The Web as Orchestra
February 23rd, 2007 . by polyGeekI read a lot of technology news and blog sites. Most of these sites have comments enabled for users to chime in with their own observations and opinions. If you’ve read many of these comment threads then I’m sure you’ve noticed a great deal of vituperative statements regarding the merits of one technology or another. It’s amazing the ire that Flash and Flex draw from the Ajax crowd but it goes both ways. I have politely dissed Ajax a few times myself.
A few days ago I was reading a post at The Universal Desktop by Ryan Stewart where some of the comments were borderline rabid. I don’t get much of that sort of commentation here on polyGeek.com because it’s pretty much a Flash only site. But Ryan writes on a broader range for a popular site - ZDnet .com - so he gets readers from the full spectrum of developers.
So why is it that, for instance, many Ajax developers will comment disparagingly about Flash when clearly they don’t know much about it besides that it’s used for web page adds. (I still have to grit my teeth every time I read that because most web adds are GIFs with annoying Javascript plopping them all over the page.) I’ve also seen .Net developers dump on Java developers, Apple zombies insulting PC abusers, iPod vs Zune, the list goes on and on and the insults go both ways. And of course the most obnoxious offenders of all are the Linux OpenSource preachers and the Web standards/accessibility evangelists. It doesn’t matter what tune you play, you just can’t please anyone in those two groups.
This got me to thinking, “Do other professions have the same sort of bickering that we do? Take music for instance, which is something I don’t know much about, but I just don’t see a bunch of violinists going to clarinet blogs and writing things like, “Clarinets are so music 1.0. I can’t believe they still teach people to play those outdated, unusable instruments…” Really, I’m sure this doesn’t happen. I’m sure that musicians are just as competitive as any other group. But I think music has been around long enough to mature to the point that musicians realize that a symphony requires an orchestra. And what’s important is how good they are at what they do. Not how another instrument works to play the same tune with a different sound.
The analogy between music and web programming is apt in another way. I doubt if many developers or designers think of it this way but code and pixels are a form of expression just as music is. I personally love Flash because as an instrument it has the functionality to allow me to express myself. Sure, there are things it won’t do. But a violin doesn’t sound like a drum either.
There are a lot of projects to do out there on the web - and soon the desktop. But there aren’t enough Flash developers in the world to keep up with the demand. Nor are there enough Ajax, WPF/E, PHP or anything else developers. My advise is to drop the my toy is better than your toy attitude and get busy pushing the envelope in whatever framework you choose.
We all have a lot of work to do and money to make. How does that sound?
That is very true. I think the main reason why people get so upset about particular technologies is about personal experience with them. I remember seeing the Adobe labs blog about Flash Player for Linux come from threats to praise, once they released Flash Player 9, which they had to wait a long time for when all they had was a version 7 that didn’t sync audio and video very well and they kept on running into sites that had Flash 8 or 9 videos in them. And I am no fan of Adobe products like the Creative Suite which still hasn’t got a native Mac Intel version released for all its components. I wasn’t too impressed with Dreamweaver 8 either which for me was no more useful than Nvu. Not everyone uses Windows, Adobe. I appreciate the capabilities of Flash and what it does for a web designer and a lot of that comes from their being only one Flash player, but I will not use Flash to design my website until there is an open source player. I am just unwilling to make things hard for disabled users or people of alternate operating systems to not be able to see my site, and being totally dependent on Adobe to realease the player to non-Windows platforms. Of course Javascript has big problems as well as I remember where I would download a script for a particular feature that could be done in Javascript, but then a new version of Netscape/Mozill/Firefox came out and it was incompatible. I would like to use PHP, but I like to design the site myself and it needs to work offline. I still don’t think the Internet is reliable enough yet.
I don’t think it’s a question that the Internet isn’t reliable enough but that it is a rapidly evolving environment. What works today for the majority of users may be rendered incompatible with the next release of some browser.
That’s innovation. You either do it or you become food for the bottom feeders.
If future compatibility is a concern then by far the most reliable platform is Flash. You publish to the current version and 9 versions later it will still work just as it did on launch day. How can anyone complain about that?
