Learn how to use Acrobat.com as a Learning Management System for Captivate 5 projects. It's a great way to get started with eLearning without a huge investment in an LMS.
1
Results tagged “Adobe”
Here's the second in a series of short videos featuring Flash Catalyst. It talks about buttons and how to reuse and style them.
Adobe announced the availability of Flash Player 10.1 for mobile platforms such as Android and WebOS. #AdobeCP
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/201006/06222010FlashPlayerAvailability.html
When we talk about web events and web meetings, more and more we are asked about how mobile customers can participate. While there is a Connect app for iPhone, other platforms have been lagging. Now, with FP 10.1, many of the other platforms suddenly become viable web event viewers, and the reach of web events has just exploded.
I just finished delivering a Connect session on Connect for Web Events (Recording: Webinars that Wow! with Adobe Connect), and when I mentioned that Flash Player 10.1 was announced and that smartphones would be able to participate in Connect meetings (Connect is a Flash-based platform), there was a very positive reaction.
"THIS IS HUGE!" says one attendee (his capitals).
"Did you REALLY say that smartphones could attend Connect meetings?" asked another. "Yes, I did," was my reply. "WOW!" came the response.
Other responses were equally enthusiastic. While the Connect app for iPhone has been available for months, there is a huge pent-up demand for other smartphones to be able to attend web meetings, and with Flash Player 10.1 in the mobile marketplace, Adobe Connect becomes more relevant than ever before.
Adobe is expected to post better than expected numbers for Q2 on the strength of strong CS5 sales. #AdobeCP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gS1sMma-MF0sB24LEgoId8zWO2vwD9GFRKTO0
The article states that "Creative Suite is used by small businesses such as design firms and advertising agencies." The analysts seem to miss the fact that Creative Suite is also used by giant media companies, global publishers, architectural firms, engineering companies, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, film and television studios, web designers, desktop and mobile application developers and more. It is also used by Fortune 100 businesses to create portals and manage access to business critical data. I assume that savvy financial researchers look at these other verticals when making their predictions.
This will be welcome news, as CS4 results weren't as strong as Adobe had hoped. I know that I still see a lot of CS3 and CS2 out there, but new hardware and operating systems will require a software update for many, many people and companies. The CS2 and CS3 users who held off will now be able to take advantage of 64 bit versions of Photoshop and the video tools, for instance, which increase productivity substantially on large files. As video moves to very high resolution capture, it is essential to have 64 bit apps and tons of RAM, and CS5 makes those hardware investments pay off in short order.
Adobe announced the availability of Flash Player 10.1 and AIR2. #AdobeCP
While closing a recently revealed security hole in Flash Player, this release also paves the way for easier application development for multiple devices. Prior to 10.1, multiple screen development required multiple versions of applications to target different versions of Flash players. Flash Player 10.1 unifies the player across desktop and mobile platforms, making it possible to create one application that will work on desktop and mobile platforms.
This version of Flash Player will be the last version that will play on a PowerPC G3 with MacOSX 10.4.
Wow.
It amazes me that while Apple abandoned the G3 years ago, Adobe has continued to keep it in mind for its Flash Player. While it is amazing that the G3 remains on Adobe's radar, it is more amazing to me that there must be enough of them still operating in the world that Adobe has maintained support for it in the Flash Player.
It's been 1999 since a G3 PowerMac was made by Apple, but it continued to use the G3 in the iMac and iBook line until 2003. Flash Player 10.1 requires a 500 MHz G3, so that excludes all of the PowerMac towers and desktops. Knowing that in my kids' schools, they were using G3 iBooks until a couple of years ago and also that the schools sell them at rock bottom prices, it's not surprising that there's still enough users out there for one more go at Flash Player.
The story for AIR2 isn't so far reaching, though. It requires at least an Intel Mac and MacOSX 10.5. Along the develop once, deploy anywhere model, there is also an AIR prerelease program for Android. With Android in the mix, developers can create AIR applications that will run on both desktop and mobile devices.
