diluminati :
On what channel was this? I can find out more if you tell me the channel.

A tinkerer myself, I'm curious to see the rest of your post.
As for 'sweet-pawn for president', first step: dont promise to post, just post.

Just learned about YSlow, apparently Yahoo had an identical tool out before Google did,

http://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/

@origina9ja
They will search for "tv" and get back very many useless results that they have to pick through.
By crafting a specific search, they get back specific, targeted results, and save time in the long run.

Picking the right keywords is (in some circles) considered an art!

Very VERY useful considering our bandwidth challenges at home.

http://google-code-updates..com/2009/06/introducing-page-speed.html

http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/

Guys in the US: any idea what channel the match will be on?

So true, we really need the enabling environment,
Not sure where this guy works out of , but if Nigeria, would be good to have him link with aspiring iPhone developers, I wonder if there is an iphone dev community in Naij,

Someone tell me, are iphones common? and if not, are they in high demand?

Haba, am I the only one that feels some pride about this?

Very impressive iPhone App by Tunji Afonja, sweeping the iPhone community

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10225946-2.html


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68_Fs79IeGM


Time to step your game up people!

Sounds very good man, quite the undertaking. How confident are you that this will be adopted by current users of FB, Twitter, and other social platforms that are less culturally specific (ie: they connect you globally, and within their global context, you can create your own 'naija bubble')?

In my opinion, the pitchpoint of "social platform for nigerians" should to be expanded upon even further to get a broad buy-in from consumers, eg: i'd be inclined to be involved if a % of advertising proceeds goes to schools or healthcare in naija, That aside, I think of sites like sturvs and allafrica, those are culturally specific, but the content appeal to me. However, they are not to be my new social platform of choice, instead they compliment my other platforms (facebook for example), with an integrated app, Do you guys plan on going against the big names, or having the site compliment them?

"An interactive platform that connects Nigerians [. . .] showcasing the creativity of nigerians in the web space"

I'm interested, but the description is still a bit vague to me, A few questions:

Who's the target market?
Content creators (any kind of content -digital or otherwise ; referring to the creativity that will be showcased)?
Or random users (any Tunde, Emeka and Ifeoma with an internet connection, but what would be their contribution be)?

What currently existing sites/services out there is it similar to?

When you say platform, do you mean platform in the true sense of the word, where there will be an API available to developers, or webservices that can be consumed, or 3rd party apps that can be installed?

I'm genuinely curious.

Here's an example of one such study on User Experiences (from the official google blog)
http://googleblog..com/2009/02/eye-tracking-studies-more-than-meets.html


Also, a link to some books on user experience
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=user+experience&x=0&y=0

I hope some people will actually read and understand this information, and emerge as better designers or information architects because of it.

>> dat is bs actually.
>> "You do what you have to do in the best way possible so your work will be ok"

Sure, but if someone provides you with the tools and information to make your work even better, do you ignore it?

The article is a guide.  There have been many studies around aesthetics and visual experiences, that show why some visual work is more compelling than others.  Think about billboard adverts you see on the expressway; those designers follow certain rules to ensure the viewing experience will be successful.  They keep in mind a lot of factors, such as the size of the display, and location; the viewing distance and angle from the road--usually from below, in a car driving; the font, they must pick a very legible one;  the spacing between words and images, so that it can be read at a glance. 

The same concepts are in web design, you take into account screen resolution, complimentary colors, font size and placement, you realize that most users skim pages and are drawn to what elements are more prominent or stand out more, etc etc.  This article really makes a lot of these rules very clear. Here I am sharing it with you, and you say it is BS? 

I see so many sites from home that take none of these important points to mind, and your reply helps explain why.  Whether it is pride (because no one can teach you anything), or you just dont understand the value of such information,  no matter the reason, it's quite sad.

I found this wonderful post, full of examples and tips on what makes quality web sites so special. The details are so subtle, but make such a huge difference in giving your site the 'polished' look. Finally someone has put all these details (most of them) in one place!

http://wefunction.com/2009/04/quality-within-web-design/

good effort on spreading the word, dhtml.

