Adobe: May 2010 Archives

Adobe announces HTML5 extension for Dreamweaver CS5

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By James Lockman on May 19, 2010 1:34 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
Adobe today released an extension for Dreamweaver CS5 today. #AdobeCP

According to Adobe's Labs web site, 

Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS5 HTML5 Pack is an extension for Adobe Dreamweaver CS5. This extension provides features to help users generate HTML5 and CSS3 code. Features include Multiscreen Preview, Media Query support, code hinting, starter layouts, and WebKit updates for rendering enhancements.

This is a positive move for Adobe, who has been chided in recent weeks for snubbing Apple and founder Steve Jobs' calls for a more "open" Web. Since HTML5 ratification is a decade away or more, this move is clearly aimed at proving that Adobe can indeed work with emerging standards, even before they become standards.

Adobe has a long history in this regard, and I am reminded of the evolving standards for job exchange in the print industry. The PDF/X standard set consists of several specifications for different print intents. Depending on the capabilities of the printer and the type of job, one of the standards would be used to exchange the print job. For instance, PDF/X-1a has become a de-facto standard for printers around the world. If your PDF passes the PDF/X-1a test, it will be printable by just about any printer. Period. Other standards, such as PDF/X-4, PDF/X-5, and PDF/X-VT came about in response to evolution of RIP technologies in the printing industry. The PDF/X-4 appeared in Adobe's Creative Suite 4 prior to its ratification, in anticipation of broadening support for the hardware and software for which the standard was developed.

I see parallels here with HTML5. While not set in stone, a draft specification exists and developers are free to create content that meets the draft spec. Adobe has done the right thing here in making a set of tools available ten years ahead of the specification. Unfortunately, it may be perceived as a desperate move, despite the tools having been available internally for many months prior to the whole Flash-Apple nonsense.
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InDesign CS5 training available at Total Training

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By James Lockman on May 16, 2010 9:10 AM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
I recently completed a training series for Total Training on InDesign CS5 Essentials. #AdobeCP

It's now available as part of their growing CS5 offerings. I am also nearing completion of a CS5 Design Workflow series featuring Bridge, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash Catalyst, Flash Professional, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver. I begin an InDesign Interactivity series shortly. I also have Acrobat 9 and InDesign CS4 titles there. Check them out online or as DVD-based training for your office or home!
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Mac centric site encourages advertisers to "dump" Flash ads

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By James Lockman on May 13, 2010 3:54 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
I was wondering what Woz thought about the spat between Adobe and Apple over Flash, and I came across an article on MacDailyNews.com featuring an interview with Woz. #AdobeCP

The interview was cribbed from Fox Business News' web site. What caught my attention wasn't the interview itself, but the Note to Advertisers, which advises advertisers: "you might want to consider dumping your flash-based ads and moving to a more open format that people with money and the will to spend it can actually see." I then provides a series of links to specific petitions or user comment pages on large, popular sites that deliver content via Flash.

The claim is that advertisers are missing out on >86 Million eyeballs attached to discretionary income. These 86 million are iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users who can't view the Flash ads. Is the motivation the site's clear salivating love for all things Apple, or the likely fact that its revenues are negatively impacted by their advertiser's choice of delivery method? 

Thinking like an advertiser, I have to balance cost of ad creation and delivery with the potential return on that advertisement. Do I develop two ads: Flash for the >1 Billion with a B Flash-enabled devices out there and javascript/CSS for the 85 million with an m Apple iDevices? Or, do I look at the bigger picture and realize that the iDevices represent less than 10% of the market, and that the number is going to be steadily offset with Android devices over the next year?