I also think the disabled users issue is completely bogus. If you have an HTML site and your focus is for disabled users then it’s still going to be a less than ideal experience for them. With Flash you could make a site that is a dream for disabled users to use. How about letting buttons speak to them. How about all the text being audible or give them a scrolling TextField with a font of 150pt.
I think I’m going to have to make a website for visually impaired people just to show everyone that it isn’t a limitation of Flash. It’s a limitation of the developers, me included, who just don’t take the time to work these features in.
And I for one pray that Adobe never open sources the Flash player. I don’t want to have to test my code against various players. That’s why I left HTML behind.
Oh, wait, you’re one of the OpenSource preachers. I think I mentioned in the article that you guys can’t be pleased. This is the crowd that complains that the Declaration of Independence isn’t screen reader friendly.
Get over it.
Original post by polyGeek and software by Elliott Back …
Well said Dan! But dude, Clarinets ARE so music1.0. Also, I hear the Sax is the new Obo.
Open Formats yes, Open Source not necessarily. I am going to buy the full commercial version of Corel Painter in the next couple months. The issue is not that I cannot afford it, but I am not going to pay hundreds of dollars for a program where I can get it for free for what I need. I would consider buying Adobe products if they provided me with value over Open Source ones, but I am definitely not buying any programs that aren’t universal binaries, because if I need to buy a new Mac computer, then it is going to an Intel version - they don’t make new PowerPC Macs anymore - something Adobe should have considered when Intel Macs were shipping with beta versions of Flash Player. At least Adobe Reader we don’t need as there are already better PDF viewers even for Windows. When I pay hundreds of dollars for software I expect more useful features from them than I do from free products. The problem with Flash is that it depends on Adobe staying in business and I don’t believe that is going to be true for a long enough time for me. Putting something on the Internet as licensed under a creative commons license will last longer than publishing a book, because my rights are not controlled by a publisher that isn’t going to bother to keep it if there isn’t continual demand for it - when the demand stops -there goes my creative work.
On the accessibility issue, I never said that it was impossible with Flash. You have a good idea - show people a sample project of how to make Flash accessible and then have it tested by people who are blind and then publicize it. I am sure many people would be glad to be shown how. I am not confident that I could do this with Flash - I excel at writing, not programming.
Ryan, LOL.
Ben, the only suggestion I can offer is to just stick with .txt files. I’m pretty sure that they will always be readable. If you’re a writer then what more do you need? I don’t use any MS Office apps either.
Ben, after further consideration - okay, after my wife pointed it out to me - I realize I was a bit more dismissive than I should have been. Especially after writing a post espousing that we should all just learn to get along with each others technologies.
So, my apologies. You have valid concerns. I think questioning the existence of Adobe is a little fringe as it is likely to outlast the USA but still. Nothing lasts forever. I feel the same way about many things. To this day I use a text editor for writing HTML. We all have our preferences and they don’t have to be logical. It’s just the way we like things. Who’s to say what is best for another?
I appreciate your last comment and can sympathize with not being able to get Open Source and disabled users to be satisified. That is why I was suprised when you thought I was an Open Source evangelist. I wasn’t insulted at all - I don’t consider myself pure enough to be called that but it is not offensive. I have frustrations with people on Linux sites as well. I do think Flash is a great technology and I like seeing peoples websites that have it - I just don’t think it is right for my uses. I also have defended Adobe technologies on other forums like when people argue that PDF isn’t open. Almost everything on my website uses the PDF format and I very greatful to Adobe for giving this great technology away with virtually no restrictions.
This is a great post! The truth is that often you can make different frameworks/formats/software work in whichever situation. The only problem I have is with people who say “no, blah blah is the only real way”, which is clearly not true.
Its a bit like people and their religions and beliefs who don’t see room in the world for others.
and on a less serious note i did enjoy this comment: “the only suggestion I can offer is to just stick with .txt files.” :-)
Collis, Good analogy with the religion bit. We definitely have a vested interest in what we have learned.
And hey, I don’t have MS-Office installed. All my documents are .txt files.
haha the only thing i think that .txt is missing is bold. I love bold. It just makes text so much better. Introduce bold and i will turn my back on MS-Office
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