I recently posted this message to our local Macromedia User Group, which I manage.
I've had some time to let the purchase sink in a bit. I spent the majority of yesterday evening going over all of the User Group Managers and Macromedia employee thoughts on the merger.
Overall - I'm taking a positive light on the change. This will expand the software offerings that are covered by our User Group and will allow some of the Macromedia products to be given more resources and make them even better than they already are now.
I'm keeping my eye on any changes that will happen with the User Group community - and I'm thinking it will only be good news. As of right now, and at least till end of year - we'll still be Macromedia focused and cover Macromedia focused topics at the meetings. If things change you'll all be the first to know.
If you haven't had a chance to read them yet, I'll point you to three blog entries that give me a better feel of what may happen in the near future as we progress.
Ben Forta - CF Evangelist
http://www.forta.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=e&entry=1596
Kevin Lynch - Chief Software Architect (Macromedia)
http://www.klynch.com/archives/000078.html
Mike Chambers - CF / Flash Developer Relations / Product Manager (Macromedia)
http://www.markme.com/mesh/archives/007504.cfm
Here is also an interesting article about Adobe GoLive vs. Dreamweaver - the reason I post this is because it's my belief that you can pretty much expect the best of both of these products in the next version that Adobe will release. Now that's good news!
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/battle_of_the_wysiwygs/
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Monday, April 18, 2005
Have you seen my Cheese?
Well - I walked in to work today excited about the opportunities that lie ahead of me... and then caught the glance of an email that chilled me to the bone. "Adobe to aquire Macromedia..."
Can this be true?
Yes - it is true, and all the blogging community has already blogged the heck out of it.
Is it a good thing? I believe it will be great for the server product line. I believe that Flash and Dreamweaver will flourish in the environment and I believe that Freehand and Fireworks may have something to worry about.
Adobe is really the expert when it comes to video - and that's been an area that Macromedia has been making great strides in. Adobe's focus has not been video for the web, where as MM's focus has been just that and great experiences for mobile computing and the internet in general. I think the merger of these two powerhouses will have them dominating the video market on the web and off.
The tight ties with Apple will also make it very interesting for developing true cross-platform integration and abilities.
All in all - I was shocked by the announcement - but as it settles in I'm anxious to see what will come next.
The Macromedia Community is so loyal that I'm sure this change won't affect much.
Can this be true?
Yes - it is true, and all the blogging community has already blogged the heck out of it.
Is it a good thing? I believe it will be great for the server product line. I believe that Flash and Dreamweaver will flourish in the environment and I believe that Freehand and Fireworks may have something to worry about.
Adobe is really the expert when it comes to video - and that's been an area that Macromedia has been making great strides in. Adobe's focus has not been video for the web, where as MM's focus has been just that and great experiences for mobile computing and the internet in general. I think the merger of these two powerhouses will have them dominating the video market on the web and off.
The tight ties with Apple will also make it very interesting for developing true cross-platform integration and abilities.
All in all - I was shocked by the announcement - but as it settles in I'm anxious to see what will come next.
The Macromedia Community is so loyal that I'm sure this change won't affect much.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Google Video
Google has started a beta for their new Video service.
https://upload.video.google.com/
Stumbled across this article via Slashdot.
https://upload.video.google.com/
Stumbled across this article via Slashdot.
Using SKYPE as a Media Production Tool
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Errors when trying to load XML w/ Flash
Usually this is an easy fix and the issue points to the cross-domain security where the player sandbox will not allow you to load data from another domain. The usual workarounds are listed here.
However today I ran across an issue where a person was still getting errors when the cross-domain policies were in place. The issue actually turned out to be related to SSL.
"I think we finally found out the issue. In test we use ssl but the prod names don't match up with our certificates, so you just have to click yes to continue and this has never caused us a problem in the past; however flash seems to care about the certificate not being valid for the hostname. We tried with actual production names that matched the certificate and it worked."
Just another gotcha to watch out for...
However today I ran across an issue where a person was still getting errors when the cross-domain policies were in place. The issue actually turned out to be related to SSL.
"I think we finally found out the issue. In test we use ssl but the prod names don't match up with our certificates, so you just have to click yes to continue and this has never caused us a problem in the past; however flash seems to care about the certificate not being valid for the hostname. We tried with actual production names that matched the certificate and it worked."