Flash Player and AIR represent a tremendous opportunity for companies to reduce development time and costs by removing complexity in the development process.
Steve Jobs posted a long letter on the Apple web site to "jot down" in great detail why Flash is such a lousy technology and why Apple remains forward thinking and insanely great.
He continues to assert that HTML5 is a standard. He needs to check his calendar, since there is no HTML5 "standard," although the W3C is working on creating a specification. Since there is no specification as yet, he should quit his false and misleading claims that HTML5 is done now. In case he needs a refresher, here's a link to the latest proposed specification at the W3C site.
Quoting directly from the specification:
Implementors should be aware that this specification is not stable. Implementors who are not taking part in the discussions are likely to find the specification changing out from under them in incompatible ways. Vendors interested in implementing this specification before it eventually reaches the Candidate Recommendation stage should join the aforementioned mailing lists and take part in the discussions.
Sounds to me like basing a multi-billion dollar mobile platform on a specification that's likely to be a moving target for many years to come is a risky decision.
While Mr. Jobs complains about Adobe's Flash, his beef is really with the player. It is true that the Flash Player is proprietary, but there are plenty of open source methods for creating SWFs, the files that play in the Flash player. It is also true that Adobe's track record with respect to security in the current release hasn't been up to Adobe's usual level, they have been quick to respond to known threats with patches. I can't help but notice that Apple has released several security patches to its proprietary operating systems and its proprietary QuickTime player from time to time as well, but Mr. Jobs doesn't care to mention that.
The Flash player aside, Apple has also closed the door to development environments other than its XCode. While Mr. Jobs claims that open standards for the web are better for everyone, an open development ecosystem for his platforms apparently are not. Apple has stated that it will deny any iPhone or iPad app that wasn't created with XCode. Although Mr. Jobs believes that his pristine and crash-free (that's a joke, in case you missed it) app universe will be polluted by developers who apparently can only create dirty and unstable code with tools such as Flash CS5 and others, he is missing the point of an open app development ecosystem. The market will decide whether a lousy app will survive. To quote the Bad News Bears, "Let Them Play!"
I am disappointed that Apple has closed its developer doors to the open market. I am disappointed that Apple continues to cross its arms and frown at the Flash player. Unfortunately, with ratification of the HTML5 specification due in 2022 (no joke. Check Ian Hickson's remarks on the subject), I believe developers will soon look at other emerging platforms for their mobile apps. HP's purchase of Palm (announced April 28) is quite exciting, as HP has a lot of experience in platforms, interfaces and manufacturing, not to mention its existing iPAQ product line. How is it that Apple hasn't sued HP over that name yet? The Android operating system is also exciting, and the phones are amazing. It won't take long for Android devices to eat into Nokia's and RIM's and Apple's market share. Interestingly, though, the Android platform is the only one of these that's completely open and free for developers.
24WorldNews.com reports that AdMob posted some statistics recently that show more ads shown on Android phones than on iPhones, despite almost 2 to 1 iPhone to Android devices. This means that advertisers should be looking more closely at Android apps, as that's where the eyeballs will be in the near future. Apple's closed in-app ad network might want to take notice of that trend.
So, what to do? I continue to carry my MacBook, my iPhone, and my iPod. I'll buy new ones when these finally fail. I continue to curse Hulu for requiring Flash player, and am eagerly awaiting the Netflix iPhone app. I doubt very much, though, that I'll devote much time to creating an iPhone app, when the larger web is calling and I can use one development platform (remember, Flash the development environment, not the player) to create apps for web and mobile, so long as that mobile isn't iPad or iPod.
Adobe has shown that its Flash Professional product would be able to develop applications for iPhone. Apple this week revised its developer terms (section 3.3.1) to restrict applications that were created using Flash and other third party development tools. I think it's time first of all for Steve Jobs to get off his Objective C high horse. NextStep was cool and all, but this is the 21st century, and it's time to look forward, not backward.
