I don't know whether to laugh, or to laugh.

Posted by: Pez on October 22, 2002 11:09 AM

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Hi John, for what it's worth, the author has a bit of history on other issues, which I'm not at liberty to discuss. It's interesting that you picked out a quote about non-coders being unable to use the code-free Flash components (suspect in itself)... I think within that text he may have had a different message in mind. Be sure to read the comments in that evolt submission. You can tap into more of the surrounding thread in the high-volume CF-Talk list at http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=threads&forumid=4

Regards,
John Dowdell
Macromedia Support

Posted by: John Dowdell on October 22, 2002 05:55 PM

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Aside from any personal issues the Evolt author may have, the issue highlighted in excerpt here is hardly surprising. Flash started life as an animation tool and has now grown into an interactive multimedia tool -- much as Director did before it.

As you add the interactive aspects, you not only need to be a designer/animator, you also have to become a developer/programmer. (This is true even if the product tries to provide a UI-based "programming" interface -- like some of the would-be Director-killers of yore.)

The problem is most people are good at one side or the other, they're not good at both -- so it's not surprising people are bumping their heads on Flash's new programming-focused capabilities. Which is why in the bad old days of Director, you commonly had people work in pairs: someone who was design/animation-focused and someone who could do the programming. Of course there were some of us who by circumstances or by stubbornness ended up doing both, but it required an oftentimes painful learning curve to acquire skills that weren't "natural" to you.

Posted by: George Olsen on October 23, 2002 01:52 PM

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Yeah, it's not the fault of the product, but some designers now feel a little pressured into producing applications. Ready-made components don't get you very far on their own; programming is programming, whatever the interface.

Posted by: Matt Round on October 23, 2002 05:38 PM

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Yes, people who see themselves only as visual designers will likely have more of a task when designing programming solutions. Those who generalize their design skills beyond just visual design can usually handle both aspects more quickly.

Components actually help visual designers here, because they encapsulate the coding. It's easier when you can specify what you'd like to have happen, rather than how it should occur.

But let's get back to the main point: do you think "components are hard" was the main point Matt was trying to get across? I'm still not sure myself... my best guess of his main idea is the line in his summary "The question is whether Macromedia has climbed to the top only to fall because they are forgetting the very people who got them there," which I think may be unanswerable without qualification of some type. Text design is another one of those big design skills too... what do *you* think his main point was...?

jd/mm

Posted by: John Dowdell on October 23, 2002 11:48 PM

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