Technology: Developers, designers ready for robust programming tools
Terralever’s Chris Johnson speaks to The Business Journal about Flex.
Oct 09, 2007
The Business Journal - Phoenix – Ty Young
It's been five years since Web site development software firm Macromedia coined the phrase "rich Internet application." The Internet hasn't been the same since.
Now under the control of Adobe Systems Inc., the latest in RIA programming is drawing traffic via beta-test projects embedded in some of the world's most popular Web sites.
Following popular development tools such as Flash, Shockwave and ColdFusion, Adobe is preparing to push the third release of Flex, its open-source, hybrid design-programming tool. During the next year, Adobe plans a major marketing campaign aimed at designers, said Dave Gruber, Adobe Flex marketing manager.
The multitier application works between a general server and a virtualized central processing unit.
When navigating traditional Web sites, data is sent back and forth -- or "pinged" -- from the computer to the server. But with Flex, the data is sent all at once, sitting on the virtualization platform. This increases the reaction time to a user's request.
Graphic programs that use large amounts of data to show charts and maps are among the most interested in Flex, Gruber said.
"The data moves very quickly for the user, so major banking firms, mapping Web sites and online auction sites are really happy with Flex," he said.
Since Flex was launched in 2004, it has been integrated slowly into Web sites.
Scottsdale Web design firm New Angle Media started using Flex last year. Designers there initially did not have the programming skills to use the application, but through the learning process found it to be easy to use, said J Belfore, New Angle partner.
"I don't know of any designers using Flex around the Valley," he said. "It combines both a programming and design interface into one program, something developers and designers are not used to."
Belfore's first client to use a Flex-designed page was Microchip Technologies in Chandler. He used the multimedia offerings to create a rich, high-speed interactive site.
Adobe marketed its first two Flex packages to enterprise programmers because those companies could tailor the open-source product to their needs, Gruber said.
The next step, he said, is a campaign to introduce Web designers to the technology.
"We took a very strategic focus to the Flex rollout," he said. "It's not that we've overlooked the design community. We were waiting for the right time."
Local Web development firms are using the product for clients looking to add the latest and fastest in Web site software. Large companies beta-testing Flex include eBay, Yahoo and Sony Ericsson.
Chris Johnson, managing partner of Tempe Web development firm Terralever, has used Flex since it was launched in 2004. He said the evolution of the product has been "interesting" and thinks more developers and designers will get on board.
"Flex is hands-down the best way to develop RIAs," he said.
If Adobe is successful in bringing designers into the Flex community, the company could see widespread adoption, Johnson said. But that will take time, because developers and designers literally speak different languages in their work.
"When you have those two groups working together, you hit the sweet spot," he said.
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New Angle Media: www.newanglemedia.com
Adobe Systems Inc.: www.adobe.com
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Terralever, Managing Partner
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