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First off, this isn’t a “this vs that” post (It’s not about flash vs html/javascript, it’s about flash with html/javascript). If you’re looking for a flame war you might as well stop reading here.

At DigitalOctane we primarily build flash sites. It’s something we’re good at. At one point it was really the only thing we built. Over the past year we have been making a transition towards  more html sites and html/flash hybrids. This is a good thing! Flash peeps stay with me! How did we get here?

Short History Lesson

It’s a pretty amazing thing if you think about it. For those of us who have been in this business for a while (I’ve been doing this since 1999ish). We went from iframes, nested tables and “spacer.gif. Not to mention the MAJOR browser compatibility issues, with browser dependent versions of websites based on the users browser.

All these factors pushed more designers, ui devs and, agencies towards Flash (not to mention the relatively low learning curve).  Which worked across every browser and OS relatively the same way. Suddenly we had a web with an overwhelming amount of Flash. Too much even. I for one was guilty of “let’s make this crazy flash interface because we can”, not because we should.

Half the problem

One of the great things about flash is also it’s worst problem. A very low barrier of entry. This has allows years upon years of bad practice. From poor development fundamentals to poor usage of the tools in general. I for one blame sites / communities back in the day (I’m looking at you flashkit!) for allowing everyone to share code with out actually teaching correct implementation or usage. I cannot count the number of times I have interviewed potential hires and asked where they go for inspiration and tutorials etc to be told “Oh I just went to flashkit”.  The snatch and grab implementation attitude has created a sour taste in the mouth of many a web user.

The times they are a change’n

Our team has a large amount of experience in the automotive industry. I find that the auto industry is a good barometer regarding future trends within our own industry. This is mainly due to the competitive nature of the automotive space. Requirements for SEO, Seach engine maketing, paid placement and “Social Media” integration are huge factors for this switch. Mobile versions of sites are another majors

Now we’re seeing the trend go the other way. We’re utilizing flash and html/js to create a better user experience for the end user; but not necessarily a full browser window flash experience. Not to say that there isn’t still room for that. Especially with product marketing sites, Movie & Videogame promotional websites that benefit from the features Flash has to offer.

The other Extreme

There are some extreme scenarios happening though. I see another round of “Just because we can” happening with Javascript. The specs for javascript haven’t really changed over the years. There have just been some really talented teams that have created a lot of frameworks which have become quite popular jQuery, Moo Tools, YUI, prototype, etc you name it. Without these frame works making things easier. I don’t think we would honestly be seeing the amount of javascript being done today.

html5, Flash and the future of the business

I’m not going to make some half hearted guess to the future of the web. But the short and long term vision for DO hasn’t really changed only the technology. We will continue to suggest the best implementation for our clients. As long as they aren’t requesting Real Player support I think we’ll be just fine.

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Great run of presentations to wrap up the last day of #FITC, which i may have neglected to mention stands for “Flash in the Can” Can being Canada. Originated in Canada they hold Conferences nearly Monthly across the globe. This being the 9th year for #FITC in Toronto the week was packed full of amazing presentations.

The word for today in my opinion. “prototyping” True Research and Development. I started off today with 2 guys from CPB. Follow them @mrayinteractive and @bskahan They try to follow a 80/20 rule. 20% of their time is spent doing anything.. experiment, prototype and make stuff. Some of their most successful endeavors contain thinking and interactivity spawned from being innovative for fun.

Next up was Stacey Mulcahy on twitter as @bitchwhocodes a self proclaimed addict of twitter, and be forewarned if you do follow her, she will tell you “those are all quality links” . We had an hour presentation on Social Media focusing on Twitter and Facebook API’s. Her highest recommendation is to switch everything your doing to OAuth (Open Authorization) as your basic authorization is being tanked by twitter.

“Quick as a Flash” Presented by Grant Skinner @gskinner was the last technical session of the day for me. He went into great detail on best practices and approaches to optimizing flash. He made a great point over the fact that all those arguments over not using flash because it doesn’t perform well or takes too long to load is not Flash’s fault, its the user creating the flash movie. And in my personal opinion, the same goes for inexperienced Javascript or Jquery developers. Everyone who wants to argue those are better… can have the same faults as inexperienced flash developers.

We then got a great presentation from Jared Ficklin from Frog Studios. If you have seen this guy present before then you know he brings all sorts of crazy sound visualization through flash to the physical world. Whether it be crazy Fire tables or Smoke cannons its a very entertaining presentation. We also got the chance to see his new stuff.

We got too see the inner workings and though process behind the creation of the Minority Report’s Pre-cops computer, and shown how they made it reality… No seriously. They made a real working version. it was insane.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

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DigitalOctane is on site at Flash in the Can Toronto. Being held in this city is special to #FITC, Could it be because this is where they started 9 years ago? or maybe because its there largest with over 1100 Designers and Developers from around the world.

Each year we choose a different theme for our Toronto event. This year it’s Playground. Inspired by fond childhood memories, where tinkering and painting and playing and swinging was the norm, and how as we age these simple pleasures seem to be pushed aside by the world, by work and life itself. We feel it’s time to rekindle some of those simpler times. Play is Good! … we all need some playtime to get energized and to connect to our creative side.

