Moving from Adobe Flex to plain HTML/CSS/JavaScript
For now, I decided to stop using Adobe Flex. Why? I will explain you now….
After completing 3 iPhone applications and having them available in the App Store, I wanted to continue on web development. Simply because its target audience is much broader, the content is not limited to iPhone (and iPod Touch) users. After some pleasant experiences with Adobe Flex and the FDRIA course I chose to work again with Flex Builder 3 on a new Rich Internet Application.
But I could not help getting an increasing unpleasant feeling on this technology. My applications are focused on clinical decision support, and I do not need highly visual interactive applications now. It’s all about content, and making that content available quick & neat. I like(d) Flex for the ActionScript language, the rapid application development, and the beauty of the user interface.
I did not like the filesize of the SWF files. Just a simple text-based application took up 250kb when it wasn’t even ready! Actually, I need to give credit to whom deserved it: I read a tweet by @taudep (Todd Prekaski) on the filesize of one of his Flex apps, when he compared it to Microsoft Silverlight. Silverlight did a much better job, in that case. That was my incentive to check on the filesize of my app: way too large. The demo of Flash Builder 4 did not make a difference, it just messed up my app (which is okay if innovations outweigh the need for backward compatibility).
I did not like being dependent on the Flash player, although it may be installed at 99% of desktop devices (not mobile at this moment). It seems to be slower, it’s not open-source, and vendor lock-in is a risk. Being dependent on the Flash Builder as well. I know the Flex SDK is open source, but without the Flash Builder it’s not fun working with. Of course, Adobe has the full right to do what they want – I have mine to choose.
I did not like the frequent bugs in Flex Builder. And yes, it was a bug in the IDE, and not in my code. A bug other people have been complaining about as well. Regularly I got an error message when building an application that I could not track down to the code. Just doing a Clean Build would solve it. Every time again (of course, sometimes the mistake was mine, but that turned out rather quickly).
And although not as important as the rest: I did not like all the iPad bashing by Flash evangelists. All right, you may be disappointed when the iPad turns out not to offer Flash support. You may add a #fucktheipad hashtag to your Twitter posts. And you may create some screenshot mockups of the iPad displaying Flash-enabled websites (that do NOT match reality, as has been demonstrated for Disney’s website on the iPhone). You may all do that… for one week. Arbitrary period, I agree. But the whole point is: continue your job and tackle the comments. Sure, I understand Apple is making money from the App Store. And allowing Flash-enabled games would reduce Apple’s income. But Apple is a business, not a charity foundation. Just do your job, and don’t tell other people are wrong… prove it, do a better job, and convince customers with a fantastic Flash player. Not with whining that Big Steve did not invite you to join the party.
That having said, I like to add I am still interested in Adobe’s technologies, and may be returning to it in the future. I think their cross-platform desktop development using Adobe AIR is good, Flash player 10.1 will be interesting for mobile devices (if battery rundown will not look as a Flash animation ;-) ) and the Open Screen Project is a good initiative in my opinion. But for text-based websites, I have chosen a different approach.
From my web development history, I should say I am going back to HTML & scripting. But actually it feels like “going forward” instead of going back. I have read the Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML e-book to update my knowledge on HTML and CSS. Currently I am using the Head First series for updating my knowledge of JavaScript and PHP/MySQL. Further I am looking forward to using a cross-platform JavaScript library. I bought a book on Prototype and Scriptaculous from the Pragmatic Programmers, but after some further reading I think I’ll end up using JQuery. All that using the Aptana Studio IDE.
I am looking forward to this new and open-standards technology. And to do some cross-browser testing, which is the other side of my current choice…
Talking about open things while defending apple is an oxymoron.
You say: “After completing 3 iPhone applications and having them available in the App Store, I wanted to continue on web development. ”
And you say “I did not like being dependent on the Flash player”, but you are dependent of an Iphone.
Maybe that’s the reason for my choice… I totally agree that Apple and Adobe are both businesses, and they can make choices of their own. I defend both, as I think they have the right to do so. However, my feelings about this got more unpleasant. So for that reason I want to reduce the amount of vendor-specific approaches, and convert to more open ones instead.
Yes, for some reason it makes more sense to use Flash, or maybe the iPhone SDK. For others, it does not. For plain text web development (including server-side and some client-side GUI stuff) it makes not. So I change.
If it does have added value (visuals, mobile platforms) things may be different.
(anyhow, thanks for the comments)
“Just do your job, and don’t tell other people are wrong…”
I think you just did the same thing, but saying that the Adobe evangelists were wrong ;)
It’s just opinion, you have a right to speak yours and everyone else has a right to speak theirs.
That said I’m not sure I came across any comments that just said ‘Apple are wrong’, and I think Adobe have moved forward in proving that the most of the points Apple put forward for not including Flash were not true (CPU, battery life etc).
Your move may release you from the dependecies of the Adobe Flash Player, but leave you stuck dependencies on the browser and or course their different implementations.
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This feels like my own story except I do not have any apps on the appstore. HTML-CSS-JS seems to be the call of the time now and has got reasons too.
