AsFusion

Everything you know about design is wrong...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:37:38 GMT

...when running your app on a small, high screen-density device.

As you may know, we are developing a GTD application that runs on the Blackberry Playbook and Android tablets (others to come) called Conqu. When we started, back in November, we were making designs as normal with Photoshop at the right size, and what we liked the most when looking at the designs (even when made small to fit the size of the device) were usually not all that good on the device. Since we hadn't developed the app yet, we only had mockup images to see. So what we did was browse those images to see how the actual app would look like.

This is what we learned.

Conqu's quest for life

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:16:01 GMT

The idea for Conqu was hashed long before the Android or Blackberry tablets were even a rumor. However, the idea sat on the back burner for several years until finally the first production tablet devices were on demo at Adobe MAX in late 2010. At that point the hardware finally caught up to the requirements of such an app. It was time to un-shelf the idea and put forth the effort to create an exceptional app for the Blackberry Playbook.

Developing for the Blackberry Playbook will Rock

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 06:41:37 GMT

At MAX we were shown, in a glass case, the new Blackberry Playbook. I am personally super excited to try it out and start developing for it. First, you build apps for it using Flash (pure ActionScript or MXML), second, their store will be free (at least for some introductory time) and third, the hardware specs makes it the best on the market (1 GB RAM and 1 GHz dual-core processor??). Interestingly, their first development platform for it is Flash, and they said that later they will allow you to use Java and C++, so you can imagine that at this moment, Flash is as good as native.

And there is more. If you develop an application before the Playbook's launch and it gets approved, you'll be able to get a free Playbook from RIM. The launch date is not yet announced, but I would get started as quickly as I can.

There are weekly webcast series you can attend. Those are hosted by RIM and usually Renaun Erickson from Adobe also shows relevant ActionScript code. They are a good starting point. You can find the link to those, the Getting Started guide and the documentation at the BlackBerry Tablet OS Development Resources.

What are you waiting for?

Adobe Enterprise Café News

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:49:28 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, Adobe launched an AIR application called Adobe Enterprise Cafe:

The Adobe Enterprise Café AIR app helps you stay in touch with Adobe teams and the enterprise community, receive news, find information, and aggregate content related to the entire enterprise community knowledge base. This is great place for all partners to receive timely news and stayed informed.

I am happy to say that we developed the news section of the application in Flex using the Mate Framework, and its backend, which is powered by Mango Blog.

CF.Objective() Does All The Right Things

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:34:41 GMT

This year I was part of the advisory board for the RIA track of CF.Objective(). I was also invited to speak. For the record, I didn’t submit or vote for my session. :) Even though it must have become a little difficult to manage all the people in the board (3 members per track), it allowed for democratic voting of topics and wider variety. It was pretty amazing to see how people’s interests lined up.

See You at MAX - Mate, Mango and Skinning

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:25:20 GMT

MAX is less than a week away. There will be tons to do and see, so we hope to see you there.

It will be an honor to present Mate along side other framework creators and experts and Christophe Coenraets. The session is called "Using Flex Frameworks to Build Data-Driven Applications", where the same application will be built using four different frameworks. This session will be given Tuesday (1PM) and Wednesday (1:30PM), but it is almost sold out.

I will also present about Mango Blog at the ColdFusion unconference (Tuesday 4:30PM). It will be an overview, but I am planning to have a longer Q&A section for more advanced questions or any other question people may have.

Finally, Jeremy will be presenting at Mini-MAX (right after MAX) about skinning in Flex.

Back from Flex Camp Miami

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:30:06 GMT

I think the event went very well. The setting was a little strange, with round tables and small screens spread out in the room, many of them looking away from the speaker. I was happy to see some more advanced presentations, so there was a little for everyone, I think. I'd like to thank Brian Rinaldi for his hard work and invitation.

Flex Camp Miami

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:16:55 GMT

If you don't know, there will be a Flex Camp in Miami, in only two weeks. These one-day events are a great way to get a taste of Flex and to have the opportunity of attending a "mini" conference, close to where you live. So if you are in Florida, don't miss it!

I'll be giving a presentation about Mate there. As part of a series of interviews for the event, Brian and I had a little chat where we discuss Mate and Mango blog.

I hope to see you in Miami!

Asfusion at 360Flex

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:36:25 GMT

Two of us here at AsFusion just got accepted to speak at 360|Flex Indy! Laura will be presenting a deep dive into Mate, and I will have a hands-on programmatic skinning session. The show will be going down May 18-20, 2009. You can check out the other great 49 speakers on the schedule at: http://360conferences.com/360flex/downloads/schedule.pdf It's looking like it's gonna be another great 360|Flex conference, especially with yours truly speaking. Tickets are cheaper on a first come, first serve basis! So buy your tickets asap at http://360flex.eventbrite.com to get the best possible price. See you there and you better go to our sessions :)

FlexCamp OC - Party with the Rockstars

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:17:02 GMT

Lately at AsFusion we have been preparing a sweet little event by the name of FlexCampOC. We have even teamed up with Tom and John (You know, the 360Flex guys?). We wanted to put together a one day Flex event that will rock the west coast with a speaker list that consisted of some of the finest in the industry. Some of these Flex Rockstars and their topics are:

So what are you waiting for? Mark your calendar for January 31, 2009. If you are anywhere near this event, you should already have a ticket. It would be a big shame to miss it...

Oh yeah, did I mention the price? $25 for all of it! Sessions, lunch, dinner, afterparty(woot!). It's all for $25. So if you have been on the fence, be on the fence no more! Go register now at www.flexcampoc.com

Flex Skinning with Degrafa - Part 3

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:30:42 GMT

Part 3 of the video series, 'Flex Skinning with Degrafa'. I walk through the creation process of a skin for a Flex Button component using Degrafa. I finish this part of th series by adding syles support for our Flex Button Skin.

Enjoy!

Download the example source files

Flex Skinning with Degrafa Screencast, Part 2

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:41:32 GMT

Part 2 of the video series, 'Flex Skinning with Degrafa'.

In this screencast, I walk through the creation process of a skin for a Flex Button component using Degrafa. I show how to add up, down, and over state functionality to our Flex Button component skin.

Enjoy!

Download the example source files

Flex Skinning with Degrafa Screencast, Part 1

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:40:25 GMT

Part 1 of the video series, 'Flex Skinning with Degrafa'.

In this screencast, I walk through the creation process of a skin for a Flex Button component using Degrafa. I show how to import the Degrafa .swc file and go over how to add gradient fills and strokes to output an attractive button skin.

Enjoy!

Download the example source files

ScaleNine Skin to Win Challenge winners

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:04:16 GMT

We are happy to announce that Nahuel's entry made it second place in ScaleNine's Skin to Win Contest! Congratulations to all the winners.

Mate will be at MAX

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:34:14 GMT

Mate will be at MAX this year thanks to the Unconference event.

I will give a presentation tomorrow at 5:30pm (Monday November 17th).

Applying Dependency Injection to your Flex application using Mate Framework

This presentation will focus on how to solve some common problems encountered when working on views. We'll discuss what a view needs, and how we can use dependency injection and Mate framework to fulfil those needs in an unobtrusive way. We'll also discuss the advantage or disadvantage of alternative approaches and how Mate helps you deal with difficult-to-solve problems.

We will have some time at the end, so bring your Mate questions

There will also be other two presentations that will touch on Mate:

Comparing Flex Frameworks by Yakov Fain

Tag Based Frameworks by Harry Garland

I hope to see you there!