Just another gotcha to watch out for...
SPRING (BR) CONFERENCE
I will be attending the Spring (BR) Conference in Athens, Ohio next month. Come on out and say hi! Details below.
-----------------------
Join us in the Baker University Center on the beautiful campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio for our Spring
2005 Info Tech Conference! As always, this is shaping up to be a top flight conference, with industry heavy weights participating.
This event is presented by the Southeast Ohio Macromedia User Group [SEOMUG] in partnership with the Information Technology Alliance of Appalachian Ohio [ITAAO] and we are sponsored by the Ohio University Computer Services Center [CSC], Ohio University's Center for Innovations in Technology for Learning [CITL] and Macromedia, Inc. [MM]
Some of the names you might recognize that will be here include: Dave Gruber, Senior Product Manager for Macromedia, Phillip Kerman, Joe Lowery, Nate Weiss, Neil Ross, John Cummings, Keith Instone, and more! Also, we have special guest author, radio host and star of G4TechTV's "Call For Help", Leo Laporte in our special Lunchtime Presentation presented by Que and Sams Publishing.
The conference is a day packed full of information and demonstrations, and an opportunity to meet and network with other web technology professionals and gurus. There is only a nominal $25 charge to attend this event, (which includes your lunch and the special Lunchtime presentation). Student admission is only $15 with lunch, or $5 without lunch. There will be many valuable prizes awarded to attendees, and you must be present at the time of the drawings in order to win!
If you have any questions regarding the conference, parking, directions or accommodations, please feel free to call the Ohio University Computer Services Frontline at (740)597-8000 for assistance.
More Info and to Register Online: http://www.seomug.org/conference.cfm
-----------------------
Join us in the Baker University Center on the beautiful campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio for our Spring
2005 Info Tech Conference! As always, this is shaping up to be a top flight conference, with industry heavy weights participating.
This event is presented by the Southeast Ohio Macromedia User Group [SEOMUG] in partnership with the Information Technology Alliance of Appalachian Ohio [ITAAO] and we are sponsored by the Ohio University Computer Services Center [CSC], Ohio University's Center for Innovations in Technology for Learning [CITL] and Macromedia, Inc. [MM]
Some of the names you might recognize that will be here include: Dave Gruber, Senior Product Manager for Macromedia, Phillip Kerman, Joe Lowery, Nate Weiss, Neil Ross, John Cummings, Keith Instone, and more! Also, we have special guest author, radio host and star of G4TechTV's "Call For Help", Leo Laporte in our special Lunchtime Presentation presented by Que and Sams Publishing.
The conference is a day packed full of information and demonstrations, and an opportunity to meet and network with other web technology professionals and gurus. There is only a nominal $25 charge to attend this event, (which includes your lunch and the special Lunchtime presentation). Student admission is only $15 with lunch, or $5 without lunch. There will be many valuable prizes awarded to attendees, and you must be present at the time of the drawings in order to win!
If you have any questions regarding the conference, parking, directions or accommodations, please feel free to call the Ohio University Computer Services Frontline at (740)597-8000 for assistance.
More Info and to Register Online: http://www.seomug.org/conference.cfm
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Powered By Detroit - Session Recap - Day One
On Friday evening I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the speaker's dinner for Powered By Detroit. It was a great evening, fantastic food and even better conversation with some of the most respected experts in the industry.
I found myself enjoying my meal with Danilo Celic , Lawrence Cramer , Angela Buraglia and Dan Short
The highlight of the dinner had to be my UG's unofficial co-manager, Kevin Phillips, explaining his latest project to the group. Of course, I twisted his arm to tell the others about it - but the entire table thought it was a very unique and interesting idea.
I ran into many other friends at the dinner too and got to briefly talk with Greg Rewis about his new phone and some of the fantastic Flash Apps that people are developing for mobile devices.
What a way to kick off a conference - I was geeked for the first day to arrive and sure 'nuff, it did.
The first session I attended was "CFC Crash Course - An Introduction to CF Components" given by Doug Hughes. It was a packed session with something for everyone from beginner to intermediate levels. I've used CFC's in my development in the past, but this session made beginner OOP concepts a bit clearer to me and will help me change the way I layout applications in the future. Great job Doug!
