march 15, 2010 09:45pm
Your space your enviroment
Let's face it we all have bad habits. Some people are messy and some are super tidy though we never often look back on our environment. Maybe you feel stressed but have no real reason to be? Other times you maybe wanting to do all the work in one go and other times you feel like opening a bag of crisps and watching TV. Maybe you lack creativity and need inspiring or you just cannot get inspired at all.
I always say that your environment is the biggest and most important part of your workspace. Environment is all about what the space does for you. Are you a designer or a coder? Those two different workspaces are completely different because of the jobs those people have to do. Designers always have inspiration in hand or should I say all over the walls. People with inspiration come out with their best work and a designer with no inspiration is just trying to nail jelly to a wall. Do you think I can just design off the top of my head? No of course not this is why the workspace is very important.
A coder on the other hand will have books and bits of paper lying around. Now a designer really needs their space but coders well not so much. However there are some underlying rules for all workspaces and that is...
1. Always keep it tidy:
As if science hasn’t given us enough they also have been studying the effects of a clean workspace. In fact I have done my own little experiment at my home and at work. I keep my station clear and that includes dust and grime away from where I work. But let me tell you it works, the cleaner your workspace is the less stressed you are. And I do say do it at work and at home and then you will see a new you!
2. Keep neutral colours:
As we all know having being stuck in a room that is not properly decorated is bad enough. But when you're in a room that has horrible colours and you can't stand how can you get any work done in that room? Of course you cannot so try to give your home office or bedroom or wherever you work a lick of paint.
3. Inspirations:
Since you will be spending a lot of time in your workspace don’t forget you need inspiration. You can do this by adding pictures to your walls and make it related to what you do. So therefore if you do arquitecture put pictures of cool looking builds and so on.
4. Buy a new desk:
I have always found that having a new desk is the best way to improve your workflow. Get a glass or wood one or whatever you want just make sure it is a big spacious desk. This will help a great deal and you will see a difference in the way you work.
So I hope you got something out of this because I sure do see a lot of people in a pickle and all they need to do is sort themselves out with a cool workspace.
All the best from Lawrence.
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march 12, 2010 08:45am
Flash video is history:
This is just a prey-notifier that I am going to support HTML 5 video but at the moment it stays Flash. I did mean it when I said "I don't like Flash player." Flash player just lets Flash IDE down, but I already made a point of saying that the Flash IDE developer tool will never be dead! So keep developing in Flash, but to support open source learning I must use open source video (eventually). I agree with Mozilla that OGG should be the format of choice and NOT H.264. The reason for this is because OGG is open source and that means no restrictions on what you can do with this codec. Personally I see HTML5 video loosing supporters just because of H.264 support and I have to ask, why not OGG?
Now all this is not the worrying factor in my eyes. I cannot stand it when a company thinks they can buy out the Joe public, heck most of them won't pay for anything and MPEG think they can charge for video streaming, this will be around the 2012 mark! Yes that's right they are going to empty your pockets when it comes to you developing and also streaming your videos. So why pay for something that Flash will do for free now? On the other hand I have a bone to pick with Flash player. When Flash player works it works, however when Flash player doesn't work it becomes a joke. At least if its a browser that's the problem then you can install a new browser but you can only get Flash player from one place and if it doesn't work, that's tough.
So I agree that HTML 5 is the future that I want to be apart of. I will be converting my site into HTML 5 however there is still a need for Flash. But the stuff like the navigation and what not will be converted to CSS. This ensures my site gets seen on the iphone and ipad with no hassle. Yes I like the Flash player but lets face it, HTML 5 will take Flash player to the cleaners. However Flash player is still going to be primary for a few years and give me a chance to play with video in OGG format on line and see what compressions I can get. You will be seeing changes slowly and also the speed of the site should increase. But Flash on my site is on the back burner and come on this is what web development is all about. Adopt new ways of dealing with new technologies and Adobe certainly will be.
"Just remember the Flash developer tool will never be dead but Flash player itself needs a lot of polish. However HTML 5 already brings that to the table."
All the best, Lawrence
march 06, 2010 12:09am
Everyones a Critic
As Friday night 05/03/2010 slips away from being current to the past I must make sure that I get at least one post in. There was only one problem. I have nothing to type about. As always TV saves the day!
As I sat down a program came on with Michael Winner. Now if you don't know Michael is a food critic and he knows his food. But maybe you’re going well who cares? It’s not the idea of food but the idea of a critic. As we all know when we develop a website or anything for that matter we all have our critics. But here are the big questions... "What is the difference between a critic and someone moaning”? "Why listen to a critic"? But most of all "Why should you take the critic onboard?"
