flash as backend
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- kinetic
what are your thoughts on using flash as a backend for a site?
with flash com server and data connection kits available, macromedia is making it a very possible thing to have a backend with live data.
at work some people are really pushing this because of the things they read on macromedia.com
personally i'm skeptical about using flash as a backend, it seems a bit much. so what...you have a pretty looking backend with live data? are people going to be willing to pay for this shit?
also, lots of talk at work about switching development environments. working in php right now. people want to move to coldfusion just because it is native to flash and they say that working with colfusion and flash remoting is better just because macromedia developed both technologies.
so what do you think? are these people falling sucker to macromedia's fantasic advertising?
- kinetic0
bump++;
- kpl0
you mean flash with backend?
I'm looking at the flash remoting mx site and I'm getting confused... but it seems clear it's flash interacting with the backend and not being the backend.
- chokethefat0
wat company u work for again kinetic? if u dont mind me askin
flash comm...bring it on!
give it a few years..
+WM/deekons.com
+WM/pulsemag.com.au
- kinetic0
i mean flash as a backend for another flash site
the only thing i could see it being good for is live data. im pretty content with php, so as soon as php flash remoting gets developed a little further ill be happy to jump in. i just dont want to switch to coldfusion
i work for www.motiongraphiks.com
- ilmarine0
a flash cms (content management system)?
well, think of this. you have a flash or a straight html site as the front end. the back-end, however, is built in flash. works in every browser. imagine, dragging and dropping different parts of a page to your desired location. a cms that would look more like an application than a website, as most of the cms-s do.
then there is macromedia central, that will come out this summer. things i've read about it indicate that you could build a cms that could work also when you are offline. imagine a white sandy beach. going online for ten second to get the newest data, and then continuing you work offline. when you are done you just go online for another ten seconds and voila, the site has changed!
so, i place my cards on a flash cms. however makes on that works as a charm will have found his/er gold pot.
- chokethefat0
hey kinetic.. is ur compnay recruiting web(flash) designers?
i'm looking for a fulltime position..
been doing freelancing..
check out the urls below:
+WM/deekons.com
+WM/pulsemag.com.au
- monNom0
I don't think a flash based CMS application could hold a candle to what you can do with a java applet.
try formating (and coloring and stylising) text for a document... worse yet, try to get text to wrap around an image... a wysiwyg (for HTML) environement would be very difficult if not impossible in flash... tables would be a bitch too.
flash is getting better for application developement, but it still has it's roots as a basic animation program... and that heritage shows through when you try to produce full fledged applications with it.
I think it's probably more trouble than it's worth for an admin system.
- ilmarine0
now now, a java applet you say. you use foul language in a decent company...
definitely the best way to create a wysiwyg environment right now is to use javascript and dhtml. especially so since as of mozilla 1.3 it also supports wysiwyg. there is the problem of other platforms beside windows, but since the evil microsoft owns 90% or so of the market i still think it is a fair choise. java is just a dying language. and it looks and loads ugly.
the syntax of action script is similiar to php and javascript so i think it wouldn't be impossible to create a text editor. i too think, however, that right now developing a flash cms is a realy bitch and a pain in the ass. but once you get done with it and if you have done a good job, then this really is the answer. so, getting there is the hard part, but the reward can be great (think dreamweaver on steroids for dummies wanting to update their pages).
- ilmarine0
checked out your profile MonNom and found out that you became a member one day before me. yet you have posted 15 times as many times as me...
...so, i real am a lurker :)
- kinetic0
chokethefat > we where but the position has been filled.
i think right now we're just looking for a either a project coordinator or a marketing person.
nice site though :) if we're ever in need ill keep you in mind
- _b_0
not too much point in using Flash as a cms - talk about reinventing the wheel.
Only use I can see is say if you have a really specific Flash interface, use a copy of that exact interface - give it some logic and make all the textfields editable then use it to update your database with new content.
Completely inflexible - will ONLY be of use for that exact interface, but it is truly WYSIWYG.
- rh0
Does anyone know what kind of reception/adoption Flash Comm Server is having? My company signed with a hosting provider that was going to offer it, but then the host reneged.
On gut instinct alone, I think it'll be awhile before we see CMSs solely dedicated to Flash.
- enobrev0
am i mistaken that this conversation started about flash remoting and became cms? just want to be clear. i suppose il respond to both..
Flash COMM is a really good idea, imo, but the fact that they don't allow a port to php really surprised me. I realized they want to tout CF, but completely closing it off to php is going to ghurt more than help.
As a developer who does will with both language, I prefer to have to option to choose between the two or even use both when necessary. Unfortunately, using Flash Comm, and CF is just far too expensive.
Besides all that, you can do most of the things FlashComm offers with PHP, it's just not quite as plug and play.
regarding CMS, a java app may do well, but I don't truly think it's all that much better than a flash based interface. If it had been, there would be far more java based sites out there.
The learning curve and hiring costs are just too high to create java apps taht are used to control a non-java site.
Now for a more complex site, that interfaces with a complex ordering system and shipping system, etc outside of the browser realm, I would deinfiteliy look into some more serious programming.
But if we're talkign a way to add news and basically manage and sort database table, flash and just plain xhtml does a hell of a job.
Besides that point, wouldn't a truly WYSIWYG interface be a lot easier to build if css absolute positioning worked prefectly - cross-broswer? I mean you could basically drag items, record their x,y,width,height to a table and have them display correctly.
It would be like using any other layout app... Ah, one could only dream.
- chokethefat0
kinetic>> o well, thats too bad..darn, i'm always late..haha..
yes pls..if youz ever need another web(flash) dude, lemme kno.. send me an email or something..many thx.
well, i already went to the com's site earlier, send an email about job enquiry.. anywayz..
cheers for viewing my works.
n thx for ur consideration..
+WM/deekons.com
+WM/pulsemag.com.au
- RocaBaby0
Even if it's a Backend, It's still really a frontend. Now FlashComm Server is an actual backend. Flash Interfacing with it is Frontend.
- quik0
I can't see any REAL need for it..
it pushes up production costs unneededly.please don't quote that
- MX_OnD0
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet…
Firefly=Dog's Bollox
- ilmarine0
back to cms-s. if you look at most of the new os-s coming out right now, the most amazing innovations are in the looks department. basically every cms developer should think of the product as if it were an os. os-s are developed to make people's lives who have to work in them for days on end easier. a website admin/author/publisher may have to work within the cms's enviroment 8 hours a day. i think that flash is the ideal answer (maybe in connection with xml as someone pointed out) to create an environment that makes peoples' lives easier.
in addition to being flexible it allows concepts and gui improvements that would be hard to implement with javascript or css. besides, using flash completely evades the browser and platform compatibility issue. and these two (compatibility and usability) are the two most important things looked for in a cms. well, it has to be suitable for the task at hand (content management), but that's what the name says already.
as for java... still a big no-no. too hard to create in the first place and too costly to maintain. i still think that java is ugly and a dying language.