FreshAIRapps
no comments posted yet posted on 13 May 2008
FreshAIRapps is my new site dedicated to Adobe AIR applications of all types together with tutorials and resources for the AIR developer.
It is built using ExpressionEngine content management system with a few custom built modules like the AJAX star rating component. The site has a number of CSS 3 styles attached so if you are running a nice new CSS3 compliant browser you will see cool rounded corners and shadows.
I launched the site quietly so that I could iron out any bugs and slowly build up a following and write the reviews. I try and personally review as many apps as I can by installing them and then trying them out, while offering both a design and technical opinion.
Of course my CSS Em Calculator is listed along with some fantastic apps created by the community.
So go and check out http://freshairaps.com and enter the world of AIR.
Update
Well my little side project has been getting rather a strong following of late. Today saw freshAIRapps get featured on both
EM Calculator updated for AIR 1.0
comments closed posted on 2 March 2008
I have updated my EM Calculator so that it now works with the newly released AIR version 1.0 runtime. If you already have the calculator installed you will need to remove the app, install the new AIR 1.0 runtime then install the new app using the installer badge. I have not built in self updating in the 0.3 version although that will come now that AIR is set at version 1.0.
I have changed the install method to now use the AIR badge installer so that should make life easier to install the application. As this is new I would be interested to hear your feedback on this.
So please read the original post for the updated installer at http://www.jameswhittaker.com/blog/article/em-based-layouts-vertical-rhythm-calculator/
FITC Amsterdam 2008
comments closed posted on 13 February 2008
Just finished booking my flights and hotel for Flash in the can Amsterdam. I’ve become a bit of a conference junkie lately with Max in Barcelona then Flash on the beach and now FITC. I am a bit miffed that some of the speakers, who i’m sure get paid quite a bit for their attendance, are giving the same sessions as Flash on the Beach. Oh well I will just attend some of the different or new sessions.
Unfortunately i’m not going to be attending the now sold out Papervision 3d workshop on the Sunday but I’m determined to go to the many PV3d sessions during the event. So my provisional session schedule looks like this:
Monday Feb 25th
| 09:00 – 10:00 | Adobe Keynote – Mike Downey |
| 10:15 – 11:15 | RIA meets desktop – Peter Elst |
| 11:30 – 12:30 | Data Visualization with Flex and AIR – Nicolas Lierman |
| 13:30 – 14:30 | From Screen to Space: Designing Large-Scale Interactive Experiences – Nikolai Cornell |
| 14:45 – 15:45 | Kaboom!!! Flash ... |
How I built my lifestream
comments closed posted on 2 February 2008
Yes, I’m a bit late to the party with the whole let’s aggregate some data together thing. However new site so I thought wouldn’t it be great to build my own lifestream, a chronological listing of all my online activities. Well, web 2.0 is all about freedom and interoperability of data so a lifestream it is.
Step 1 – Identify your feeds
What do you use online frequently? Photos to Flickr?, bookmarks to Delicious or Magnolia? And I bet your a massive Twitter fan too right? Yes see you have a list already. Basically any web based service that you currently use could be used as an input to your lifestream. Most sites provide public RSS or JSON feeds for you to use those mentioned above do.
So go and list the URL’s for all of your feeds.
Step 2 – Mashing it up
Now there are so many ways in which you could combine your feeds together. You could do this server side using PHP like Jeremy Keith, or Django like Jeff Croft anything you are comfortable with. I decided to try a ...
Em based layouts - Vertical rhythm calculator
comments closed posted on 18 January 2008
Typography on the web has become a point of focus for standards based developers recently. The pioneering work by Mark Boulton and Richard Rutter has highlighted the importance of good web typography. With the advent of more standards compliant browsers and a better understanding of the capabilities of CSS, more developers are spending the extra time and effort in pursuit of typography excellence within their designs.
For years we have touted the phrase ‘the web is not print’ and consequently have forgotten about the basics of designing for type, like working to a baseline rhythm. I have come across many a design where the developer has not thought about typography before diving straight into the code. The result is a mess of random amounts of padding and margin married with unnecessary style rules, this in turn leads to CSS code that is harder to understand and maintain.
One of the key concepts that we can use within our sites is consistent line-height in CSS terms. If you think ...
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Custom iPhone web clip icon - how to
comments closed posted on 16 January 2008
Yesterday’s MacWorld contained a few little gems of information in addition to the fabulous MacBook AIR announcement. What a great name, I bet Adobe were kissing Apple for bringing even more attention to the word AIR. Personally I’m not going to be queuing up for the MacBook AIR as I only run one machine, my MacBook Pro. Its getting on a bit now and is due for an update however I think I will wait for the 45nm chipsets and the integration of the new multi-touch trackpad before I invest in another Apple notebook, it needs to be a bit more of a work horse.
Apart from our friends at Apple wanting to charge a staggering £12.99 for a firmware update for my iPod Touch ( daylight robbery if you ask me ! ), I am really impressed by the introduction of webclips for the iTouch and iPhone. Basically you can zoom into a webpage using mobile Safari and then save it as a web clip, an icon appears on your home screen for easy retrieval of your clip. According to Apple’s iPhone webapps page the ...
Flex user group presentation - Skinning Flex 2
comments closed posted on 14 January 2008
Back in October last year I presented at the Midlands Flex user group. While working on a financial planning Flex 2 application I learned heaps about creating a fully customized UI using the CS3 suite and Flex.
The presentation is not to technical in its delivery. The audience we have at the user group can cover designer, manager developer and complete newbie so the presentation had to reflect this. The main aim was to show that Flex did not have to look like Flex. You can achieve very interesting results by investing some time in planning, designing and developing the user experience of your application.
Many Flex applications forget to restyle the pre-loader. While not being the easiest component to style or add extra behavior to it sure can give your application that polished look. There are a number of ways in which you can prepare your assets for use within a Flex application. PNG from Fireworks or Photoshop to SWF from Flash or Illustrator.
This presentation was targeted ...
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Review of 2007
no comments posted yet posted on 1 January 2008
Well 2007 has been an interesting year both professionally and personally so without further distraction here are my highlights of 2007 in no particular order:
Adobe Max Europe
Having never attended a proper web development conference before things changed during 2007. Thanks to Adobe and Andrew Shorten I won a ticket to Barcelona and the first Adobe Max Europe event. I must say that I had the best time, learnt lots of good valuable information and met some really cool people. It was well organised with three very full days of presentations and after-event meet ups. The only thing that let it down was the catering, quite poor and for someone who does not eat fish I was somewhat forced to seek alternative cuisine elsewhere.
The keynote theatre was a huge impressive widescreen affair with great audio and presentations to match. Peter Elst and Grant Skinner’s ActionScript 3 presentations stood out as well as some of the sneak peaks sessions from the likes of Effective UI and Adobe ...
Well here we go with an all new website!
comments closed posted on 23 December 2007
Same old story just like the cobblers kids , I have always been floundering around without a proper site located at my domain that I have owned for years. So here we go again, this time I have more focus on what the site should achieve and what content will be posted here.
It’s early days and I’ve got a long road ahead to achieve a good following but hopefully there are a few people out there that are interested! I’m currently developing some little sidebar widgets starting with my Twitter feed so keep you eyes peeled.
...continue reading Well here we go with an all new website!