The second session I attended was Jason Michael Perry's - "Developing Rich Internet Applications with Flash Remoting" This session focused on using the Flash Remoting Connector to get data in and bound to components and to tell you the truth - I've always used actionscript to do this - but I think I may just try the connector to see if it can save me some time.
My third session was Matt Woodward's - "Flex your ColdFusion Muscles" which gave a quick view of just how easy Flex can be used as your rich experience interface to existing complex web applications.
The conference lunch was awesome. Seriously - it was buffet style, but the food was great!
Following lunch Greg Rewis gave a very energetic keynote presentation on "Rich Internet Experience" that was well received by all attendees. We even got some sneak peeks at what may be available in the next version of the Flash Player - in a word - "hot!"
After the keynote I attended Jeff Houser's - "Creating Flash Sound", which was a refreshing session that focused much more on how developer's can create their own sound effects and the best way to get them into Flash. There is definitely a place for this kind of session at these conferences - as many people I know focus way too much on grabbing free, lack luster sounds for their applications - when they could be making their own, higher quality sounds/music using programs such as Sound Forge / ACID.
I closed out the first day with Danilo Celic's - "sIFR: Flashy Fonts for the Web" which was fantastic because it allowed me to get an understanding of sIFR and how I could implement it on client sites to add a great feel of uniqueness to sites. Danilo is very cool and a great speaker, he explains things well and makes it look easy. Top notch!
After closing first day comments from Cornel, it was back home to Windsor and a quiet evening at home, testing out some of the many things I learned that day.
Day one grade - A+
I found myself enjoying my meal with Danilo Celic , Lawrence Cramer , Angela Buraglia and Dan Short
The highlight of the dinner had to be my UG's unofficial co-manager, Kevin Phillips, explaining his latest project to the group. Of course, I twisted his arm to tell the others about it - but the entire table thought it was a very unique and interesting idea.
I ran into many other friends at the dinner too and got to briefly talk with Greg Rewis about his new phone and some of the fantastic Flash Apps that people are developing for mobile devices.
What a way to kick off a conference - I was geeked for the first day to arrive and sure 'nuff, it did.
The first session I attended was "CFC Crash Course - An Introduction to CF Components" given by Doug Hughes. It was a packed session with something for everyone from beginner to intermediate levels. I've used CFC's in my development in the past, but this session made beginner OOP concepts a bit clearer to me and will help me change the way I layout applications in the future. Great job Doug!
The second session I attended was Jason Michael Perry's - "Developing Rich Internet Applications with Flash Remoting" This session focused on using the Flash Remoting Connector to get data in and bound to components and to tell you the truth - I've always used actionscript to do this - but I think I may just try the connector to see if it can save me some time.
My third session was Matt Woodward's - "Flex your ColdFusion Muscles" which gave a quick view of just how easy Flex can be used as your rich experience interface to existing complex web applications.
The conference lunch was awesome. Seriously - it was buffet style, but the food was great!
Following lunch Greg Rewis gave a very energetic keynote presentation on "Rich Internet Experience" that was well received by all attendees. We even got some sneak peeks at what may be available in the next version of the Flash Player - in a word - "hot!"
After the keynote I attended Jeff Houser's - "Creating Flash Sound", which was a refreshing session that focused much more on how developer's can create their own sound effects and the best way to get them into Flash. There is definitely a place for this kind of session at these conferences - as many people I know focus way too much on grabbing free, lack luster sounds for their applications - when they could be making their own, higher quality sounds/music using programs such as Sound Forge / ACID.
I closed out the first day with Danilo Celic's - "sIFR: Flashy Fonts for the Web" which was fantastic because it allowed me to get an understanding of sIFR and how I could implement it on client sites to add a great feel of uniqueness to sites. Danilo is very cool and a great speaker, he explains things well and makes it look easy. Top notch!
After closing first day comments from Cornel, it was back home to Windsor and a quiet evening at home, testing out some of the many things I learned that day.
Day one grade - A+
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Powered By Detroit - Day Two
Well, it's the second and final day of what's been a great conference! Cornel Ivanescu has done an absolutely amazing job of attracting the best speakers and making this year's conference a smash hit. Ben Forta was introduced in a Hummer that was pushed from behind by the User Group Managers! What a way to start a keynote presentation!
I'll post more tonight about specific information about the sessions - but I gotta run, I was able to use my USB data cable to get this one post off - more later.
