We had a wonderful turnout at Flash Camp St. Louis. Most impressive were all of the new faces. JP Revel did a fantastic job putting on the event.

In my session, “Rage Against the Framework”, I basically dumped all the tips and tricks and learning I’ve been doing over the past year of Flex 4 work. It’s been, at times, frustrating and slow. But there have also been moments of “Wow, I didn’t realize you could to THAT with Flex!”

We discussed the typical promises the Flex Framework makes to draw us in, such as data binding, components, and skins. While this gets us the majority of the way to where we want to be, we often encounter frustrating hurdles when trying to implement engaging user experiences.

Flex also provides States, State Transitions, and Layouts that, when properly understood and implemented, can help alleviate that frustration and do some really cool things.

References

Data Binding

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/flex/using/WS2db454920e96a9e51e63e3d11c0bf64c3d-7fff.html#WS2db454920e96a9e51e63e3d11c0bf69084-7cc8

Binding Utils

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/mx/binding/utils/BindingUtils.html

State Transitions

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/flex/using/WS2db454920e96a9e51e63e3d11c0bf69084-7fab.html

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/mx/states/Transition.html

Effects

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/spark/effects/package-detail.html

Layouts

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/max-2010-develop/having-fun-with-layouts-in-flex-4/

http://www.rialvalue.com/blog/2010/11/04/slides-for-having-fun-with-layouts-in-flex-4/

http://evtimmy.com/2010/04/two-examples-of-layout-animations/

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/flash-camp-boston/creating-custom-layouts-in-flex-4-

http://miti.pricope.com/2009/05/29/playing-with-custom-layout-in-flex-4/

http://www.tink.ws/blog/carousellayout/

Code Demo: http://davidortinau.com/exhibits/DataBindingTransitions/index.html

Source: DataBindingTransitions.zip

This summer we had a fantastic Designer/Developer Workflow Conference (D2WC) run by Dee Sadler. I love the mix of visual creatives and code slingers all putting their minds together to learn from each other and discover better ways to work together towards amazing results. It’s great to dive deep into our own core disciplines, but we cannot neglect our teammates and understanding what it takes to work together.

Anyone who’s played an organized sport knows on some level that you need to know something about all of the positions in order to play your position well.

Here are the slides from my presentation, “Practical IxD for Developers”. It’s full of great quotes and references to books that I highly recommend. They are also listed on my bookshelf.

And the code demo from the end of the presentation is below showing basic data binding and how to manage transitions via custom Layouts.

Code Demo: http://davidortinau.com/exhibits/DataBindingTransitions/index.html

Source: DataBindingTransitions.zip

This past May I had the opportunity to present at XPLANE on a topic I’m very passionate about, Interaction Design. This was a fun joint event with Gateway Chi, the St. Louis usability professionals group, and Flex and Fuse the Arch, my home Flex and Cold Fusion group. 

July looks to be another busy month of speaking for me. If you happen to be near Kansas City or Chicago, and have any interest in Interaction Design and the designer/developer workflow, please come out and join us. As much as I enjoy presenting, I derive much greater pleasure from the ensuing discussions and exchange of knowledge.

July 14-16, 2011
D2W - Designer To Developer Workflow Conference
Crowne Plaza
Kansas City, MO
http://d2wc.com/
(I can give you a speaker discount, just contact me)

July 20, 2011
Chicago Flex
Chicago, IL
http://chicagoflex.org/

“The big difference that’s arisen in this new agile world is how integrated the team is. No longer is UX design owned by the UX designers: everyone on the team now has design responsibilities. That means that everyone needs to be informed about what the design is trying to do.”
- Jarod Spool