Moaning and criticism will never be connected and nor are the same thing let alone on the same boat. Moaning is making such a comments as “that is completely stupid!” Or “why put that there?” They are just moaning comments that don't tell you anything. For that matter the information is not important, it doesn't improve your site and won't help you develop. But criticism is information that not just informs you of a problem but tells you how you could improve it. Maybe it works just fine but then a critic comes along and tells you how it could be even better. Criticism will look much like this “I found your navigation too difficult to use. But the way you could make it better is to add a navigation menu along the top of your site.” This is good information because they don’t just say the problem they say the solution to the problem. This allows you to make your navigation more successful therefore increasing the sites productive flow and making it easier for new customers to navigate around your site. So in a nut shell you can see that you get something out of it and the people who use your service slash product will get a benefit out of it as well.
It is all about what you are looking for in a critic. Well that’s obvious, you are look for the reason why you went wrong. People normally slag off critics and ridicule them just because they gave some criticism and instead of listening they just drown them out. This isn’t going to help you or your viewer’s content. Taking onboard what the critic has to say is the best solution, but remember they don’t always get it right. This is a case of review and alternate, look at what the critic looks at and if you see their problem alternate and fix the problem. If you still don’t see the problem keep looking but if you cannot honestly find the problem then I wouldn’t do as the critic has said. But if you get more than one critic make the same complaint twice or more then maybe it would be a good idea if you did do some homework on the matter. Plus when you do eventually make the alterations the critics can see that and since you took their advice they may give you some more feedback.
So take onboard what the critics say, but what about jealous people or haters as I like to call them. Well it is easy to spot when someone is trying to keep you from reaching your goal in life. Their comments have no resemblance to criticism and have no substance in their argument. What I mean by this is they normally use vulgar and abusive words. They may say a problem but they won’t tell you how to fix it or they are just talking out their ass making their information useless and junk. Now when you get an email through like that the first thing you want to do is reply straight back telling them to F off! But trust me from experience it is better to ignore and move on as the old saying goes...
“Don’t argue with an idiot they will only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”
This basically means don’t argue with an idiot. That’s all they are idiots, never let those people faze you and remember the difference between a critic and an idiot is a lot! Open your doors to critics and improve yourself and your business. But slam it closed on the haters face and just not bother stepping down to their level. You are only distracting yourself from your goal in life.
All the best from Lawrence!
march 02, 2010 08:37pm
New Flash and MySQL Course:
As you all well know I have not been on top of the job lately. However here comes something that should wet your appetite. I have released a new course on Flash and MySQL, this will allow Flash to connect to a MySQL database and then run the information back into a Flash. This will allow a limitless world where you can make as many Flash files as you like and control them with one Database file and one PHP file. This is very important skills as lets say if you have a client who wanted a Flash site, what will they do to edit it? They won't purchase a copy of Flash of course not their paying you to develop it!
This will allow you to let them control the content and the Flash to do all the animation and stuff. That way if your client let's say wants to change some text he/she will not need you to do that they can do it themselves. However if they need more animation doing, that is when you come back into the picture and develop the Flash file further. When you incorporate all of these factors you could be the top paid Flash developer if you play your cards right.
Now the second thing we just very lightly touch on is developing this Flash file to the desktop as an Adobe Air file. This really will push your Actionscript 3.0 skills, you will also have to have a bit of knowledge in the field of PHP and also MySQL. If you have some basic skills don't worry this video series will take away all the confusing lines of code and make you read the code like a book!
For the next video series we will take these skills and develop them further to a new standards of Flash applications, not only for the web browser but on the desktop as well.
Tutorial URL: http://www.avelx.co.uk/vms/members/flash_mysql_course.php
In order to view this full tutorial package you will need to be a member. Signup at http://www.avelx.co.uk/vms/index.php
All the best from Loz
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march 02, 2010 01:09pm
Does HTML5 have problems on the horizon?
Many of us including me are very excited to see HTML5 take off. I personally want to convert my site into a full HTML5 compatible site however in recent news there have been problems. First of all let me just say I think HTML5 is brilliant and with the upcoming Adobe products HTML5 will be pretty much spot on and hopefully everyone will adopt the technology. But some concerns lately have been issued and it is a big problem. Now HTML5 is not in any danger however the video side of HTML5 is another story. Mozilla one of the biggest browsers in the world (comes second to IE) is not supporting the H.264 codec, because they say that licensing runs out in 2011 or in a few years time. This causes a massive problem when it comes to things like Youtube and other popular video sharing sites. Google chrome web browser currently supports the H.264 codec however what happens when the free license runs out. Will Google or the W3C pay for licensing? I think not!