I'll post more tonight about specific information about the sessions - but I gotta run, I was able to use my USB data cable to get this one post off - more later.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Dynamic Banner
I was asked to create a dynamic flash banner for our corporate website a little while back by our Marketing department. They were looking for something similar to this:
CNET
They wanted to be able to put an undefined number of swf movies into a folder and have the Flash file automatically generate the navigation and play the files. I accomplished this by calling out to an ASP script - which retrieved a count of files in the directory and then passed it back to Flash to build the navigation.
Since the SWF files that would be played are always going to be named 1.swf, 2.swf, etc. - we ran into a caching issue in certain browsers. I ran across this great technote that shows how to stop the browsers from caching your swf files.
Stop caching of SWFs
I'll be posting my code for the banner once I get NADONweb up and running.
CNET
They wanted to be able to put an undefined number of swf movies into a folder and have the Flash file automatically generate the navigation and play the files. I accomplished this by calling out to an ASP script - which retrieved a count of files in the directory and then passed it back to Flash to build the navigation.
Since the SWF files that would be played are always going to be named 1.swf, 2.swf, etc. - we ran into a caching issue in certain browsers. I ran across this great technote that shows how to stop the browsers from caching your swf files.
Stop caching of SWFs
I'll be posting my code for the banner once I get NADONweb up and running.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Howie Day Media Player
Here's a very nice example of a Media Player. If you know who built this, I'd love to know - they did a very nice job of making a slick, simple player with a friendly interface.
Howie Day Media Player
You can even watch the video for "Collide"
Howie Day Media Player
You can even watch the video for "Collide"
Monday, April 04, 2005
Just sad...
This morning I looked down at my odometer and it read 127001 and I said "hey! localhost!"
For punishment, I stopped at Starbucks to solidify the fact that I am a geek.
For punishment, I stopped at Starbucks to solidify the fact that I am a geek.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Online CF User Group
Need to get your CFUG fix online?
Mr. Erat has you covered!
Online CFUG at meetup.com meets on the 2nd thursday of each month.
Check it out.
Mr. Erat has you covered!
Online CFUG at meetup.com meets on the 2nd thursday of each month.
Check it out.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Top Ten Reasons To Make It to Powered By Detroit
Registration for Powered By Detroit is well under way and just in case you need some last minute reasons to get your employer to pay your way I thought I'd offer up this list.
Top Ten Reasons why I think a company that uses Flash and/or ColdFusion should have representation at the Powered By Detroit Conference:
10. Unique Conference
9. Three learning tracks
8. Speaker List
7. ColdFusion MX 7
6. Detroit, MI
5. Certification Discounts
4. "Finger on the pulse" of Flash
3. Price / Value
2. Excitement
1. Interaction with true peers!
-----------------------------------
10. Unique Conference
Powered by Detroit offers up a unique experience to learn about the latest features in Flash and ColdFusion. It goes further by also offering a chance to see how the integration between these two products can deliver rich internet experiences. While most conferences focus on one product area, with light content on how to integrate with other products, this one delivers something for both the Flash developer and ColdFusion developer in each session!
-----------------------------------
9. Three Learning Tracks
Choose your sessions from three great learning tracks.
Foundations - focuses on core web technologies that include some introductory sessions.
Design - Best practices, design along with project management and site migration sessions. Server-Side - CFC's, Flash Remoting, Flex and CF 7 are just some of the session topics.
-----------------------------------
8. Speaker List
Powered by Detroit has managed to secure a speaker list that has some of the top names in the industry today. I've attended the annual Macromedia Users Conference (DEVCON, MAX) for the past three years in a row, many of the speakers at Powered By Detroit have delivered sessions at the annual Users Conference as well as other large conferences. A+ on aquiring such a great range of talent and some of the most respected people in the Flash and ColdFusion communities.
View the Speaker List
-----------------------------------
7. ColdFusion MX 7
The server product and backbone of Macromedia's offerings. With this latest release, Macromedia has shown without a doubt, that ColdFusion MX is the best platform for delivering enterprise applications quickly and easily. There are several sessions covering the new features, such as the extremely well accepted Flash Forms and how to leverage FLEX to design RIA's using ColdFusion as the backend.
-----------------------------------
6. Detroit, MI
A midwestern conference just outside of D-Town! Lots to do, lots to see, heck you can even take a short trip across the border to Canada and make fun of those canucks.
