is that its services are completely free of cost. It does not charge any fee or commission as part of its services. Clients are able to post projects free of charge and in turn, they receive free quotes from potential designers.

The professional designers in turn receive plenty of web design leads on a daily basis and pay only a small fee per lead. Thus Design Quote is an effective platform for both clients to get high quality services as well as for professional designers to leverage lucrative assignments. In an industry where high quality is preferred over cost savings - a site like Design Quote holds tremendous importance and value.

The DesignQuote system allows providers to purchase just the leads and projects they want to bid on using the patent pending LeadCredit system. Designers purchase credits which they then exchange for leads, once a specific job sells out, no more providers can purchase the lead. Patent Pending No. 60/929,824 (July 2007)

DesignQuote partners with several high-profile web portals to get the highest quality leads available.

Some of DesignQuotes partners are:Freelance DesignersFreelanceDesigners.com is one of the largest and most popular freelance directories in the world. The site boast over 20,000 registered freelance providers and connects over 3000 potential clients every single day! it has become the prime destination for people looking to hire freelancers. It features several disciplines including web design, graphic design, writers, programmers, and more.
FreelanceDesigners.com is a great way to reach new design customers. With over 145,000 unique visitors every month and over 1.1 million page views monthly, that is over 4,500 unique visitors each day.

WebDesigners-Directory.comThis Web Design Directory is a national directory of 4,714 web designers. Locate web designers and web design companies by state or listed by skill. Listings for designers are free. If you design web sites you can list your company and upload your logo. Designers are categorized by state or by web design skills such as PHP, CSS, ASP, XHTML, MySQL, Coldfusion, dreamweaver, AJAX, Web 2.0 and more.

FreelanceJobSearch.comDaily listing of freelance jobs. Freelance Jobs
DesignCreme.comDesign Creme is a gallery of beautiful css and flash sites. We showcase the best designs only! This is your inspiration source.

Graphic Design Jobs Blog

Vexcom, Inc. is the parent company that developed DesignQuote.net and they also manage several other high-profile websites.

Vexcom, Inc. is also preparing to build portals for other industries and markets. In the fourth quarter of 2008 they will be launching VacationRoad to feature vacation properties for rent. A wiki-type community driven city guide,MyCityGuide.net which allows anyone to add locations on their city or review existing locations such as restaurants, museums, nightclubs and shops. Vexcom has also recently started offering SEO services

"We plan on taking the things we learned with DesingQuote and applying it to other industries. Our focus is on taking a niche market and providing specialist with quality leads. We provide designers with low cost marketing services, so they can concentrate on their design work. We can do the same for other industries" says Joe Sado, Client Relations Manager

VexcomVexcom's corporate headquarters are located in Roswell, GA just north of Atlanta. Since 1996, The Vexcom team has been developing interactive database driven web applications and custom web software. Vexcom is composed of leaders in a wide range of internet technology fields. Vexcom is a full service consulting firm, coordinating project management, programming, design, hosting, system management, and maintenance.

Web Designers Directory Adds Skills

We have expanded the listings on webdesigners-directory to include directory pages that organize design companies by skill, we have currently added the following skills:

ActiveX AJAX ASP AudioMP3 Coldfusion CSS DHTML DOT.NET Dreamweaver Flash FLEX FrontPage HTML J2EE JAVA JavaScript MySQL PERL PHP SQL Video WEB 2.0 XHTML XML

If you have any siggestions for more skills, leave a comment.

We have also been featured on w3c sites

Welcome new client: The Right Angle

Vexcom would like to welcome The Right Angle to our client list.

The Right Angle manufactures, distributes and sells home improvement products such as PVC window boxes, custom decorative cedar architectural brackets, planters and exterior shutters.

At The Right Angle, Inc. we are setting a new standard in the architectural bracket industry. We are proud to introduce our line of architectural PVC brackets and decorative cedar brackets. We have over 100+ designs to choose from and can easily change dimensions of any of our brackets to meet your specific needs. Click for a Free Quote on a custom bracket, exterior shutter, or window box order or fax a drawing to 678.867.6980 to let us know exactly what your needs are.

We specialize in custom architectural brackets and can easily convert a blueprint drawing or CAD file into reality. All orders and custom orders ship from Atlanta, GA in 1-2 weeks! If you would like to come visit our Atlanta showroom please call in advance.

See Also: The Right Angle Blog and Shop

New SEO services and new blogs

We have recently launched our SEO services site and will now be offering full blown Search Enigne Optimization services to our clients. We also launched a SEO blog to go along with it.
SEO is very competative, but we have honed our expertise over the past 5 years and have more experience and better results than most (even the big guys) local SEO providers.

We have launched a few new blogs over the past month also:

A daily visual art blog http://www.artquarter.com/

FreelanceDesign Business Blog http://www.freelancedesigners.biz/

ultimate CSS http://www.ultimateCSS.net/

Web Design Jobs http://www.freewebdesignbid.com/

IT and Tech Jobs Blog http://www.jobsvx.com/

Holiday Hours

Vexcom will be closed Monday and Tuesday Dec 245h - 25th
We will also be closed on Tuseday, January 1, New Years Day.

Happy Holidays from the Vexcom Team.

Google Notebook

Just started playing with Google Notebook its an interesting service.