Well I know what I’m doing first thing Monday morning, writing up a business case for my current employer to pay for me to go to Flash on the Beach.

And if that fails, hell, I’ll fork out the super-early-bird price myself, what’s ¬£199 between me and the bank?

I know it’s very brochure-ware, but I like it.

Redwood Creek

Found on Aaron Clinger’s portfolio site through Stumble Upon

After finding out about FJAX last week I was pleasantly surprised to see that the cousins McDonald over at FJAX aren’t alone in utilising Flash to make AJAX better.

Aral Balkan has gone and started an OS Flash project called FlashAid,

FlashAid allows JavaScript to check if accessibility features exist on the user’s computer by using a hidden (1 pixel x 1 pixel) Flash application.

It all sounds pretty cool and should hopefully pave the way for AJAX to become just that little bit more accessible.

Nice work Aral, et al.

But I just can’t let this one go by without commenting.

FJAX is like AJAX only instead of using XMLHttpRequest, which is limited to a single parse of date at a time, you embed a 4k swf to handle the data parsing. Admitedly I can understand why you would want to do this, only being able to transmit data one bit at a time would be like boxing with one hand tied behind your back and yes Flash can handle multiple streams.

My bit on web 2.0, I think my main hesitence to scream AJAX from the roof tops is it’s closeness to “standard” html interfaces, people assume it’s just the same, at some point someone’s going to try and mimic the desktop with it (if it hasn’t been done already) and fail.

Once people realise that if you want to build a RIA Flash, Flex and even more so Apollo is the best tool for building data driven, OS-like apps that can work in your browser and on your desktop the sooner AJAX, FJAX and every other 2 bit Web 2.0 silver bullet can die a death.

That’s right, you read it correctly, live re-inactement of Super Mario Bros

but last nights inaugral London Flash Platform User Group meeting rocked!

Nice one Tink.

And it’s got the best acronym FLPLUG

I was innocently looking for an image of a motorway hard shoulder on google images today and found this rather unusual site

I’m not the most claustrafobic person in the world but, the idea of exploring drains fills me with dread. Maybe it’s a fear of being pumped into a sewerage plant and being devoured alive by toxic algea.

*shudders*

So I’m up to three and I have a fourth tomorrow.

It’s all very exciting, I’m realising that if I’d tried this a year ago I wouldn’t be getting the interviews that I am now.

Fridays interview was interesting, a 3 year old start up, lots of content heavy site design, I’d be given free reign to develop the business in the direction that interests me. But I’m looking to fit into a team and work around other Flash Designers, this would literally be me and the boss, who isn’t a Flash guy.

Mondays interview was more interesting, the digital arm of a nice big sized big name agency, nice variation in clients, would be working under a top notch Flash guy, plenty of room for progression.

Tuesdays interview was even more interesting, an online advertising agency, would be working souly on thier biggest client, plenty of Flash guys to work with and learn from. Amazing office in the heart of East London, pretty unbeatable perks, really friendly people. On top of all of that it’s an agency that I’ve had my eye on for a while.

Then tomorrow I’ve got another down in Docklands, a globally recognised leader in interactive work, they’re starting a new department and are looking for Designer/Developers, which reminds me of this article I read about Devigners

Here’s hoping it goes well.

Zeh a Brazilian Flash guy, has posted a very interesting article.

He’s currently researching for an interface design bachelor degree paper. In his search for some kind of holy grail, a paper that backs up every Flash designers argument that animation is a key factor in making better user experiences he found it.

One of the interesting things about the paper is that it was published 1993 (!) yet is incredibly relevant to Flash interface design. The original paper can be downloaded from here but I would recommend reading Zeh’s post first.

It’s the old Diet-Coke and Mentos experiement, but on a much larger scale.

11 meg download but it’s worth the wait.