Archive for June, 2010

The future of Flash

Written by Brian on June 17th, 2010

With the iPhone and the iPad gaining so much popularity, one has to wonder what the future of the Flash platform will be. We are used to seeing Flash animations all over the web and probably don’t even realize how much Flash content we’re actually consuming. Personally, I really like the touch that Flash adds to a website. But on the other end of the spectrum, I cringe when I see a full website done in Flash and I have to wait for a menu item to unfold before my eyes with a huge animitronic sound as it makes it’s presence on the screen. But that’s not Flash’s fault, that’s simply someone taking it too far. Overall I like the idea of Flash and the benefits it brings to us on the web.

Now, with Steve Jobs saying that the iPhone and iPad will not support the Flash player, one has to wonder what impact this has on the future of the product. Me personally, I’ve put future Flash projects on hold as I wait for the dust to settle on this one. I try to accomplish all I can with jQuery for simple animations and leave it at that.

HTML5 is very promising and it could be the white horse that comes in and levels the playing field, but I’m afraid we’re not going to see that anytime soon. IE8 doesn’t support the ever so important Canvas tag of HTML5 so we’ll have to wait at least for IE9, and then we all know how long it is taking for IE6 to go away… ugh…

Let’s hope something changes at Apple and we have our long beloved Flash player for many more years!

Posted in Computers | No Comments »

Thoughts on the iPad as a web developer

Written by Brian on June 2nd, 2010

I’m a technophile. I love gadgets. Anything to make my life easier or add a level of coolness to it. The iPad hits me right in that weak spot that makes me want to buy it for it’s coolness factor. The thought of reading any magazine or any internet post, accessing my email from anywhere, having all my music with me, just sounds so ideal.

But after careful thinking, I have to wonder, will this device really flounder as they predict? I haven’t bought one yet and I probably won’t. Why is that? Well, all those things I mentioned above I can do on my iPhone – albeit with a smaller screen – but the capability is there. And it fits in my pocket. PLUS, my iPhone is a phone so it fits naturally next to my head and can use the 3G network when wi-fi isn’t available. Can you picture an iPad up to someone’s ear? Maybe bluetooth headsets will make this more realistic but yet another device to carry around.

The biggest drawback I see is how to use the keyboard on the iPad. I can type away pretty quick with my thumbs, but holding the iPad in one hand and poking with my index finger on the other is less than ideal for me. And if you were to set it on your desk, your neck would constantly be in an awkward position, unlike looking at a vertically upright laptop screen.

So this gadget has a lot of glitz and glamour that still makes me want to run out and buy one. Especially when I see the beautiful screen. But I think for now, my rational mind is going to win and this web developer will be sticking to an iPhone and a laptop or at worst a netbook. Thoughts?

Posted in Computers, Uncategorized | No Comments »