To Flex or not to Flex

Shakespeare: “What light thru yonder window breaks - 'tis the east! And Juliet (Flex) is the sun…!”

Maybe mixing content/context interfaces (like literature metaphors) isn't the best approach, but why read the book when you can see the movie! (Well, the book is usually better...but it involves reading [gasp]). In transitioning or newly developing an interactive user interface there are several options to consider.

In recent days, I’ve had the opportunity to play around with FLEX and build several sample ‘apps’; In the process, I’ve learned much about what makes information useful, and just how hard it can be to present it in a way that captivates an audience such that the information provides a benefit to the user.  When given a choice of technology to implement a dynamic interface, I think that FLEX will stand out as a means to achieve whatever ends you seek.

In the 'New World' of RIA (Rich Internet Application[s]), many approaches are available:

• Build a custom application from the ground up using Java/C++/C# and .NET technologies; Stand-alone application development takes time and commitment.
• Use traditional HTML and POST your way; Let the server shoulder the burden of processing and returning content to the user.
• Use DHTML (dynamic HTML) and have the client do the work; Requires that the client have a scripting language enabled (VB, JavaScript, etc…) and can also expose your business ‘logic’ to whoever cares to see it.
• Combine the two with AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to avoid pesky page refresh issues (dynamically update and change only certain portions of the page); Again requires scripting in the client.
• Make it FLASH !!!; A great way to graphically enhance a users experience, however customizing the entire interface can be painstaking.
• OR share the love, and let them all play together; just FLEX it! This technology combines many of the above features, and leverages built in features/components to speed up the development process.

With the new alpha (and now beta) release of FLEX 2.0, Adobe/Macromedia has once again changed all the rules (and the event model, and the prototype variables…). Combining the power of motion, ala FLASH, with a development model reminiscent of HTML coding, FLEX allows a developer to have his cake and eat it too. Flex supports not only dynamic components, but remote data access via web services. At the same time this framework is empowered by ActionScript (an extension of ECMAScript [ECMA-262], the defining rules for JavaScript), allowing applications to encompass as much customization as is necessary to get the job done right.
 
“If you build it, they will come.” Since FLEX uses the FLASH player browser plug-in (90+% market penetration, more than any other web technology) to present its content, user experience is uniform across all platforms. The bottom line with any interactive user interface comes down to two basic concepts: What does it do, and how does it do it. The ‘what’ depends on what kind of information you want to present, and the ‘how’ can make the difference between something that is useful and something that is useless. Look for the public release of Flex 2.0 in the first half of 2006.