The community choice awards are an opportunity to vote for fantastic open source software. For me Zentrack has been such a useful tool that it certainly got my vote! Please click the award link if you want to vote too.
Flash Player 10 has been out for a while now, so I decided to test the claims that Google and other search engines can now effectively crawl the Text inside a SWF. Historically, I found that a SWF would be identified but would not be displayed correctly in the search results. This has now been solved. More »
This weekend I revisited the Cairngorm MVC structure ready for use in the Zentrack project. I went back to the excellent set of articles written by Steven Webster at the Adobe devnet site and read through a Flex 3 PDF version too. As part of my work for DPD I created a prototype front end, which I have now started re-factoring into a Cairngorm structure. I plan to release the code in approximately one week.
There are a lot of tutorials for Cairngorm already on the web, so I don’t feel the need to reiterate someone elses good work. Instead, when I release the code for Zentrack (Liger) I’ll point out any of the tricky problems I solved that may be of use to others.
Today I installed Flex Builder 3 on Linux. This means that very soon I will no longer be tied to my Windows laptop for Flex development, which I think is marvelous news. As much as I like Windows XP media center edition, for development purposes it isn’t ideal.
Flex Builder for Linux also has great significance for the Zentrack project too, due to the fact that developers will be able to edit and recompile the new Flex front end on all of the major platforms (Linux, Mac & Windows).
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Part 1 – Creating a Shadow Site
Creating a beautiful web 2.0 website in Flash/Flex is very satisfying. I really enjoy the development time savings of Flex versus that of general HTML/javascript solutions and the crispness of the interfaces created. The pleasure of Flex development is something I can talk about for hours and I have even been known to evangelise in my local bar on a Friday night.
It’s not all roses though, as Flex solutions do come with one major flaw; They are not search engine friendly (for a number of reasons). Part 1 of this article explores a solution using a “Shadow Site“, which is a term I surfed across recently and feel it accurately describes the subject. More »
The interactive map is the key component of Power Grid. As the initial version I am writing is for the “Atolla Mudulis” expansion, I have to compile a map that deals with multiple “tiles” in variable combinations. Also, the map needs to be movable and zoomable both with the mouse and via a button interface.
I tried two approaches to creating the map, one which involved the TileContainer and another which created a single image. More »
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Purpose
This project has primarily been initiated to demonstrate the following key Flex skills:
- General Flex aptitude
- Flex Data Services
- Messaging
- PureMVC Framework
- OO competence
- Skinning
- Rich Media
- Video (if technically viable and appropriate)
The motivation and choice for this project comes from extensive play of the original Power Grid board game by Friedemann Friese. My aim is to improve upon the original German implementation of the online version which I found unplayable. More »
Recently I decided to build a portfolio of publicly displayable work in order to demonstrate my Flex prowess. You may ask why? Well, it’s pretty simple really (and obvious for that matter)… I need a job, but I want another Flex role. There’s nothing more irritating than trying to convince a potential customer/employer that you have really got what it takes when all of your previous efforts remain under lock and key inside the battlements of your previous customer. So after some serious research I now recognise what I need to demonstrate and have devised a plan. More »