Rich Internet Applications. They are the Internet’s inevitable future, but what advanced technology drives this advanced paradigm? JavaScript? No thanks. But this is not the time to escape to a fallout bunker, and hide yourself until the web’s nuclear winter is over. Flex is here, come to save the day.

Don’t get me wrong: JavaScript and Flex have a lot in common. One, JavaScript and Flex run at the client (browser) level. Two, ECMAScript is the basis for both the JavaScript and ActionScript programming languages. Heck, Flex even uses a teeny tiny bit of JavaScript to establish the application’s focus at run-time. But we can’t kid ourselves. JavaScript is not a very good language. There are some major differences between web browsers, particularly between Internet Explorer and, well, every other browser. Flex is just Flex. As long as you have the right version of Flash to support the code, the application will work. JavaScript is not very robust or error-handling friendly. Flash’s builder is a godsend, with everything you’d expect in a true application IDE: syntax checking and debugging tools. JavaScript RIAs use the innovative but wonky (if nothing but the fact that it uses JavaScript) AJAX idea. Flex has built-in support for true WSDL and SOAP support, net connections, HTTP services, and the like. It even gets better with the work of AMFPHP, which is a low load, low complexity juggernaut that makes data connectivity a snap. What would RIAs be without data connectivity? That is what makes them Rich Internet Applications, and not just Rich Applications.

So I encourage all web developers to try working with Flex. Test it out. You may even like it. And perhaps, given time, we never have to hear the words JavaScript and RIA in the same sentence ever again!

We have lately been working with a new programming platform called FLEX. This platform is made available by Adobe and works in conjunction with PHP, Ajax and mySQL to allow the programmer to create visually stunning, interactive sites and services.

I’ll get Scott to talk a little more about these services as he is more versed in them, but if you have an idea for a new feature for your site that requires a lot of form input, or customer interaction a FLEX-built application may be perfect for you.

Contact us today to learn more: 260-569-0260 or online at www.visionaryweb.com

My one and only complaint about my WACOM is the inability to fully mimic traditional art techniques with the stylus. Once the line is down the textures that are applied in the program of your choice is sufficient enough to get the idea across but not enough to sell the concept to an experienced artist (or a perfectionist like me).

At least three quarters of traditional art technique involves how one holds the pen, brush, etc. and the how one moves it to make the desired mark. The WACOM allows you to do the movements, to a degree, but allows no tolerance for how the stylus is held. I cannot hold the stylus like I would a block of charcoal but rather it forces me to hold it like a no. 2 pencil. The way the stylus fails in movement recognition is that it does not register the rotation or the stylus while drawing a line. During my days in architecture classes I developed the habit of spinning the pencil while drawing my lines. Doing this keeps the point of the graphite from being warn on only one side, thereby distorting your line. The act of spinning the pencil wears the graphite more uniformly and keeps you from having to re-sharpen more than is absolutely necessary. There are a few techniques in painting that call for you to rotate your brush while performing a certain length of pull to create different effects as well. This is where the WACOM and stylus fail in their mimicry of traditional art.

It could be related to the fact that I have not experimented with different nubs. WACOM does distribute 5 different nub styles that fit specific stylus types. These nubs may allow for the ability to spin the stylus and get that effect to translate to the computer, but I do not know. I know no one who has these nubs and have not found any reviews on their performance either positive or negative.

Out of all the people that interest me in programming, by far I’ve always been fascinated with the story of Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the poet Lord Byron. For all who don’t know, she is considered the first programmer because of her work with Charles Babbage’s analytical machine, which is considered to be the first programmable computer (no, it’s not the calculator or the abacus). The machine itself was an interesting contraption of gears and levers that worked purely on mechanical ability and not electricity as today’s computer. But the most amazing thing about this ‘computer’ is that it could be fed code, simple but real programs, and could actually output a result! And this machine is from the 1800s! For Ada to be able to pioneer the first programs with just this type of machine, it leaves me a bit awestruck. As an interesting side note, the government named their Ada programming language after this very same Ada further proving that occassionally the government does do something right.

As promised, here is more on CSS techniques and graphic element implementations. To start I would like to explain what “Sliding Doors� are that I mentioned in my last post.
Simply it is a method of using CSS positioning to fake a rollover with one image that has both instances of the button and there by on the rollover it slides the image over to show the other state of the button. This greatly reduces loading time because there is no preloading required and you only have one image that you are working with instead of a separate instance for each button. The drawback is that you cannot use styled fonts. If you want a non-standard font (e.g. serif or sans serif along with the classic Arial, Helvetica, Veranda, Times New Roman, etc.) this is not the way you want to go because this effect is made by changing the a:link, a:visited, and a:hover background-image position.