-----------------------------------
5. Certifications
Macromedia Certification Exams are offered at a discount at the conference.
-----------------------------------
4. "Finger on the pulse" of Flash
The Macromedia Flash application is going to be changing over the next year, the conference gives you the chance to talk with your peers about current projects you may be working on or future projects that you may have in mind. Learn about Flash Remoting, Flash Communication Server and how you can leverage the power of CF to deliver data connected applications.
-----------------------------------
3. Price / Value
The conference cost $349 for two days. This is a great value for the amount of information that will be covered and the training that is recieved.
-----------------------------------
2. Excitement
With the recent release of ColdFusion and a new release of Flash in the works, now is a great time to be working with these two products. There are so many things to learn and experiences to share that this conference is sure to be filled with energy!
-----------------------------------
1. Interaction with peers!
This has to be the number one reason I would suggest attendance at Powered by Detroit. The chance to talk to, and exchange ideas with others who are doing the exact same job that we are doing is priceless. I've been to conferences / training where there is some people in attendance who may do similar functions as my position, but this is a chance to get face-to-face with 300+ people who are doing extremely similar job functions. It serves as an excellent resource for new ideas as well as building friendships and networking with peers. There have been many times that I have sent an email to a contact that I met at a past conference to ask for advice or to see how they had implemented something in their company and it has saved me time and/or headaches. Come out to Powered by Detroit and do a little networking!
Top Ten Reasons why I think a company that uses Flash and/or ColdFusion should have representation at the Powered By Detroit Conference:
10. Unique Conference
9. Three learning tracks
8. Speaker List
7. ColdFusion MX 7
6. Detroit, MI
5. Certification Discounts
4. "Finger on the pulse" of Flash
3. Price / Value
2. Excitement
1. Interaction with true peers!
-----------------------------------
10. Unique Conference
Powered by Detroit offers up a unique experience to learn about the latest features in Flash and ColdFusion. It goes further by also offering a chance to see how the integration between these two products can deliver rich internet experiences. While most conferences focus on one product area, with light content on how to integrate with other products, this one delivers something for both the Flash developer and ColdFusion developer in each session!
-----------------------------------
9. Three Learning Tracks
Choose your sessions from three great learning tracks.
Foundations - focuses on core web technologies that include some introductory sessions.
Design - Best practices, design along with project management and site migration sessions. Server-Side - CFC's, Flash Remoting, Flex and CF 7 are just some of the session topics.
-----------------------------------
8. Speaker List
Powered by Detroit has managed to secure a speaker list that has some of the top names in the industry today. I've attended the annual Macromedia Users Conference (DEVCON, MAX) for the past three years in a row, many of the speakers at Powered By Detroit have delivered sessions at the annual Users Conference as well as other large conferences. A+ on aquiring such a great range of talent and some of the most respected people in the Flash and ColdFusion communities.
View the Speaker List
-----------------------------------
7. ColdFusion MX 7
The server product and backbone of Macromedia's offerings. With this latest release, Macromedia has shown without a doubt, that ColdFusion MX is the best platform for delivering enterprise applications quickly and easily. There are several sessions covering the new features, such as the extremely well accepted Flash Forms and how to leverage FLEX to design RIA's using ColdFusion as the backend.
-----------------------------------
6. Detroit, MI
A midwestern conference just outside of D-Town! Lots to do, lots to see, heck you can even take a short trip across the border to Canada and make fun of those canucks.
-----------------------------------
5. Certifications
Macromedia Certification Exams are offered at a discount at the conference.
-----------------------------------
4. "Finger on the pulse" of Flash
The Macromedia Flash application is going to be changing over the next year, the conference gives you the chance to talk with your peers about current projects you may be working on or future projects that you may have in mind. Learn about Flash Remoting, Flash Communication Server and how you can leverage the power of CF to deliver data connected applications.
-----------------------------------
3. Price / Value
The conference cost $349 for two days. This is a great value for the amount of information that will be covered and the training that is recieved.
-----------------------------------
2. Excitement
With the recent release of ColdFusion and a new release of Flash in the works, now is a great time to be working with these two products. There are so many things to learn and experiences to share that this conference is sure to be filled with energy!
