September 23, 2008 Meeting Summary

Adobe AIR in ActionJoey Lott kicked off this traveling tour by talking to us about Adobe Flex and AIR. The group was mixed with Flash developers and developers who were interested in transitioning their skills to Flash/Flex. Joey did a good job introducing AIR, comparing it to a runtime environment like Java and explain its key differences and benefits over Flash on the web. One of its key advantages is its ability to connect and work with the users file system.

Joey has a great sense of humor and walked us through the .air file structure, what is involved and how to use a certificate to verify no one has tampered with the program or install file. He then went into the details of creating a basic application to open and read html files.

The example walk through brought up some great questions from the group which in some instances even stumped Joey. But as the questions rolled in it brought everyone into a common sense of understanding of Flex and AIR’s capabilities and potential uses.

We were fortunate to get around $400 in giveaways of books and t-shirts provided by O’Reilly and Manning Publications. We want to thank Joey again for stopping by and giving a great presentation.

September 23, 2008: Introduction to Adobe AIR for Flex and Flash Developers

I’m happy to announce that well-known Flash and Flex author Joey Lott will be speaking at our September 23, 2008 meeting. Joey is traveling across the country, from east coast to west coast, on his way to Adobe MAX in San Francisco and we’re his first stop.

Thanks to the local Adobe user groups, FlashFocused and Detroit Area Adobe User Group for joining us in sponsoring this special event. Joey will be selling autographed books. Thanks to O’Reilly, we’ll have some books to give away too!

Abstract

Want to know how to use your existing Flex and/or Flash skills to build applications for the desktop using Adobe AIR? In this presentation we’ll look at what AIR is and is not, and we’ll look at the key features of AIR. We’ll go beyond the standard marketing presentation for AIR and instead focus on what is possible using AIR and what it takes to get up and running using AIR.

Joey Lott Biography

Joey Lott is one of the founders of The Morphic Group, a Flex and Flash application development company. Joey has also authored or co-authored numerous books on Flex and Flash and related technologies including Programming Flex 3, ActionScript 3 Cookbook, Adobe AIR in Action, and Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design Patterns. Joey has spoken at many industry conferences such as Adobe MAX, Flash on the Beach, Flashforward, and FITC.

When: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Where: Canton Public Library, 1200 S. Canton Center Road, Canton, Michigan 48188 (map). Phone: 734-397-0999. We’re meeting in the Community Room. Free parking is available next to the library.

Disclosure: This program is neither sponsored, nor endorsed by the Canton Public Library.

Hope you can join us!

Book Review: Building Findable Websites

What makes “Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond” by Aarron Walter so interesting to me is the simple, easy-to-implement advice. In fact, I updated the Refresh Detroit WordPress setup with several recommendations from the book.

Aarron covers a wide range of areas in the book, including user experience, markup, search engine optimization, and site promotion, that some people may find distracting.

However, I liked the mix of technical advice, delving into server-side settings and development and WordPress tweaking, and the more practical tips on creating content and setting up mailing lists. As Aarron points out in the first chapter, developing a findable website is the result of many aspects in web development which help your target audience find the information they seek.

It may seem a small detail, but an added bonus of the book is how the book is laid out and formatted, improving readability:

  • the book lays flat with wide width pages
  • the line spacing is generous, and
  • the excellent use of text color in main content, chapter and section headings

As the sole employee of a web development company, I wear several hats as marketer, information architect, designer, coder, developer and search engine optimization analyst. Aarron’s book is a great resource for improving website findability by improving the user experience.

  • Title: Building Findable Websites, first edition
  • Author: Aarron Walter
  • Publisher: New Riders Press
  • ISBN: 0321526287
  • Date: 2008
  • Format: Softcover
  • Pages: 240
  • Cover Price: USD: $39.99