Building Flash-based websites using Adobe Flex - Lesson 1/10

Building Flash-based websites using Adobe Flex - Lesson 1/10

• 1.
  Building Flash-based websitesusing Flex Lesson 1 – Introduction to Rich Internet Application Alex Goh info@alekkus.com
• 2.
  Agenda ● Introduction to RIA ● Flex and Flash ● AIR ● Benefits of using flex ● Downside of Flex ● Showcases of Flex applications ● Resources
• 3.
  Introduction to RichInternet Application (RIA) ● Desktop-like applications running in the browser. ● Overcome many limitations of traditional web technologies: ● Stateless architecture ● User interaction is mostly point-and-click ● Non-responsive (click > load > wait > click > load > wait > ...) Fat server thin client architecture HTML Server-side HTML Database scripting HTML Fat client thin server architecture Server-side RIA scripting Database
• 4.
  Introduction to RichInternet Application (RIA) ● RIA benefits: ● Rich user experience, like desktop applications ● No cumbersome installations, or upgrades ● Single point management, leading to the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS) ● The down side: ● Longer initial loading time (can be optimized by module decomposition) ● May not be very SEO friendly (Adobe is working with Google and Yahoo to solve this problem)
• 5.
  Flex and Flash ● A framework sitting on the Flash platform Flash Flex Framework Actionscript .swf .swf Flash Platform
• 6.
  Adobe Integrated Runtime(AIR) ● A Flex or Flash application is usually a web application ● Web application which runs within the browser is subjected to many inherent browser limitations: ● Inaccessible to file systems (restricted file uploads/downloads) ● Cannot access system resources (memory allocation, taskbar ...etc) ● No off-line support ● AIR is simply a wrapper around a Flex or Flash application so that it can be installed on a computer. ● e.g. Kiosks at Singtel, Starhub shops. TweetDeck (Twitter client)
• 7.
  Benefits of UsingFlex ● Fast application development, rich user experience. ● Cross-browser compatibility – IE, Firefix, Safari, Opera, Chrome ● Cross-OS compatibility – Windows, Mac, Linux ● Large immediate audience (>97% of all computers have Flash player installed) ● Master Flex programming, and you can development application for: ● Web ● Desktop, Kiosks (AIR) ● Mobile (Flash Lite) ● TV (Flash TV on the way)
• 8.
  Downside of Flex ●Requires Flash player, some companies ban Flash player on all internal computers. ● Myth: Each page within a Flash site does not have a unique URL. ● Myth: Search engines cannot crawl Flash content. ● Myth: Flash sites are too bloated, takes too long to load.
• 9.
  Showcases https://www.singtelshop.com/#
• 10.
  Showcases http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/used/search
• 11.
  Showcases http://promos.airnz.co.nz/howfar/
• 12.
  Showcases https://www.photoshop.com/ https://www.photoshop.com/
• 13.
  Showcases https://buzzword.acrobat.com/
• 14.
  Showcases http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones?lc=en&cc=sg
• 15.
  Showcases http://www.picnik.com
• 16.
  Showcases http://www.hobnox.com/index.1056.de.html
• 17.
  Resources ● Official documentation- http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/langref/ (also accessible from Flex builder) ● Adobe Flex DevNet - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/ ● Singapore Adobe Flex User Group - http://fug.sg