-----------------------------------
1. Interaction with peers!
This has to be the number one reason I would suggest attendance at Powered by Detroit. The chance to talk to, and exchange ideas with others who are doing the exact same job that we are doing is priceless. I've been to conferences / training where there is some people in attendance who may do similar functions as my position, but this is a chance to get face-to-face with 300+ people who are doing extremely similar job functions. It serves as an excellent resource for new ideas as well as building friendships and networking with peers. There have been many times that I have sent an email to a contact that I met at a past conference to ask for advice or to see how they had implemented something in their company and it has saved me time and/or headaches. Come out to Powered by Detroit and do a little networking!
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
mobile heaven : USB data cable
Ok, so maybe I've been living under a rock for the past while, but I've just recently picked up a USB data cable for my cell phone. This little beauty allows me to connect it via USB to my laptop computer and then use my Sprint PCS Vision package web connectivity via a Sprint software app to give me a connection to the internet. That's right - I can browse the net on my laptop anywhere that I can get a Sprint PCS signal. This is hot! I was stuck in traffic the other day, was able to hop on my laptop, connect the phone, connect to the net and find an alternate route which saved me not only time, but my sanity as well.
Of course, you shouldn't take advantage of this back door option for downloading large files as Sprint's policy says that it can close your account etc. But I do enjoy having the option and flexibility of actually using my web functions on my phone... seeing as I would never browse the web using my phone browser.
You can grab the cable here.
Of course, you shouldn't take advantage of this back door option for downloading large files as Sprint's policy says that it can close your account etc. But I do enjoy having the option and flexibility of actually using my web functions on my phone... seeing as I would never browse the web using my phone browser.
You can grab the cable here.
Friday, March 25, 2005
NADONweb: FLiP Step One
As I've been reading many of the articles on the fusebox site, I find myself getting more and more excited about adopting the FLiP -side of doing things! The more I read about it, the more it makes sense.
The first step in FLiP is: Personas and Goals
After reading the description and finding out that this first step is to get you to create the typical users of your application, I've decided to do just that. These "users" are your make believe testers and will help you decide what your application will be used to accomplish. The goal of step one is to come up with these "users" and then come up with the goals that each would need to accomplish when using your software. It's easy to see how the application can be built much better by using this goal-oriented approach instead of basing the design on application features. The features will come later, but at this point, it seems most important for me to know who is going to come to NADONweb and what they'll need to accomplish when there. Designing the system this way will make things much easier in the long run and allow me to make sure that the true purpose of the site is met, for all visitors.
'Nuff about that. Here are the three personas I have created. I haven't gone into great detail yet about their exact stats or personalities, but I'm sure that will come as they grow and show me what they need from my site.
The IT Director -
John Myer - that's his name. He's been an IT Director for approximately 3 yrs, worked his way up through the ranks and is now looking for talent, that's of course, why he came to my site.
The Friend -
Phil DeLove - Phil loves to browse the site often and check for recent updates. He's downloaded everyone of my songs, read every article I've written and loves giving feedback and feeling involved.
The Browser -
Justin Browsing - you guessed it, he's the occasional browser that might link from Google, or happen to fumble across the site.
I'm going to start with these three personas and now I'll add goals for each. See you in a few.
The first step in FLiP is: Personas and Goals
After reading the description and finding out that this first step is to get you to create the typical users of your application, I've decided to do just that. These "users" are your make believe testers and will help you decide what your application will be used to accomplish. The goal of step one is to come up with these "users" and then come up with the goals that each would need to accomplish when using your software. It's easy to see how the application can be built much better by using this goal-oriented approach instead of basing the design on application features. The features will come later, but at this point, it seems most important for me to know who is going to come to NADONweb and what they'll need to accomplish when there. Designing the system this way will make things much easier in the long run and allow me to make sure that the true purpose of the site is met, for all visitors.
'Nuff about that. Here are the three personas I have created. I haven't gone into great detail yet about their exact stats or personalities, but I'm sure that will come as they grow and show me what they need from my site.
The IT Director -
John Myer - that's his name. He's been an IT Director for approximately 3 yrs, worked his way up through the ranks and is now looking for talent, that's of course, why he came to my site.
The Friend -
Phil DeLove - Phil loves to browse the site often and check for recent updates. He's downloaded everyone of my songs, read every article I've written and loves giving feedback and feeling involved.
