Repeating the past ?

JavaScript has grown exceedingly popular of late, with much credit due to easy-to-use libraries like jQuery and the rediscovered usefulness of Ajax. More and more, sites use JavaScript to provide great functionality for the people who visit. More so, many experiments—like Scott Schiller's site —push the boundaries of what JavaScript is typically used for. The same is true for HTML5, with amazing displays such as 9Elements' HTML5 Canvas and Audio Experiment or Jilion's more practical SublimeVideo player.

These new executions bring interesting questions, many related to user experience. If a feature needs a lot of code or graphics to power it, do we need to give the user progress indication (read: preloader) before they can use it? Once we use HTML5 video to interact with other videos, text, and graphics, will we need blending modes in HTML6 to create more seamless online environments? Will JavaScript developers realize the value that sound brings to an online experience and have to create ways to handle audio? Will we need a visual editor so that designers who don't code can take advantage of ? Will heavily scripted web applications become intense processor hogs?

If this sounds familiar to you, it should. These are the kinds of questions the Flash community explored throughout its early years. Regardless of your opinion about Flash, it's difficult to deny the tremendous growth it has experienced. From a simple drawing application, to a full-fledged scripting language, to powerful streaming video capabilities, and more, the Flash platform has expanded exponentially to respond to the needs of its users—the people who use it to create and the people who use the end result. For better or worse, Flash has shaped the way people absorb online content.

We now have the advantage of learning from that journey, and we're already reaping the benefits. For instance, any interaction model that modifies the full page refresh breaks the browser's back button functionality. While it took eight years from Flash's inception to birth a solution such as SWFAddress, JavaScript developers have the benefit of hindsight and were able to implement a similar solution for JavaScript-based applications much faster.

I'll go so far as to assert that most technological advances are born from something that would be good for people using it. When we put stock in technology and try to be creative for creativity's sake, we almost always repeat our mistakes. When we try and solve problems instead, we force ourselves to care. Innovation is a natural side effect.

People matter. Not users, but people. A user is a faceless entity, robotically performing tasks that we test and optimize. A person lives, laughs, cries, loves, hates—and uses the sites and applications we make. My mom. Your five-year-old. His grandfather. Her best friend. Their science class. They don't tell us how much they appreciate our progressive enhancement or how we use the drawing API or our impeccable use of attribute selectors. They only say that a website was confusing or hard to read or fun to play with. That's the real motivation for excellence: bringing ease, joy, and fun to the people around us.

We should be getting to the point where people can't tell how a site was built. I love coming across a site where how it was made is not immediately apparent to me. That's how it should be: Create something excellent where the technology is transparent, and allow only the curious to look under the hood to actually see what's going on. JavaScript, Flash, HTML5, tables, Shockwave, Unity—no one cares when people using it can do what they're supposed to. When something is broken—whether it's functionality or the user experience—that's when you'll hear whining about platforms. Create a great experience for people and you'll receive due praise, regardless of the technology.

Start supporting initiatives instead of bashing them. Do you think Flash sucks? Don't write a "Dear Adobe" rant on your blog; contact the Adobe team directly and tell them what you think could be improved. Think HTML5 is a joke? Get involved with the working group to make it better. Got a problem with how a certain site is built? Approach the creators with your concerns and suggestions, privately and humbly.

Finally, remember what really matters: People. For everyone's sake, it's time we all learned to get along ( like this playground analogy Courtesy of Dan Mall).

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Sachin In SAREES

Yes...For fancy dress competition in his college days.

cgTantra and Frameboxx organize seminar on animation & visual effects NEXT ON BANGLORE 17th May

cgTantra in association with Frameboxx organized a seminar on animation and visual effects in Delhi recently. The event saw a host of Animation Industry professionals descend upon Delhi, to participate and present in the symposium.

The aim of the seminar was to educate the nascent animators and animation aspirants about the bright career opportunities in Animation and to increase awareness on the intricacies involved in creating world-class, award-winning animation content.

The professionals present included PC Vikram of Big Animation Studios, the team from the Oscar winning Rhythm & Hues involved in the making of The Golden Compass, Uttam Pal Singh of Santa Banta Series and cgTantra‘s Abhishek Chandra.

The aficionados witnessed the making of some famous movies such as Oscar winning Golden Compass, Little Krishna and Santa Banta Series. As a result, the people present at the event were endowed with a theoretical as well as a practical insight into animation.

There was also a question and answer session which included questions on how much creative freedom one would get, and which fields animators can specialize in.

"The seminars were part of the all-India ‘Learn, Inspire, Grow‘ (LIG) series held by cgTantra. This series aims at spreading awareness among freshers who aspire to enter the animation industry and expose them to the aspects of animation," shared Chandra. The next seminar will be held in Bangalore on May 17, 2008.

FLASH GOES MOBILE..!

Adobe Systems Inc. says it will license its video-enabling Flash software for free for mobile devices to help developers make mobile Internet experiences more closely resemble the experience on computers. The world’s fifth-largest software maker is launching what it calls the Open Screen Project with support from phone makers Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp., Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba Corp., from chip makers Intel and Qualcomm, and from content providers including NBC Universal, MTV Networks and the BBC, among other companies. With the Open Screen Project, Adobe said, it aims to improve Internet experiences on all electronics, including computers, TVs and digital video recorders. But mobile devices are a particular focus.

Many mobile applications have met with disappointment from consumers. And game and video developers have been burdened with cranking out numerous versions of applications for mobile devices, said Kevin Lynch, Adobe’s chief technology officer. “You have to make over 100 different versions of that game in order to actually make it work across all these different phones,” Lynch said. Notably missing from the list of industry supporters for Adobe’s project is Apple Inc. The iPhone maker does not use Flash on its smart phones, and Chief Executive Steve Jobs has publicly criticized Flash for being too slow. Adobe says it’s working on a version of Flash for the iPhone — now that Apple has released the information needed to custom fit the software to Apple’s operating system.

RED ALERT from Center for Disease Control

The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically. This virus is called Weary Overload Recreational Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues, or anyone else via any means whatsoever - DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely. If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises.

Take two good friends to the nearest grocery store and purchase one or both of the antidotes - Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

Windows XP SP3 Is Here - Well, not quite

Windows XP Service Pack 3 is here, according to Microsoft. The wait for the third and final service pack for Windows XP is now over, reveal resources made available by the Redmond company. And the fact of the matter is that not only is Windows XP SP3 here, but it has been here for quite some time. For no less than a couple of days. While there is absolutely no official word on the matter from Microsoft, the company’s official Support Lifecycle website offering information on its various products has managed to leak the small bit of info pointing to the delivery deadline of XP SP3. Nothing more and nothing less than the general availability date.

Hey! Group STaNDaLONE pre’d the XP SP3 finally :) Enough said about it actually so I wont go into any detail anymore now…

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system.

Note: Microsoft you lamers why release it on msdn AFTER general release, are you insane??

HTTP download available at:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/3/5/53519680-fcc0-4a00-86e0-e7d5cba84461/WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Windows_XP_Service_Pack_3_Final_d4323.html
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Windows-XP-SP3-Download-90001.html
http://digiex.net/applications/175-windows-xp-service-pack-3-rtm-build-5512-download-windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu-exe.html
http://d01.megashares.com/?d01=4452eea


Enjoy