The concept is simple. Improve
workflow between designers and developers. Ever since I can remember,
everyone always talked about improving this relationship. Get designers
to do more towards project setup than they normally would be accustomed
to, without having them type a single line of code. The reasoning
behind this is simple because it is not always possible to technically
implement the design. The only alternative is to manage expectations or
at least that was until now.
Project codename Thermo is Adobe's answer to this ever problamatic scenario. How do you get designers and developers to co-exist in harmony? Thermo to me seems quite a bit like what Adobe intended back in the day with Flex 1.5. Introduce an easier way for designers to do more without them ever touching the keyboard. The design view and simplistic MXML was unfortunately not enough to swing loads of Flash designers their way. Somehow this didn't quite work out as Adobe planned. With Flex 1.5 you had to buy the server package which was not very appealing to many solo flying developers. Flex only became popular when they released Flex Builder 2 with support for AS3. Very clever marketing as they knew the only way to attract Actionscripters (designers weren't having it) was to give them a taste of what AS3 will be like. What better way to promote a new addition to the family by forcing people to use it? Maybe force is a strong word but they soon realised they had to keep their existing Actionscript community. Hence the release of the flex sdk for free. Finally the hard-core design patterned Actionscript enthusiased could start wiping of the dribble on the side of their mouths and get stuck into what is now known as a much more mature language. Examples popped up everywhere and the next thing we know the acronym RIA has caused world wide chaos. Interactive or Internet? The bottom line remains, Adobe made quite a big u-turn with Flex and saved it from an early grave.
Enter Thermo.
The latest addition to labs at Adobe. After watching the introduction video my initial thoughts were here we go again. More power to designers to create more frustration for developers. Cause usually when some automation tool comes a long it generates a heap of unnecessary code as they always do. Automation wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for this code but I do feel that as an Actionscripter I want to know every corner of the project. It makes me nervous not knowing.
In the run-up to the release of Flash CS3 I also recall that you could reveal the code of your tween. So this way designers can do al the tweening and we the Actionscripters can just incoporate them into our existing codebase. Scary thought to just copy and paste some piece of code. But I have to say the big reveal in the introduction video on Adobe's newsletter Edge made me stop in my negative tracks.
See the one thing I really like about Flex (yes Flex) is the layout of views in MXML. Sure it is on the heavy side but for certain project the ease of use and implementation can't be beat. I especially like the syntax when it comes to MXML. Based on XML, it has been around for ages and really has become second nature. So when the video showed all the automation code generated in MXML I immediately gave it my full attention. How amazing would it be to get an MXML file from the designer for the view (e.g. page). You might be thinking but how is this different to say Dreamweaver. Well, it's not except there hasn't been a tool like this for Flash/Flex projects. You could argue that Flash could be used in the same way. Draw up some standards and guidelines and off you go. Unfortunately I don't think it is always that simple. Standards are obviously important but when the heat is on that too may change. The consistancy of knowing what you get is what I deem important in the designer - developer workflow.
Just like any project it should be evaluated on case by case basis. Flex is by far not the best solution for all projects but I think the trick is knowing when to use what. Pure AS3 projects still remain very strong and having this code generated in AS3 would be really nice to have.
Who knows maybe this is another Contribute, but you have to commend Adobe for trying... cause no one else does!
Thermo on labs »
See the video »
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