Yes, the iDevices are cool and hot at the same time, and get a lot of press. The reality here is that the advertisers look at  marketshare as well as the cool factor, so to demand a delivery method change of your advertisers is biting the hand that feeds you.
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WSJ reports Verizon and Google are working on an iPad competitor

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By James Lockman on May 12, 2010 2:28 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Verizon and Google are working on an Android based device to challenge the iPad. Good for them. #AdobeCP 

I also read that, according to the NPD Group, Android-based smartphones have very quickly overtaken the iPhone in terms of units sold. While the actual numbers in this report are debatable, it is clear that Apple needs to pay attention to Google in the smartphone market. Why the big jump in Android sales? Some say it's Verizon, who offers a buy one, get one promotion that includes the Android devices. Others say it's frustration with iPhone and the corresponding coolness of the Android OS. The Android marketing blitz (HTC, Verizon, others) must also be credited.

For me, though, I am interested in the deployment numbers. When it comes time to develop an application for mobile, I want to be sure I am not spending a lot of effort to cater to a minority share in the market. Apple knows this pain well when reflecting on its marginalization in the 1990s. Developers wouldn't expend the resources on Mac apps for a tiny marketshare. In the mobile marketplace, Apple enjoys robust sales numbers due to the sexiness factor as well as its App store paradigm.

Apple stands to lose those attracting features very quickly, though, as Android phones gain ground. While strong sales now translate to eventual significant deployments, it will be a while before the Android platform can catch up to iPhone in terms of units actually in service. In the mean time, developers need to consider where to expend their efforts on application development.

Now, HTC, a Google ally and maker of innovative smartphones, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. While I don't think it will have an immediate impact on Apple's ability to sell its iPhone and iPad, it certainly must add to the general level of annoyance felt by Steve Jobs. 

I know that since Apple shut the door to third party developers, many have complained. I look at the Android SDK and its impending ability to use the Flash Player 10.1 and AIR apps. I already know how to make an AIR app and a Flash app, so for me, the learning curve is just about zero to make an Android app. To make an iPhone app now, I have to learn a new IDE and a new language.

I hope that these developments prompt Apple to rethink two if its business decisions. First, reopen application development. Second, let me use the phone where I want to use the phone and not decide for me that AT&T is the best choice. Where I live in Maine, coverage is abysmal, so I am forever losing calls and unable to use the 3G features of my iPhone.

Apple doesn't forbid me from tricking out my Mac, and running whatever apps I want on it. I can even change the look and feel of the interface without retribution. I can develop apps in a wide array of environments and deploy them where and how I wish. I wonder if MacOS 11 will be as closed as the iPhone and iPad.
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InDesign CS5 page geometry model exposes some interesting possibilities

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By James Lockman on May 7, 2010 12:34 PM 0 0 Vote 0 Votes
InDesign CS5 has a new page geometry model, and its tremendous flexibility has led to some interesting side effects. #AdobeCP

Pages in InDesign CS5 can be different sizes within the same document. To accomplish this, the old page geometry model had to be completely rethought. Internally, each page has its own geometric description, which can be transformed like any other object in InDesign. For instance, you can draw a rectangular frame, then apply a rotation and a skew to the object. InDesign treats the result as a frame with transformations, rather than applying the transformations to the frame. The upshot is that we can always go back and change our minds, or tweak the transformations after the fact. 

This is the way we're used to working with tools like Flash, which allow us to address the transformations at different points in a timeline. The addition of interactivity and timeline motion to InDesign takes advantage of the ability to address the transformations separately from the object as well. It turns out, though, that pages in InDesign seem to be just another object that respects transformations.

To test this theory, draw a frame of any shape on a page and then apply a rotation or skew to it. I typically use the control panel directly or the transform tool. Then, select the Page tool and click on your page. Next, choose Object>Transform Again>Transform Again to apply that transformation to the page. Woah! Crazy!

SlantedPage.png

InDesign includes two PDF output models now: one for Interactive PDFs and another for Print PDF. So, what are the ramifications when we output? I have included a PDF portfolio that shows how my InDesign document appears in InDesign and how the output appears in PDF.


The results are markedly different.

Treating the page as an object is brilliant, and I can see many future possibilities for page geometries in future releases. Think about timeline animation or multiple states for a page size, and how these could be used in a variable data environment. Very exciting, indeed. 
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