Adobe, for its credit, has noted through its employees' blogs and other statements that its products in no way depend on the iPhone platform for survival If Apple will insist on its developer tools, then Adobe customers will continue to thrive with thousands and thousands of other workflow efficiencies promised in the soon to be revealed release of its Creative Suite.
I see this as a tremendous opportunity for companies like Nokia, Google, HTC, and others who have embraced partnership with Adobe (see the list of devices in Adobe's DeviceCentral for an idea of Adobe's broad reach into mobile development) to overshoot and ultimately marginalize the iPhone and iPad. Google, for one, has a great platform with its versatile Android operating system.
Android allows developers to develop and deploy content without having to pay a developer fee through its open SDK. Back to Adobe, developers can develop in Flash or Flex, for instance, and will soon be able to deploy to AIR or SWF, both of which will play on an Android phone.
If I were Adobe, I'd put my considerable skills to building more RIA tools that can enhance the developer experience for the rest of the mobile ecosystem, not just the closed and apparently backward looking Apple biosphere.
I am an Adobe Community Professional, and have a little insight into what's coming through Adobe Labs, Adobe MAX, and careful reading of key indicators. I'll be watching the Creative Suite announcement tomorrow with great interest to see what shakes out there, and also whether Apple can get its head out of the sand.
In a not-so-surprising move, Adobe quietly shut down its Print Service Provider Program. This fee-based program offered technical support, marketing opportunities, and software to printers around the world. Introduced around the time that InDesign emerged on the scene, its intention was to get printers to accept (and adopt) InDesign files. It grew into a robust program that offered training, web seminars, a Connect Pro account, newsletters, beta software participation, current software titles, and more.
Citing a declining market (that means that the number of print shops around the world is dwindling) and increasing overhead costs, Adobe is recommending that members join PIA or a local PIA affiliate, where they can enjoy some of the benefits of the Adobe program, but not the direct line to technical support, which was a huge benefit for many companies. My companies have been members of the Adobe program for 10 years or more, and I am sorry to see it go.
Quark still maintains their QuarkAlliance program, and Microsoft shut down their free Publisher Print Service Provider Program over a year ago.
All I want to do is log in to my Adobe Forums account at forums.adobe.com. Silly me.
Working as a consultant to printers means that I am charged with solving all kinds of problems, pre and post press. Today, the issue was a folding challenge, created by a 6 panel barrel fold. The customer had divided the sheet evenly, but we knew that we would have to make adjustments to the artwork. Just where to place the folds, though, was in question. The printer where the job would be finished had never done a 6 panel barrel fold before, and so had no samples for measurement. Where to turn?
The answer was simple: FoldRite Template Master for InDesign. This simple yet very powerful plugin takes the guesswork out of creating templates for folded sheets. In our case, I knew the dimensions of the flat, and so I was able to get all six panels (front and back) adjusted to the proper widths and my piece properly positioned in about two minutes. This saved us an almost certain call from the print shop, telling us that we needed to make further adjustments to the artwork. We printed some reduced samples, and they folded perfectly.
If you have any interest in folding or the folding process, I encourage you to look at foldfactory.com.
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/appsfor_iphone/
This is very, very exciting. Thinking about apps that now must be created in Flash as well as XCode, this will speed the delivery of apps to the web and mobile. Hooray, Adobe!
For many years, Adobe Contribute has been able to connect to commercially available popular blogging platforms such as Blogger or TypePad. I use Movable Type on my own server, and have wanted to get this going for some time.
There are a couple of configuration settings that make this all pretty easy, although the answers as to how to set them is not in one place. This entry serves as the one place.
First of all, you need to have Contribute CS4 installed, and your Movable Type blog needs to be up and running. You will need administrative access to the blog and to the paths where the cgi lives. With these in hand, we need to gather some information before making the connection.