As i review the schedule for the next 3 days.. They are running 5 sessions at a time for each time block. This is HUGE and Terribly frustrating… Which one should i go to for each session.  The Morning sessions until lunch break are up in the air, the only 1 i have already decided on his the first session after lunch. “From Solo to CEO” 6 presenters including Grant Skinner.

I will make a strong effort to write up a Day recap for each day… No promises.

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We were fortunate enough to spend a few days at the #FITC Conference in Edmonton Alberta. Canada. The speaker list included some familiar faces to the Flash Community: Grant Skinner, Lee Brimelow, Stacey Mulcahy, Erik Natzke, Mike Chambers, Mario Klingemann, Ralph Hauwert and James Paterson. If you do not know who these people are… i suggest you get to “google” and look them up. These People are Amazing at what they do and dedicated to the Flash Community.

We Arrived in Edmonton around 5pm local time on the 15th of October. We came in Thursday night because we were going to be attending the Optional Papervision3d Workshop hosted by Ralph Hauwert . This was to be his final “Papervision3d” workshop or speaking about Papervision3d again. He has recently left the Papervision3d team to pursue his own interests.

We were with Ralph from 10am till around 5:30pm, teaching approximately 40 #Flashers the in’s and out’s of Papervision3d using both Adobe CS4 and Flex. By the end of the day we were all left with “on export” planet earth rotating and a moon orbiting the planet in Papervision3d.

The Conference.
FITC is a smaller conference then lets say Flash Forward. This allows for way more opportunity to speak with some of the presenters if you were so inclined. We saw some great presentation on both days. We had a chance to have some one on one time with Stacey Mulcahy talking to her about a variety of things including process and “deselopers”. If you follow her Twitter account @bitchwhocodes You might think we were insane to approach her. Believe it or not She was very nice and helpful. Sorry to blow your cover Stacey.

I think the one important thing to take back from this conference overall is that in our experience attending previous flash conferences; Its easy to feel like your not good enough after seeing some of the things these guys have made. The Good thing about #FITC is that we had a chance to see people like Erik, Ralph and James beginnings. Seeing that they are in fact Human and that they started where you started. If you take the time like they did… you’ll be up there speaking.

Follow FITC . Look up these other guys and subscribe to RSS or Follow on Twitter.

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Last year Digital Octane landed a contract with up and coming Professional NHRA drag racer Bob Tasca III, Bob holds the world record for fastest pass in an Alcohol Funny Car. Last year he made the next step in his career getting his Nitro Funny Car license. Bob had a strong showing in 2008, and with a new alliance with Wilkerson Racing… 2009 looks to be a great year for Bob Tasca III. http://www.tascaracing.com was built by Digital Octane to give his race fans something that they had never seen before from a professional Drag Racer. Up to date News, Images, and Videos from previous races. We built his site in ActionScript 3.0 and have integrated content from various companies including Ford / Quicklane and Motorcraft. We track his statistics with Google Analytics and Flash’s External Interface. Where we can track every click within flash even though it doesn’t truly open a “new page”. With the work Digital Octane has put in, and Bob’s growing popularity we hold a strong 18.18% conversion ratio on visitors to leads.

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The idea for this blog came about when Mack and I went to Flash Foward San Fran back in 2008 with some other colleages. The over all experience was great; We were able to catch up with an old friend we hadn”t seen in a while and make some new friends within our Industry.

While I originally felt let down by the experience. I took some time before writing this post to reflect on this summers conference and to give Mack and I some time to get our act together. 2008”s conference was presented by Metaliq and there were some major differences between Flash Foward San Fran and other conferences like FF Boston. The location did afford some great speakers from the west coast and a very memorable performance from Zoe Keating. One of the major differences was the way the event was organized. Instead of pseudo workshops around an hour+ long with a great deal of overlap, the event was changed to shorter monologues about inspiration and what drives each speaker to do what they do. I feel this is a topic you discuss after the conference finished for the day and you head to the bar. There wasn”t enough time for some speakers to get into the nitty gritty let alone opening up Flash or writing a line of code.

Instead the conference was riddled with Infomercials in the guise of “lessons”, a few professional speakers that do not really care or have any involvement in our industry and a pretty big hole in the pocket of a small boutique design firm from the East Coast. I don”t want to portray the event as all doom and gloom. I give Metaliq and Beau a lot of credit for putting the event together and some of the speakers were truly inspiring including Grant Skinner, David Carson, Keith Peters, Erik Natzke and Stacey Mulcahy (who gave one of the best presentations of the entire event) to name a few. I think this was a great first step for Metaliq to help make Flash Foward even better in the years to come. I really put a majority of the disappointment I felt after the conference on myself for not really being an active part of the community.

Now that I think about it, in a way Flash Forward San Fran was a success. It was inspirational for me after all; it inspired me to create this blog and to put up or shut up.\r\n\r\nHopefully in 09 you will see Mack and I posting a lot more about the techniques that we utilize within some of our projects as well as some of the tricks of the trade we have created/developed or outright stolen to get the job done. So fly with me! FLY!

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