The Browser -
Justin Browsing - you guessed it, he's the occasional browser that might link from Google, or happen to fumble across the site.
I'm going to start with these three personas and now I'll add goals for each. See you in a few.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
NADONweb: FLiP steps
I should first break down the steps of Fusebox Lifecycle Process : FLiP
I plan to use this to build NADONweb and make sure that it fits all that I want it to be.
Steps as found on the Fusebox site:
1. Personas and Goals
2. Wireframe
3. Prototype / Front-End Development
4. Application Architecture
5. FuseCoding
6. Unit Testing
7. Application Integration
8. Deployment
I plan to use this to build NADONweb and make sure that it fits all that I want it to be.
Steps as found on the Fusebox site:
1. Personas and Goals
2. Wireframe
3. Prototype / Front-End Development
4. Application Architecture
5. FuseCoding
6. Unit Testing
7. Application Integration
8. Deployment
Launching NADONweb
so.. I can't tell you how many times I've been told that I need to get a site up where I can have my portfolio of work. A place to call my own and list accomplishments, milestones and centralize some of the many things I like to call "hobbies"
The idea of NADONweb came to fruition about two weeks ago and I setup my home network to prepare for the launch of the new site. I grabbed all the domains that I could and I'm now ready to go. I sat down and thought about the design of the site and that's pretty much where I stopped.
I had the idea that it may be good to learn something new while putting this 'portfolio' site together. That "something new" is Fusebox and FLiP (Fusebox Lifecycle Process)
http://www.fusebox.org
I'm going to post all that is the launch of NADONweb here, to document the thinking process and maybe help a few others out there grasp the processes and why they can be so good at helping us organize not only our thoughts but what to do next, our to do list.
I've read up quite a bit on Fusebox and FLiP, but I've never taken the time to use it on a project and NADONweb is the perfect place to test drive it. I'm hoping that I'll then be able to do the same for my other projects - such as Indie Sessions.
I'm starting with FLiP, since it is the methodology that can be followed when designing a Fusebox application. The nice thing about FLiP is that it can be used even if your designing a non-Fusebox application. I know that the lessons I take from FLiP will be of benefit to me in other areas - so I greet it with open arms.
Here is where I've started:
http://www.fusebox.org/index.cfm?&fuseaction=methodology.steps
I've printed out the steps and I'm now working on Personas.
This should be an interesting project because I'm the client, the user, the project manager, the designer and the developer. I've got lots of roles to play... so here we go.
The idea of NADONweb came to fruition about two weeks ago and I setup my home network to prepare for the launch of the new site. I grabbed all the domains that I could and I'm now ready to go. I sat down and thought about the design of the site and that's pretty much where I stopped.
I had the idea that it may be good to learn something new while putting this 'portfolio' site together. That "something new" is Fusebox and FLiP (Fusebox Lifecycle Process)
http://www.fusebox.org
I'm going to post all that is the launch of NADONweb here, to document the thinking process and maybe help a few others out there grasp the processes and why they can be so good at helping us organize not only our thoughts but what to do next, our to do list.
I've read up quite a bit on Fusebox and FLiP, but I've never taken the time to use it on a project and NADONweb is the perfect place to test drive it. I'm hoping that I'll then be able to do the same for my other projects - such as Indie Sessions.
I'm starting with FLiP, since it is the methodology that can be followed when designing a Fusebox application. The nice thing about FLiP is that it can be used even if your designing a non-Fusebox application. I know that the lessons I take from FLiP will be of benefit to me in other areas - so I greet it with open arms.
Here is where I've started:
http://www.fusebox.org/index.cfm?&fuseaction=methodology.steps
I've printed out the steps and I'm now working on Personas.
This should be an interesting project because I'm the client, the user, the project manager, the designer and the developer. I've got lots of roles to play... so here we go.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Lifetime Phone Package?
A company has a planned offering that will give you VOIP (Voice Over IP) telephone service for the rest of your life for $999.
Think about it - no more phone bills.
Read the article here
Think about it - no more phone bills.
Read the article here
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Working around the crossdomain.xml security settings in Flash MX 2004
So, my company asked me to build a small weather pod. Something very simple that would sit on our Intranet. Easy enough I thought, check around for a web service, let Flash MX 2004 Professional consume the little sucka and move on to the next big project.