Open your Movable Type administration panel and click on your name in the upper right hand corner. This will open your profile.
Having opened your profile, scroll down to the Preferences and click the reveal button to the right of the web services password. Write this down or copy it to your clipboard, as you will need it to connect to your blog.
Now, it's time to fire up Contribute. From Contribute, choose Contribute>My Connections... and select Create. Next, choose Blogs as the type of connection, and enter the URL for your blog.
You can also browse to your blog, which will open a little web browser for you. Browse to the top level of your site, and then click OK.
Click Continue to enter the connection settings, and this is where that password will come in handy. On this screen, you need to enter your userid, the web services password (not your regular login password), and the access point path.
The access point path is the path to where the Movable Type cgi files live. In my installation, I simply installed the entire MT folder in a folder on my web site, and created a second folder for the posted blog entries. This is pretty common, as most of us don't have access to the system-wide cgi folder. The item that's important is the file called mt-xmlrpc.cgi, which is the bit of glue that binds Movable Type and Contribute together. Having entered these three items, you are done. Click Finish to create the connection.
Having made the connection, you are ready to add or edit entries. There are some preferences you might want to set before you do, however.
Choose Contribute>Preferences and then select the Blog Defaults panel. You can choose to automatically allow comments and trackbacks here, and to create a new entry when you click the "New" button.
Under the Tagging panel, you may want to put the tags at the bottom of your entries so as not to clutter up the top. Contribute will automatically push your tags to the repositories you specify in the panel. Having made these changes, click OK.
Now, you're ready to blog with Contribute!
To create a new entry, click New Entry, or choose an existing entry from the menu at the right of the screen. This isn't about how to use Contribute to edit blog entries, so I'll leave that to you and your favorite training source.
I will say, though, that I enjoy seeing the blog entry rendered with the CSS and template of the blog. I also like the asset manager in Contribute, which consists of adding a picture to your blog entry, and Contribute will manage the rest. You can also use that built-in browser to browse to pages when adding links to your blog. That's handy when you can't remember the precise url, but you know the site that you want to reference.
If you need to set the entry aside, click Save for Later and then it will be available for you later to pick up where you left off. When you're ready to publish the entry, click Publish, and Contribute does all of the publishing for you.
Enjoy!
Last week while working with a customer while riding the Amtrak Downeaster between Boston and Portland, Maine, I created a Version Cue CS4-based PDF review. This process has always worked great in CS3 and Acrobat 8, and this was my first attempt with Acrobat 9 and Version Cue CS4. Platform disclaimer: ALL MAC Leopard, CS4 & Acrobat 9. All up to date as is the OS. Network is DHCP on the train.
The review creation process went without a hitch, and I was able to log into the VersionCue server, open the PDF in the browser, add comments to the PDF, and exit the browser. I then opened the PDF again in the browser, logged in as another user, applied some more comments, and exited the browser.
When I tried to open the PDF from the VersionCue management console (open PDF in Acrobat is the button), however, the PDF opened in the browser and I saw no comments.
Intrigued, I tried to see whether the review had been added to my Tracker, and when I opened the Tracker, I was presented with a dialog asking if it was OK for Acrobat to use the keychain item related to the VC server. I agreed, and that's the last I saw of the Tracker.
Now, the Tracker won't start up. Occasionally I got these keychain messages from Acrobat, so I assume that the Tracker was still trying to connect to the VC server, but I can't see the Tracker.
Well, having uninstalled and reinstalled Acrobat in hopes that the Tracker might reset itself, and after discovering that Acrobat conveniently remembers all of the reviews with which it is associated even after a reinstall, I dug around and found the following file on my Mac:
~user/Library/ApplicationSupport/Adobe/Acrobat/9.0_x86/Collab/Workflows
I found the browser-based review that was causing the problems and changed the server ip address to localhost, where the VersionCue server resides regardless of its DHCP situation. Restarting Acrobat, though, and Tracker would still not appear.
