FLASH: My Rebuttal

[Bill Wagner]

Perhaps my post about the Evolution of this List had a hint of arrogance and

took my disappointment out on the wrong people. It just seems to me that a

developers mailing list, especially one for a new technology with many uses

(some of which have gone untapped as of yet), should have more posts about

concepts and applications. I don't want to seem like I'm taking this out on

people who are having a rough time with Flash, it does after all require a

shift in thinking for designers used to working with the relatively static

medium of HTML. Maybe since I have spent a great deal of time hand coding

DHTML using notepad, I don't have enough compassion for people who are

really struggling with a tool that does a great deal of the work for you

(and I should be more compassionate). The real issue that I wanted to

discuss was the disproportionate amount of 'Please HELP!!!' posts compared

to the 'this is what I'm doing with Flash' posts.

As a converted Journalism major/computer geek who works as the one man media

department at an engineering company, I don't usually have the luxury of

creating for the sake of creation (or art's sake for that matter). I have

noticed that the majority of sites posted for review to this list are either

for web design companies or are games. This is not to say that I haven't

seen some great practical, marketable applications of Flash on this list,

but Flash has a great deal more utility tahn what we're seeing. I use it for

CD-ROMs (of which I have seen a few posts, although they are mostly

FSCommand questions which could have been answered by going to Macromedia's

help site), interactive training, Visual Basic menus and as a front end for

some really wacky Javascripts... and that is only the beginning. We need to

start talking about these issues.

I also stick by my assessment of the Flash support materials (not just the

manual). When I say support materials, I mean the manual, the online help,

the Macromedia tech resources, JC's site, etc. The answers for most of the

questions I've seen are out there and people just aren't looking (and why

should they when they can just dump a post into this list). To get back to

the DHTML thing, I taught myself using nothing more than my computer and an

internet connection (try reading/understanding a Microsoft tutorial that was

written for something that didn't exist until after the tutorial was

completed). Most of the people who keep answering redundant questions here

on the list have already posted the answers on one of their web sites.

I guess the reason I kind of blasted some of the 'help me' people is because

I'm used to finding my own help, it's great that some people are willing to

bring these people up to speed (maybe we need a tech support mailing list?).

I was mostly alarmed by the majority of these posts who need help because

they are on a deadline. How would you like  it if your mechanic was on a

deadline working on your car and he/she didn't know how to change the oil

and had to ask for tutelage? It probably would affect your impression of

mechanics as a group wouldn't it? So get all the help you need from wherever

you can get it, but know your limits when you quote a job or present your

boss with a proposal.

In summation, I was a little too negative in my first post (and we all know

how sensitive us artistic types are) and I want to stress the continued

development in the application of this technology and responsibility as far

as knowing your limits and abilities as the make or break issues for Flash

designers as a group. Take from this what you will and fell free to blast my

opinions to shreds (that what mailing lists are for - discourse), but be

cognizant of the fact that Flash is going to have to be used for than pretty

pictures if the corporate universe is going to pay us for playing with

Flash. I just want to create a more receptive environment for these types of

ideas and discussions to flourish.


Thanks for spending the time it took to read this massive rant.....


Bill Wagner

Media Coordinator

Power Test, Inc.




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