Re: FLASH: My Rebuttal

[Jason]

I have a great idea!  Let's rip everybody on the list and send a 6 page

message talking about myself.  THAT will prove my point.


Mailing lists are not for DISCOURSE, at least not this one.... if you have

a question, ask it... if you need to complain, find a message board.

Nobody needs this in their mailbox.


Thanks.




>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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