HTML5 is a good way for the future of the web however this codec problem is already starting to bother me. I want to know that when I make a video it can be seen across all web browsers and HTML5 doesn't seem to live up to those standards. The W3C need to get their act together and come out with one standard format. But in actual fact I agree with Mozilla's method of approach and they say "we will only support OGG format". Ogg is an open source codec and delivers excellent video quality, small file size and don't forget completely roylaty free and license free! Mozilla is right to stick to its guns on this because OGG is open source and so is HTML5, that makes sense right? However H.264 isn't open source and they will be charging for it soon so to be quite honest HTML5 faces big problems if they want to compete with Flash as it stands.
So HTML5 Flash killer then, maybe not yet and hopefully this time next year Adobe can scrap the Flash player (Not the Flash IDE) and support HTML5 canvas completely. But as far as video goes HTML5 is at the moment as useless as a chocolate tea pot when faced against Flash video. Also with Flash player 10.1 coming out soon I honestly do not see HTML5 competing against Flash for a few years now. But if HTML5 wins the battle fear not Flash developers as Adobe will just make Flash export to HTML5 canvas (as they are going to be doing in CS5) and that will be the end of that! All that is left for Adobe to do is convert AS3.0 to Javascript and let me tell you they look very similiar in a lot of ways!
All in all HTML5 is fantastic but it still doesn't beat Flash player (or at least Flash player 10.1 anyway). Do you think HTML5 or Flash is better? Leave a comment below...
All the best, Lawrence
march 01, 2010 10:27pm
What is the future of the web?
This has been a very hot topic lately and now it is really heating up. HTML5 is new on the block and personally I have to add my opinion to the debate.
Mostly it is all talking about replacing Flash. Now as a developer of Flash I must not be one sided in anyway shape or form. I have to keep the facts as they stand. My outlook on things is very clear and so is Adobe's. I have seen Adobe CS5 pre-release and let me tell you 'Flash nor any of its products are in any danger'. The simple fact of the matter is that Adobe have embraced HTML5 rather than try to kill it. You should be thinking well won't it kill Flash? People always forget that Flash player is not Flash IDE. Flash CS5 can export to the desktop and also onto the iphone (notice I say CS5). But there is more to come with Flash CS5 such as exporting animations to HTML5 canvas, that's right Flash is actually contributing to HTML5 content. However Flash Actionscript 3.0 cannot yet be exporting into javascript code but animations can and that's the point. However with the innovations that Adobe has made for the next release (CS5) it will make HTML5 a breeze to develop for.
My ears literally flip side ways and close when I hear that Adobe is supposed to be the bad guy in all of this. Well they are not and to put the record straight Adobe have incorporated HTML5 canvas in Illustrator, Dreamweaver (duh) and even Flash animation. It is as simple near enough to drag and drop a file into Dreamweaver and it generates pixel to pixel perfect code into Javascript. Adobe is pushing the boundaries of HTML5 so I want Adobe haters to cut the crap and stop slating Adobe. They have wonderful products and just because some people cannot afford them doesn't mean that gives them a right to bash on them.
Every alternative to Adobe's products fail in my eye's. There are some free powerful tools out there but their interfaces are normally clunky and unusable. But still very powerful and in the right hands they will do well. The only tool that beats Dreamweaver is Webdev and that is $1400 around about but for that price it should be, heck I could by Adobe Web Premium for that price!
Another statement from our Adobe hating bunch is that Adobe is Lazy, I want those people to name one product or rather company who does more than Adobe. Email me, tell me let me know because I would love to hear from you. The fact behind me saying this is because Adobe is the only one with all the specific tools you need and combines them all together. You can complain and moan about how this free tool is better but tell me one thing do all them free tools work together? The simple underlying answer is "no" the reason why Adobe is number one is because their products all gel fantastical well together. I can export a movie from Flash into HTML canvas in 3 simple clicks how many products can do that. In fact how many of those free products have full HTML5 support and no I am not on about a web browser. In fact lets see if any free products allow you to design an animation or picture and then let you simply convert that into HTML5 canvas with no coding what so ever. Well the answer is a big fat zero.
So please forget trying to make Adobe look bad because your arguments even though maybe correct now in the future they will be wrong. Also remember Adobe don't just stick with their technology like an old grumpy man they evolve and adapt and that is main reason why Adobe is pushing the future of the web(HTML5).
To see a demo of CS5 the link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v69S22ZBBqA
All the best Lawrence.
