One of the annoying things i come across when developing Flash content, is the mediocre way the IDE supports testing and debugging. Especially when trying to keep your project organised by using lots of actionscript and seperate swf files.

Ever try to test a preloader locally? I did, and it wasn’t plesant i can tell you that much. Using things like ‘loadMovie’, ‘loadVars’, and more of those external ‘load’ Actionscripts seems like a great idea when developing flash content. And i still believe it is by the way. But it sure is a hassle to test how your preloading and loading of content works for your end users. You can test it locally of course, and yes that does work, but it still is a shame to have this great preloading actionscript, which creates the most fantastic effects, but it just won’t show in the internal flash viewer :(.

throttling your expensive internet connection
Macromedia sure missed this in my opinion, it would sure make my life a lot easier :). One of the solutions people are talking about is the use of ‘bandwith throttle’ programs. These software products shrink your internet bandwidth, so you can have the same experience as your end users (modem or broadband wise). In a quick search, i was able to find one of them. This one is shareware though, so be prepared to pay ;)

develop with this boo boo in mind
Another solution for this problem might be developing your preloaders etc. with internal timers in them. By doing this, you might be able to simulate a slow connection yourself. E.g. a preloader might contain a script like:

var virtualBytesLoaded = 0;
var timer = setInterval(doTick, 1000);

doTick = function ()
{
    virtualBytesLoaded += 100;
}

It sure as h*ll ain’t pretty, but as long as it gets the job done….. let’s all pray they fix this in the next expensive version of Flash ;)

Every now and then, i pass by a site created in Flash which is modelled exteremely well. This is one of them.

The guys from FlashFocus pointed me in the right direcetion for this one. The site mentioned is located at Rui-camilo.de .

I think these kind of sites show the power of flash as a webtool. This site in particular should be hard to set up, it seems the only complicated stuff is located in the main menu, the rest should be able to be handled easily by a couple of generic Actionscripts.

Couldn’t see anything wrong about this one. Thumbs up :)

I was just looking into the finalists for the Flash in the can awards 2004, as mentioned earlier. It seems their taste is totally different from mine…. how in *&^’s name can they make something like this a finalist?

First of all, let me say i will be the first to acknowledge new type of creative work using Flash technology…. but making this a finalist seems a bit strange to me (personally!).

The graphics are probably extremely nice eye candy (in the eye of the beholder) but i have absolutely no idea what they, where i should go to see it, why the guys are walking in the screen, etc. It has been a while, but i was completely lost in this one. It is like a big Photoshopped image, with a ‘noise filter to the max’ over it a, dropped it in flash and said ‘hey, what do ya know….it kinda looks cool!’.

Oh well, long live free will and all yadda yadda. Check out for yourself. If you need to express your view about my wrong opinion, please feel free to share them in a comment. We can make it a healthy argument ;).

Let me add another totally freaking finalist for the category ‘usability’. The guys from 2turnmedia did a fine job at creating a nice site in Flash…but usable?? c’mon, can someone please explain to me why this site is more usable than the next site on the block? If you think i am whining, let’s take a look at one of it’s competitors for the ‘usability’ winner. This site is, in my opinion, way more agressive at trying out new interface elements in their interface. It took me a short time to get used to, but feedback and intuitivity are fine with me. 2turnmedia isn’t even a match for this one as far as i am concerned.

Oh well, just my 2 cents here. Got a bit frustrated thinking about the Flash in the can 2004 convention where you can pay a couple of hundred of dollar to attent, and then watch them put these kind of things up as finalists….jeez.