I had resolved to confuse the hell out of Adobe tech support, when another idea occurred: join another shared review (not browser-based review like VersionCue).
So, I joined another shared review, and Acrobat opened and voila! the Tracker reappeared, but then died after I tried to delete the dead review from the list. Thinking more about this, I restarted Acrobat and disabled "Show Notification inside Acrobat" in Preferences>Tracker, and opened the Tracker. Now, the Tracker did not try to connect to the bad server, and I was able to try deleting the bad browser-based reviews.
Selecting one of the bad browser-based reviews, I clicked the trash can and got this handy message:
Without any guidance from the interface, I decided to go for broke and chose "OK." It was the right choice. The bad Browser-based review is gone, and my Tracker is back.
Lessons learned: don't try to start a browser-based review on a train.
http://www.proficiografik.com/2009/08/03/save-custom-pdf-output-template-in-adobe-bridge-cs4.html
Very handy tip for creating PDF output templates for use in in Bridge CS4.
XMPie uDirect 4.6.1 finally supports InDesign CS4. I installed the update without incident this afternoon. It is very nice to be able to now be able to use CS4 for variable projects. I can't find an announcement on their site, so talk to your sales rep. I am sure they will be demonstrating heavily at Print 09 in September.
I have always liked the XMPie workflow and its ability to make variable campaigns accessible to designers. Too often, variable workflows depend on a key programmer who works in proprietary applications, and often must disassemble a campaign piece in order to build it back up again. uDirect allows the designer to drive the process, providing either ready-to-run applications, variable print streams (via PPML, VIPP, VPS etc.) to the presses, or composite PDF or Postscript. In either case, the designer can see and accurately proof the results of campaign decisions directly in InDesign.
CS4 support in XMPie uDirect will certainly drive more marketers finally to upgrade their Creative Suite licenses. Adobe should be happy with this silent upgrade.
I am installing Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection from DVD media. Of course, because I deal in disk images through Adobe Licensing, it's a little more complicated. It's easy on a Mac; just mount the images and go. Since Windows wants specific paths, mounting all of the images leads to confusion and incomplete installation, at least for me. Writing these DVDs proved to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. The images are all UDF images, and I am a Mac guy with Parallels. Toast will write UDF DVDs from images, but apparently it doesn't like it if the images are mounted over a network. I cooked a few drink coasters before realizing that, and then it was off to the races. If the race was between a snail and a slug.
I started the process yesterday afternoon, let it run overnight, and here it is almost noon, and we're finally on disk 4. I can't wait until the updating process begins! I suppose that the reward for my patience is that I can use MC CS4 on my Windows personality, which is necessary for some of the work that I do. I wonder if a new Windows laptop would be more convenient?
Adobe killed the Dreamweaver Developer Toolbox a few weeks ago, and I am learning about it now. I built many sites based on it and was very excited when CS4 compatibility was announced a couple of months ago. It was an easy to use, flexible platform that allowed me (and, I guess, not enough others!) to rapidly create membership and data driven sites.
I assume that the decision was economic, like so many others today. I wonder if we'll all have to become Flex Data Services customers now. As a Flex user, I found the ADDT to be a great way to create the backend for Flex apps, and now I'll have to either rewrite code modules or find another system for CS5.
Günter Schenk, thanks for all your insights over the years!
Finally, I can transition my web apps to Dreamweaver CS4. Adobe quietly updated the ADDT to version 1.01, adding support for CS4. I had been unable to use Dreamweaver CS4 until now since my sites depend on the tools in the ADDT.
Adobe finally killed Bridge Home. It's sad, because in CS3, it was a great resource that I was sure to show at every event and training that I did. In CS4, it was nothing but a placeholder, and Adobe killed it today. Once again, the useful succumbs to the realities of big business. If only Internet Explorer could die as well.