I am impatiently awaiting a full support for CSS 3. Just some of the nifty things the newest version of CSS can do is rounded corners through the definition of only two numbers you can define an elliptical radii and thereby set the curvature of your container. This will also set the background to a rounded state even it you have your border set to none. Speaking of borders, CSS 3 has a new “wavy� boarder style that applies a wavy line to the boarder. You can also define images to your borders now just to increase the customization that so many designers have been using hacks and other less desirable methods to achieve the aesthetic quality they demand in their work. Unfortunately this presents us the same problem that exists now with the IE (Internet Explorer) browser support of the PNG file format. IE 6 does not support the alpha channel required to correctly display transparent PNG images. IE 7 however does. Because IE 6 does not we still must avoid the PNG and settle for the GIF format because IE 6 is still widely in use. If we were to try to use a PNG image then we would not be able to make a good design for IE 6, so for now we must ignore the advancements made in IE 7. So Until CSS 3 becomes supported by all browsers we will still have to use our workaround methods and hacks to get a display that will work for everyone. Even CSS 2 isn’t fully supported by all the browsers, or it is rendered differently because of the functionality of that particular browsers interpretation of the CSS.

Some CSS 3 properties are supported by some browsers, but not all. Transparency is one such property. One of the main focuses of CSS 3 was better text / font control for the designers that have wanted to implement some more typographical elements into their web designs. These text / font properties are almost all fully supported, but some workarounds are required still.

To take a look at the new CSS 3 properties for backgrounds and borders follow this link. http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-background/
To view a tutorial for the “Sliding Door� technique follow this link. http://www.expertsrt.com/tutorials/Cd/CSSrollovers.shtml

As I was reading July issue of PC Magazine, I came across an interesting article that I thought I could share with you. Technology as you know is ever changing; but I didn’t anticipate that the hi-tech systems shown in the hollywood movies are already here.
For instance, reserachers at the University of Illinos have developed stretchable silicion transistors. Down the road, these could help in the developement of wearable electronics and flexible displays.
If you have watched Minority Report with Tom Cruise, one of the most enjoyable scenes was the use of multitouch displays. A group of researchers at NYU have developed an inexpensive system that can allow one to touch a screen and control different elements on it at the same time. You can choose an image, rotate with two hands and then magnify it to select different parts of it.
In addition to that, Oregon State University’s John Wager has revealed a transparent transistor invention. This could lead to emergence of displays virtually anywhere. A pop screen in a car windshield, advertising on walls, paper thin cell phone displays and more. Just go ahead and manage the possiblities. I believe in about ten years to come, people will have clothes with video advertisements scrolling across their bodies. Whoever says those sci-fi movies are boring; looks like researchers look at them for inspiration.

As a person who loves gadgets, I have found a few cool add-ons for PCs that I thought were worthy of mention. Most of, if not all, of these things are completely unnecessary but would be neat to brag about having.

Black USB/FireWire Multifunctional Panel with Remote Computer Starter – While the panel is something that people could use on a daily basis, you have to notice that it comes with a remote starter. Now that is something I can’t ever see needing to use. But how cool would it be to fire up your computer from across the room while your buddies were over?!

Optimus keyboard – As the website says “Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment.” Now who wouldn’t want that?

ThermalTake Xray PC Lighter and Cup Holder – A real cupholder and lighter (which could be used to charge your cell phone, just like in the car) for your PC that fits in a standard 5.25″ bay. Now people really can have problems with their “cupholder” on their computer.

Ambient Orb Device – This is a glowing Orb that changes color based on, well pretty much whatever you want. Set it to monitor the weather, your stock portfolio, even the pollen count! This is cetainly not something that anyone needs but it sure would be neat to consult your “Orb” when someone asks you what the tempurature is.

These are just four of a million cool add-ons that you could find for you PC. Look around and post back with some of the things you would like to have.

Have you ever wondered why the keys on your keyboard were in such a strange, random order? If you’re like me, you may have wondered why they weren’t simply designed in ABC-order. Well there’s a dirty little secret behind the standard keyboard layout commonly known as QWERTY: it was designed to make you type slower.

Why, you ask? What cruel twist of fate has conspired to reduce your productivity without your knowledge? When typists were just getting good at using old-school typewriters, this keyboard layout was designed because they were typing so fast that the little hammers that pounded the ink onto the paper were getting jammed together.

Don’t despair! There is an alternative. When I was in college, a friend introduced me to an alternate keyboard layout called Dvorak. The Dvorak layout puts all of the vowels and most commonly used consonants on and around home row where then can be pushed most efficiently. It took me a couple years to become just as comfortable with Dvorak as I am with QWERTY, but I did not spend any concentrated time practicing it. I would switch back and forth between the two when I got tired of typing so slowly my friends thought I had left the computer for good while waiting for their next message. When I went to work full time I buckled down and set it up permanently. Now I’m happy to say that I love using Dvorak, and I want to help as many other people make the switch as I can.

What I found worked best for me was to print out this image and place it directly above my keyboard. This way you do not have to look at the keys which are blocked by your hands, but you still have a reference. In consideration for my boss who occasionally needed to use my computer, I also pried up all the keys and popped them back in the Dvorak layout so that he could peck out things when needed. I then scratched some notches for the home row index finger keys.

You can learn a lot more about Dvorak by clicking on this link. There you will find pro’s and con’s as well as other ways to learn Dvorak and some of its history. If anyone feels the urge to give this new layout a try, I would love to hear from you. Please post comments!