What version of Flash do you use?

So, now that everyone has installed his Flash CS5 version or trial I wonder how many of the 3 million of programmers are using it.

In my case I jumped directly from CS3 to CS5, due to the unexpected errors of CS4. Other issue if you used the Flash IDE was the long waitting time in CS4 for compilation or just to see the Actions Panel.

By the way, here some links I find usefull, I´m thinking about making a Flash CS5 Professional Cheet Sheet, I still have to collect the twitter accounts.

- Adobe Flash Professional CS5

- Flash CS5 Documentation

- Flash Support Centre

- Adobe Marketplace & Exchange

- Adobe Community Help

- Adobe Flash Platform

- Adobe Flash Platform for developers

- Flash Professional Glossary

- Flash Tutorials on Adobe TV

- Flash Platform Events

- Adobe Forums

- Adobe Feeds

- Flash online Seminars

- Adobe Flash Cookbooks

- Adobe Flash Platform technologies on Adobe Labs

- Adobe Flash Platform blog

- Find and Adobe Community Professional

- Adobe User Groups

- Optimize Flash web for mobile

- Adobe Store

- Adobe Youth Gallery

- Adobe Design Centre

- Adobe Edge Newsletter

- Flash Player Penetration

Flash Evangelist

Lee Brimelow

Ben Forta

Enrique Duvos

Kevin Hoyt

Mark Doherty

Paul Trani

Renaun Erickson

Ryan Stewart

Serge Jespers

Terry Ryan

The poll is in Spanish but it just says "Which version of Flash are you using?"

CS5 loading...

So, after a long while. Finally it´s here. This Creative Suite version is aimed to be the definitive one, at least for all flashers and actionscripters. Waiting for the day to come...

2010 Actionscript Future

Please, just take a look to this stats:

Two Thousand and Ten Digital Marketing Outlook

Perhaps you´d better see this screenshots related to Actionscript technology:


Well, I cannot say if it´s the same in every country. I think the survay was taken in USA, anyway they are a big influence and tendence in online ads.

Good news from Social Media and new technologies cos they are using Acstionscript (advergaming in Social Media, the upcoming boom of mobile devices, widgets, Augmented Reality, RichMedia, etc.)

If we have also the launching of the new FlashCS5 I see clear future for all of us the Actionscript community

Comments on Flash CS5 Video

I´ve just seen the video from Flash CS5 in TheFlashBlog, hereafter some comments about it:

- Workflow: I am totally amazed with the idea of the xml format and the new publishing features of the new Flah CS5. I am not sure but it look like now if a designer wants to change a picture from a banner, for example, he won´t need to open Flash, just can change it in the dinamyc library. Probably the same for texts. Moreover, I this this can be done just editing the xml or overwritting the file. Fantastic!

The publishing settings, the xml format (reminds me of Silverlight) and the SWF History are going to improve definetely the designer/programmer workflow.

- Code Snippets Panel: Lee says he has "tears in his eyes" when he sees this. I think many designers will as well. Little pieces of code that will help designers for migration to AS3. I hope anyone can customize this the way you can do in Photoshop with the Actions panel.

- Nice news also from video adjustments and text formats for the new release.

- Improvements on the Flash IDE code pannel (Yes, I am one of the 3% that still uses it!) and on the connection to run projects from Flash Builder (Flex) easily.

Just a couple of things I´ve seen:
- No support for Actionscript 2: This is positive in my opinion
- No support for Flash CS3: Well, many of us will jump from CS3 to CS5. We all know about the problems CS4 has and programmers, not only designers are looking forward to hearing from Flash CS5 release.
- Not much about iPhone, by now!

More Info:
Flash CS5 TheFlashBlog video
Flash CS5 in Adobe Labs
FlashPlatform

Flash Snippets Panels

A compilation of some Flash Snippets Panels which can help you to work faster:

Design
- Flash Queasy tools
- Replace selected by import
- Swap instance for duplicate symbol
- Adobe Kuler

Code
- Ozipi Flash panel snippets collection or here
- The FlashBlog New Snippets Panel Extension for Flash CS3
- SnipetsCP
- Event Generator

Frameworks
- Gaia Framework
- Progression

Others
- Calculator
- Papervision

RichMedia
- EyeWonder
- EyeBlaster

More on Adobe Exchange and on Adobe Flash Platform

Read also some comments I made for FlashCS5 Snippets Panel

What should have Flash CS5 Code Snippets panel?

They have talked a lot about the possibility of making iPhone apps from the new upcoming FlashCS5. Good news!

Anyway, we can´t miss the point about designers moving to programming or just designers using Actionscript 3. So this is the question:

If you were a designer what would you like to have in the new Flash CS5?

For this the Code Snippets Panel is really a great answer. I am sure many designers have already used this kind of panels (Gaia Framework, Event Generator, Quesy Tools, Kuler). You just install an .mxp and all it´s done! Easy! With no code.

So, what should Flash CS5 have in Code snippets Panel to help designers?
This is my whish list:

- Preload: Instead of making it coding, a simple preload could be prepared for this
- FullScreen: Liquid Design configuration. I could be included a FullScreen Background image option, so when you change your browser width or height you would see it ok. As SWffit does
- Google Analytics: We´ve seen it as a .swc, a panel would be good also
- Gaia Framework: I think this panel is done for programmers, it should be even more easy. Just think you are a designer and you don´t know nothing about code
- Loading external swf
- Motion pannel: Somethin as Greensock does or editing the new possibilities of bones animations
- XML Load
- Sound Load
- Load BitMapData
- Forms, could be included the connection to a php, Email checking, etc.
- SWF Object and SWF Address integration
- A menu builder
- 3D integration (PaperVision, Away3d)
- Text Formatting (as panels in Photoshop do)
- Banner Creation: With things that designers need (Clicktag, invisible button, etc.)
- Image Gallery

Great news from Adobe!!!

So, at the end it wasn´t Flex, it was Flash who introduced itself on the iPhone (I´m sorry about you flexers ;-])

All members from the Flash Community are posting about the new upcoming features of Flash CS5, mainly:

- Applications for iPhone
- New text capabilities via the Text Layout Framework (TLF)
- XML based FLA files
- Code Snippets panel
- Flash Builder™ integration
- Improved ActionScript editor

(see more here)

What can we say about this? This is a big step, one of the biggest, even more if we take into account that more and more users are using their mobile devices to get into the internet or to use apps.

We can say also that Adobe has thought on designers migrating from AS2 to AS3 (code snippets panel), on integration (same point of view as CS3), and has improved some things they really had to do, such as text capabilities and the Actionscript Editor. YES I´m using it, I have used it since I learnt Flash and I will use it, no matter what you say.

For the Flash Community these are great news! Probably we won´t have to migrate to see our apps in the iPhone, the browser will have to wait until Apple decission...

More info:

Adobe Labs

Mike Chambers

with reference to:

"Improved ActionScript editor"
- Adobe Labs - Adobe Flash Professional CS5 (ver en Google Sidewiki)