*** From the Archives ***

This article is from March 19, 2002, and is no longer current.

Flash MX: Enabling the Rich Internet

Macromedia is done putting the finishing touches on Flash MX, the latest version of its flagship Web animation and interface development tool. Released on March 15, we looked at a late beta version of the product, and with its new video and audio capabilities, streamlined and “Macromedia-standard” workspace, and new tools, it looks as though Flash users should prepare to upgrade.

Enriching the Internet
The buzz coming from Macromedia about this version of Flash centers on what the Internet is going to become. In the mind of Macromedia, the Web will become less about browsing and more about interacting, and not just from your PC connected to the Internet, but from a wide variety of devices including PDAs, laptops, and cell phones that only have intermittent connectivity.

As the Internet gained in popularity through the mid-1990s, it was built on a “thin-client” model that allowed Web browsers fluent in HTML to download content and limited-functionality applications via a constant connection to the Web. As the Web boomed, the expandability of HTML was severely tested, and despite incredible creativity by the Web design and development community, the limits of what we can do with the present model are in sight.

With Flash MX, Macromedia begins to push its idea of a “rich-client” model for the next Internet. In this new paradigm, the single, integrated (Flash MX-based, naturally) rich client would handle three types of tasks: content delivery (think HTML, QuickTime, RealAudio, etc.), code execution (JavaScript, XML, DHTML, or the like), and real-time messaging a la AOL Instant Messenger or Microsoft Messenger. The “new Internet” applications will connect seamlessly with remote servers, embrace connected and disconnected servers, be scalable to multiple platforms and devices, and offer built-in accessibility options for the disabled. Flash MX is the first of Macromedia’s tools to be designed with this version of the new Internet in mind.

Experience MX Video
Probably the most gee-whiz feature of Flash MX is its new penchant for video (see figure 1). Flash MX can import any standard video file supported by QuickTime or Windows Media Player. Video and audio is embedded directly into the Flash MX document, and both video and audio can be compressed separately.


Figure 1: The new Flash MX video support is based on Sorensen Spark technology, and allows the import of virtually any standard video file, including MPEG, DV, MOV, and AVI.

Once imported, video objects can be treated much like bitmapped images. They can be scaled, rotated, skewed, or masked and animated with motion tweens. Additionally, video can be made scriptable, allowing for a high level of built-in interactivity and the ability to integrate video playback within sites and applications.

Flash MX and the new Flash 6 player now allow for audio and image files to be downloaded at runtime instead of being turned into Flash movies and embedded. This enables Flash to act as a fully controllable Web interface for existing bitmap and audio sources without having to rebuild the data exclusively for Flash. This feature could lead to new level of interactivity in online image galleries, advertising, or a new, dynamic breed of Internet radio sites.

Back! Back!
Flash as a tool for designing Web browser interfaces has always suffered for its lack of compliance with the navigational paradigm of the browser itself; namely, the “Back” and “Forward” buttons common to every browser from iCab to Opera to OmniWeb to Internet Explorer and Netscape. Flash MX changes all that by offering the ability to place named anchors within the Flash content so that it can be bookmarked by the browsers. If implemented well in the final release later this month, this feature alone should spark a resurgence in interest for Flash-based Web interface design and would make upgrading a no-brainer for current Flash users.

Macromedia, like Adobe, has long been seeking to cross-promote its products by homogenizing the toolbars and palettes across its applications. Our experience has been that the Macromedia approach has been less intuitive and more technical, where Adobe has more frequently succeeded in obviating the need to consult the manual. With this Flash MX, however, Macromedia’s interface designers have made great strides forward (see figure 2). Even though our beta version of Flash arrived sans manual, we were able to click and drag our way easily through the process of creating animations, an interactive tile ad, and importing movies.


Figure 2: The Macromedia user interface is getting easier to navigate with each revision.

Flash 5 made a dramatic leap forward with its interface, and while the usability of Flash MX feels more evolutionary than revolutionary, Macromedia has done some good work in areas that were still in need of some smoothing, most notably the Timeline, where we are now able to resize, cut, and paste multiple frames at once.

New graphic design tools include a free transform tool, basic color management, pixel-level control of objects, and alignment tools (see figure 3). Color mixer enhancements in Flash MX make it easier to mix colors and create color swatches.


Figure 3: A variety of “Snap To” options are available, as well as an optional grid.

Borrowing from Dreamweaver, Macromedia has given Flash MX a property inspector that shows only context-sensitive settings for tools and objects, dramatically reducing the number of panels required to be opened at a time. Likewise, most all of Flash’s panels can be docked and minimized when they’re not needed, and Macromedia even offers two preset panel sets, “Designer” and “Developer,” each with three different screen resolutions (see figure 4).


Figure 4: Selecting each Panel Set will adjust the placement and quantity of windows and palettes depending on how much display real estate you have to work with.

Behind the Scenes
As with the last two versions of Flash, Flash MX offers a wealth of tools for the application developer, starting with a new ActionScript development environment that includes a host of new ActionScript objects and predefined Flash components, as well as new levels of developer control over the Flash player. Included in this control is a new mechanism for storing client data called “SharedObjects,” which allows developers to cache complex user-defined data on the local disk and re-use it during later sessions, thereby improving application performance by reducing dependence on the servers. Flash MX also supports the HTTP, HTTPS, and Wireless data transfer protocols using either URL encoded or XML data for transparent integration of Flash content into XML-based e-commerce or communication applications. Additionally, Flash MX supports vertical text and Unicode standards and its multi-lingual support is up to 11 languages.

As Macromedia continues to roll out its “MX” line (the upcoming suffix to a slew of upcoming Macromedia products starting with ColdFusion Server and Dreamweaver sometime later this year), even more enhancements to Flash will come online. Perhaps chief among them will be the ability for Flash developers to incorporate two-way communication into their applications, which could include audio and video that could be broadly deployed on a standard Flash client.

Moving Pictures
Macromedia has made great strides with Flash MX, seeking to position it at the heart of the “new Internet,” with its rich, intuitive applications backed up by some very complex and creative programming. With each iteration of Flash, it somehow manages to become both easier to use and more complex, and the net result is that it remains a professional tool for users dedicated and passionate about pushing the limits of interactivity.

Our first look at Flash MX demonstrates that Macromedia seemed to address the concerns of the critics as it built on the strengths of previous versions. The Flash MX feature set for designers and the continued march toward robustness as an development environment make it too good to pass up.

 

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