Review of Adobe Edge Preview

Adobe has shown the newest HTML authorizing tool Adobe Edge for a while. Acoording to Adobe, with that tool the making of animated web pages should be easier. Precisely, "Adobe Edge create animated web content using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript with ease, power and precision". With a lot of interest I have tested the product. The version Preview 1 is of Aug. 18, 2011 and the Preview 2 of Sept. 8, 2011.

The experience from Preview 1 is really disappointed. There are only 4(!) tools available on the toolbar: select, rectangle, rounded rectangle and text. So only thing I can do is draging the tools to the stage and making some changes to the object.

Now comes the so called big part. The animation part will be done with a timeline that is very similar to that in Adobe Flash. Define the starting and ending property value, the animation (between frames) will be generated automaticly. After doing that, we can take a preview in a browser directly without saving.

If we look at the source code, Adobe Edge utilites jQuery framework actually to make the animation possible. All the animations are capsuled in one generated JavaScript file and all the propery changes will be defined in one CSS file. The part of the html contains only the UI element.

The source code of a html file looks like that:


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Untitled</title>
<!--Adobe Edge Runtime-->
<script type="text/javascript" src="edge_includes/jquery-1.6.2.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="edge_includes/jquery.easing.1.3.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="edge_includes/edge.0.1.2.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="edge_includes/edge.symbol.0.1.2.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="Untitled-1_edge.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="Untitled-1_edge.css"/>
<!--Adobe Edge Runtime End-->

</head><body style="margin:0;padding:0;">
<div id="stage" class="symbol_stage">
</div>
</body>
</html>

That idea sounds good, because the user can use Adobe Edge as Adobe Flash. BUT, wait a second, the real world is very complicated. What about a property that is only deteminated by runtime or even by the related position to other objects? Adobe Edge seems cannot afford such kind of work at the moment.

Actually, Adobe Edge is somehow like Adobe Catalyst compared with Adobe Flash Builder. In Adobe Edge, the source code of a html file cannot be seen or edited. It is really like a tool for traditional Flash developers who begin to jump into the html world.

As fas as I said, there is still a long way for Adobe Edge to go to let the web developers accept the tool.

Reborn

It seems somehow a long time passed by that I didn't make a new post here. The reason is very simple: the iPhone.
Since I've used the iPhone around 2009, it is always a tough job for me to post something on blogger.

There are many apps on iPhone which can do the communication well, such as twitter, Facebook and so on. But until today Google gets the blogger app on the iPhone. So I think it may be already too late for such service from google. Anyway, I will try to update my blog here from today :-)

Time is too slow for those who wait

I would say I am not the kind of person who can be easily touched after living such long years, but this little poem really hits me at the first moment.

Time is too slow for those who wait 

by Henry Van Dyke

Time is too slow for those who wait,

too swift for those who fear,

too long for those who grieve, 

too short for those who rejoice,

but for those who love, 

time is eternity.

If life is a game...

These days I met a lot of things like in a drama. Luckily, all these things are good. So it makes me think, if life is a game, what I made in this game?

Personally I love Nintendo Wii so much, but the problem is, I don't have so much room for the sport game of it. :( Ironically saying, I have bought the monthly entrance to a gym club, but I haven't made any sport training since months. All what I am dreaming about is doing the training at home before the TV set with Wii!!

I searched the whole web with the keyword "if life is a game", and I found a genius text about the idea. The fancy of Steve Pavlina is very impressive, such as:

The only way to lose the game of life is not to play. When you actively play the game, you gain skill and experience (and hopefully gold as well). Keep playing, and you’ll eventually build yourself a level 10, level 20, level 30 character. Just make sure that when you hit level 30, you aren’t still fighting level 10 monsters.

or this one:

If you find yourself in a human body, you came here to play the game of human life. Don’t sit on the sidelines whining like a noob. The truth is that if you lose all your gold, if your teammates dump you, or if your character gets infected by the plague, it’s all part of the game. Every setback initiates another round of compelling choices. The game isn’t supposed to be fair — it’s supposed to be fun and interesting. Whether or not you have a fun and interesting experience largely depends on what kind of player you are.

I must say, I learned a lot from that text "Life - The Ultimate Game". Take a look at it, you may lose 5 minutes in your game of the life, but it really worths! :)

A word

If you don’t know where you are going, you may end up somewhere else.