What is Happening to Flash?

The other day a blog post written by Corban Baxter got the attention of a few of us inside of Adobe. This post voiced concerns about the current and future direction of the Flash authoring tool. I think these concerns are valid and I think many in the Flash community share them. So this post is my attempt at explaining what is happening within Adobe, and how Flash fits into our future. The way I’ll do it is by answering some questions that I hear fairly frequently when I talk to Flash folks.

Is Adobe planning on phasing out the Flash authoring tool?

Absolutely not! The Flash authoring team is hard at work on Flash CS4 and they are adding some amazing new features that will make the Flash community very happy. Trust me on this, Flash is about to change for the better. All of this started with Flash and Adobe is acutely aware of this. Of course there will always be other tools that come along to meet the needs of our ever-expanding community, and often these will grab the headlines, but Flash will not ever take a backseat to any new tool that comes along.

With ActionScript 3, is Adobe trying to focus more on developers?

This is where it gets a bit tricky simply because the Flash community contains such a wide variety of people from different backgrounds and skills. This is what I love about our community. The term devigner has emerged to describe people who are skilled at both design and development and this is exactly the type of person that best flourishes inside of the Flash authoring tool.

The ActionScript language has had to mature in order to allow us to continually push the limits of what’s possible on the web. Learning the new language is not easy and a lot of times it can be somewhat more difficult to do certain things as compared to AS2. But the amazing capabilities and performance of AS3 makes learning the language well worth the effort.

As a side note, I have been trying to focus my tutorials on AS3 as of late to make up for the lack of sufficient training out there. Most Flash classes still teach AS2 so it can be hard to get started. With this being said, you can absolutely still create Flash movies using AS2 as you take the time to transition to the new language.

Will Flash CS4 be focused on designers or developers?

Releases of the Flash authoring tool have always been cyclical when it comes to the target audience. Flash MX 2004 was heavily focused developers with the release of AS2. Flash 8 was focused squarely at the designer crowd and gave us such gems as the bitmap API, runtime filter tools, and a great new video component and codec. Continuing the cycle, Flash CS3 was focused primarily on adding support for AS3 and all that it entails. With this being said, each release has included great features for both designers and developers, regardless of what its main focus was. The way I see it though, is that all these features are geared for devigners, as we work on both sides of the aisle.

Now back to the question. Flash CS4 is clearly aimed at the interactive designer crowd and will contain such things as a completely revamped timeline and a brand new animation engine. All I can say is that auto-keyframing is finally here! Adobe has demoed a lot the new features at conferences such as MAX and FITC so I won’t rehash everything here. But if you are a designer, Flash CS4 will blow your mind.

Will the code editor ever be any better inside of Flash?

All I can say is that if you are holding your breath on this one, please resume breathing normally, as I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself. This is my biggest gripe with Flash and it has been for a long time. Unfortunately, overhauling the Flash code editor is just not on the roadmap right now. The reasons for this are many. Firstly, the general consensus is that hardcore programmers are using Flex, not Flash. You tell me, is that true? Making these kinds of changes to Flash are also not as easy as you may think. Before coming to Adobe I would say things like “why can’t they just put the Flex editor inside of Flash.” Ha ha, was I ignorant. Things don’t work like that in software development. I don’t want to paint too gloomy a picture here as the editor will get new features when possible, but for those hoping to have something on the level of what is inside of Flex, my response to you for the time being is that you’ll have to use Flex.

Why isn’t there better integration between Flash and Flex?

This is one area where we have really dropped the ball in the past. It often seems like two completely different companies create these tools. Here’s to hoping that things improve soon. Nuff said on this one.

Will there ever be a way for visual designers and video pros to make interactive Flash movies without having to be exposed to ActionScript?

All I can say on this front is that Adobe is very aware that this community exists and that they have been kind of left out of the action in the past. So, yes, there will be a way. Saying what it will be would get me fired so please just be patient on this one. Your day is coming I promise.

Ok that’s it for now. I’ve been writing this on a plane heading to DC and I need to go back to playing Bejeweled. Thanks to Corban for letting us know what’s up.