Not so quick -
First, I had a heck of a time finding a free weather web service. Most - like Accuweather are charging for it. That's just sad. They should at least have a bare-bones feed that just gives the temp for free.
I finally stumbled across this service at the National Weather Service.
http://weather.gov/data/current_obs/KARB.xml
This is the XML feed for the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport (there are others there, sorted by state, and there are RSS feeds as well!) Grab those here -
http://weather.gov/data/current_obs/
The government service is free and currently experimental - but hey - it's accurate and updated every hour... for free. Tell me a free third party extension that you don't "use at your own risk"
So, now I figured - this is sweet. I just need to use the XML Connector and grab the data from this feed and bam - done, right? Nope. It worked fine locally - while testing, but once I published it and tried to view it in a web page, I ran across the new Flash Player security issues.
The new security basically states that you have to have a "crossdomain.xml" file on the server that serves the web service which will control access. Well... seeing as I don't contol the National Weather Service's servers - this wasn't going to work for me.
Then it hit me... hey - how about if I use a ColdFusion page to grab the data and then store it to a file? Yeah, that would work! And it did. Here's a sample of the code I used.
cfset url_address="http://weather.gov/data/current_obs/KARB.xml"
cfhttp throwonerror="yes" resolveurl="yes" method="GET" url="#url_address#"
cfoutput
cfset filen=" getDirectoryFromPath(getCurrentTemplatePath())"
cffile output="#cfhttp.FileContent#" file="#fileN#" action="write"
/cfoutput
Then it hit me, well this works and saves the XML from the web service to a file - ready for consumption - but what can I use to trigger this to happen in intervals or every time I view the page?
The answer: Flash Remoting and CFC's.
I created a CFC with the above code and just invoked it from Flash before I loaded the XML doc, this ensured that I was working with the latest and greatest data from the weather service!
By using this process I was able to overcome the cross domain security issue and still deliver the weather to our employees. Don't even ask me how I overcame the fact that we have ColdFusion MX on the development server and 4.5 on the Production! That's a whole other headache.
If you'd like the source for the work I did here - drop me an email.
Not so quick -
First, I had a heck of a time finding a free weather web service. Most - like Accuweather are charging for it. That's just sad. They should at least have a bare-bones feed that just gives the temp for free.
I finally stumbled across this service at the National Weather Service.
http://weather.gov/data/current_obs/KARB.xml
This is the XML feed for the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport (there are others there, sorted by state, and there are RSS feeds as well!) Grab those here -
http://weather.gov/data/current_obs/
The government service is free and currently experimental - but hey - it's accurate and updated every hour... for free. Tell me a free third party extension that you don't "use at your own risk"
So, now I figured - this is sweet. I just need to use the XML Connector and grab the data from this feed and bam - done, right? Nope. It worked fine locally - while testing, but once I published it and tried to view it in a web page, I ran across the new Flash Player security issues.
The new security basically states that you have to have a "crossdomain.xml" file on the server that serves the web service which will control access. Well... seeing as I don't contol the National Weather Service's servers - this wasn't going to work for me.
Then it hit me... hey - how about if I use a ColdFusion page to grab the data and then store it to a file? Yeah, that would work! And it did. Here's a sample of the code I used.
cfset url_address="http://weather.gov/data/current_obs/KARB.xml"
cfhttp throwonerror="yes" resolveurl="yes" method="GET" url="#url_address#"
cfoutput
cfset filen=" getDirectoryFromPath(getCurrentTemplatePath())"
cffile output="#cfhttp.FileContent#" file="#fileN#" action="write"
/cfoutput
Then it hit me, well this works and saves the XML from the web service to a file - ready for consumption - but what can I use to trigger this to happen in intervals or every time I view the page?
The answer: Flash Remoting and CFC's.
I created a CFC with the above code and just invoked it from Flash before I loaded the XML doc, this ensured that I was working with the latest and greatest data from the weather service!
By using this process I was able to overcome the cross domain security issue and still deliver the weather to our employees. Don't even ask me how I overcame the fact that we have ColdFusion MX on the development server and 4.5 on the Production! That's a whole other headache.
If you'd like the source for the work I did here - drop me an email.
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Skinning Components in Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Here is a great Developer Center article from Chafic Kazoun regarding different methods that you can use to skin your projects in Flash MX 2004.
Check it out.
Check it out.
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