We will see, what is there in future,once all the major players put their ultimate things on the table.
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You’ll hate CSS as much I do when you’re done…
Flex Developer
No problem in moving to HTML, but just some solutions if you return to doing Flex development. One if that moving to Flash Builder 4 should not break any Flex app. What happened is likely you changed the version of the Flex SDK that you were compiling against. Flash Builder 3.02 contains I think Flex 2.1 and Flex 3.2, meanwhile Flash Builder 4 contains Flex 3.5 and 4.0. However, it’s very easy to download more Flex SDKs, adding them to your SDK folder and then adding them as options in Flash Builder 4. You just need to find out what Flex SDK version you were using before and target that in compile options.
Also look into RSLs to reduce the size of your Flex project, as the Flex framework is removed from your files and you are just dealing with whatever content you have created. The user still has to download the RSL files containing the Flex framework, but they catch in the Flash Player so if the user has visited a Flex website before, they don’t have to download them again. There’s enough Flex websites out there that a good percentage of your users will have the Flex framework cached. Plus repeat users to your site won’t have to download the whole site again.
My own personal opinion is that HTML/JS/CSS is dependent on multiple vendors instead of a single vendor. With Flash is Adobe, with HTML/JS/CSS it’s Microsoft, Mozilla, Google and Apple plus anyone else who releases a browser and gets enough marketshare. W3C is the one that pushes the HTML spec forward, but it doesn’t matter what they decide the HTML spec should be, what matters is what is implemented by the browsers. Plus while technically HTML is more open, as a single developer I think it easier to provide input and do my little bit to direction Flash is going via Adobe’s JIRA bug and feature page, compared HTML which seem to be more shapped by the browser vendors and people who’s full time job is to work on the HTML spec rather than developers. Once again, nothing wrong with going to HTML, but that’s my 2 cents on the issue.
Is this even worth declaring to the world as you have done? It is a bit like declaring that “I am no longer going to use my microwave to keep my food cold”. It is kind of stating the obvious. If you are building applications that don’t need a rich UI, data visualizations or a cinematic engaging experience and that are very content heavy, plain old HTML is probably the way to go. Flex/Flash was not meant to replace HTML… just like you can’t replace Flash with HTML. Choosing the right tool for the job is part of what being a developer is all about.
@Matthew: thanks for the detailed reply, and you must be right regarding your comments on FB4 vs the Flex SDK. And as I said, I’ll definitely keep an eye on the Flex developments and the Open Screen Project – so I may be merging techniques in the future.
@Rob: well, maybe not everyone is familiar with that microwave, right? ;-) I am a full time MD and autodidactic programmer. This has advantages and disadvantages. From a content expertise view, I can create apps that others won’t create (but there may be a demand). From a technical point of view, I may run into my limits earlier than you do. This also reflects on my readers – part of them come from a technical background, and then this may be obvious. For the medical community (at least, the part interested in the technology behind) it’s not. I consider myself somewhere in between as a bridge between those two worlds. In case you want to learn something new, I’ll teach you something about neuroanatomy or performing a craniotomy… but then I’ll get the same response from my medical colleagues! *grin*
The real trick regardless of what type of application you are build is to KNOW when your users will benefit from the type of experience each technology can bring. It is very easy for people (clients, developers and designers) to make assumptions about what their users actually need, want and will benefit from. For example, in pediatrician’s office the doctor can easily sit at a computer and type notes as you talk to them. From a business standpoint the meets the business needs… “the notes are taken and recorded into a system that is backed up and secure and easily retrievable” and you probably wouldn’t think a richer experience is necessary. However, it probably doesn’t meet the “experiential requirements” as well as it could. There is nothing worse than talking to a doctor that isn’t looking you in the eye as you talk about medical concerns regarding your child. You want to feel like she is completely engaged with you. The best “experience” may be one that allows the doctor to look you in the eye and take notes the “old fashioned way” where you talk and she writes. So the application may be best suited for a tablet with a stylus. Perhaps it records the conversation and stores that in the database so the doctor can hear ever last nuance of the description of the symptoms.
This obviously is not the type of medicine you practice, but it illustrates the point that the experience is something that needs to be designed and developed into a system from the very beginning. One thing that Flex (and I would think Silverlight) gives you that HTML doesn’t is the freedom to design the “right” experience without being bound to what is possible cross browser. I have spent my fair share of nights and weekends troubleshooting problems with AJAX applications in which the “open source framework” was supposed to handle the browser differences.
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@Rob: thanks for the addition, and nice illustration along! :-)
Well, maybe it’s just a temporary switch. I cannot deny there is some ideology behind, but in the end it is the result that counts. Meaning: if my switch to HTML etc would turn out to be a bad decision (which could be possible) I would not hesitate coming back to Flex. For now, I want to give the whole OSS thing a (new) try. I think it will also be better for mobile decision support at this moment – but I am curious to see the developments of Flash Player 10.1 and the Open Screen Project (an initiative I am seriously happy with).
[…] now, I am making progress with my efforts in open web standards. As there is some NDA involved in my current project, I cannot do into […]