If I have the time, I may start a complementary thread on building non server-dependent desktop apps, using free tools and the flex sdk.

@dhtml: I love your story, and your genuine interest to help share the joys of flex with others. I was very much on the same page, actually gave a flex seminar in lagos , in 2007 ( http://naij-ria.com ), and hoped to make it an annual thing, but it's been a bit challenging. Anyways, I'll be able to help contribute to the thread as I have time.


@uspry1: I had dozens of posts on Flex, Flash, and AIR that were deleted by Seun and are unrecoverable. This was before you were moderator, and I was an active poster. Since then, I lost the motivation to post on NL. Now I just observe once in a while

@yawa-ti-de: seriously oh, much to tell you!

Good to see people are picking up.

dhtml:
I've been a flex developer for 4 years (since flex 1.5), a flash developer (not designer) for 11 years, and a software developer for about the same. I just left Adobe where I was for 3+ years as a flex developer and advisor to the flex engineering team. I actually had a lot of posts here on Nairaland pertaining to flex, but they got deleted by the moderator after a falling out. Since then I havent had the motivation to be as active as I was before. as I lost over a hundred posts. Anyways, recent posts are here:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?action=profile;u=148155;sa=showPosts

You can check my blog here http://blogs.adobe.com/ekz

Looking at your screenshot,
1) you dont seem to be using any mvc framework (cairngorm, puremvc, etc). Any reason why?
2) you seem to be building a very simple site, not a web application. It would be hard to make a case for that since using flex adds an additional 120k or so to your swf (for the framework code).

Question, how long have you been using flex?

Great resources, RIA blog aggregator :
http://feeds.adobe.com/

micha3l : reach me via ikamanu[at]gmail.com

Nice one. Thanks.
Any app suggestions? What do people want that is not available?

micha3l: have you looked at Adobe flex yet?
You should fully make the transition to a coder's development environment and build apps for flex and AIR
posted this response on Nairaland some time ago :
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-133552.0.html#msg2261140

@micha3l

Nice one.  I've been an AS developer for about 11 years, back while it was still all "tell target" scripts in flash version 3

I work for Adobe now, as an RIA engineer, working extensively with AS3, MXML, and more recently, AIR desktop applications written in AS3.

reach me on ekz[a t]efficiencyarchitect.com

http://blogs.adobe.com/ekz

Please reply to this thread and let me know what brand (nokia/lg/ericsson) and what model (e71/k800i/etc) of phone/pda that you carry.

I'm taking a survey to see what phones are in heavy rotation back home.  I'm slowly getting into development of mobile software for the naija market, so I want to what phones/pdas are popular, so I know what OS to make a priority.  Pleas respond to the thread, and also if you have have a good idea of what is the majority of mobile phones/pdas/mobile operating systems, respond with that information as well!

Been ages since I've been on NL. Nice one with the informed discussion. Dont have anything to add.

Yeah unfortunately, I wont be purchasing it with service. I am purchasing it from an independent seller.

I want to buy a Blackberry (Curve) in the US for use in Lagos on the MTN network.
1) Is there a place where I can unlock the phone?
2) How much does this service cost?
2) Is there anything i should be aware of before purchasing the phone? a particular model number perhaps?


thanks.

Haha, yes oh,

Though i feel it will be a while before people grab what the hell i'm talking about in the blog, since it's Adobe Flex and AIR stuff.

Another new post went up today

Option #1 is what I've typically used, but with a twist. Your solutions rely on having the display logic reside entirely in the php (or whatever you have on the middle tier). An efficient solution would require some knowledge of Flash/AS, and involve having some of the logic on the flash side of things:

1) Have a single include for all pages, say banner.php
2) Within banner.php, you instantiate your flash swf
3) In banner.php, conditionally pass a variable *into* the swf, depending on if the swf has been cached or if this page has been hit before
eg. : instead of loading "banner.swf" , you load "banner.swf?hasBeenViewed=<?=isCached?>"
you can 'feed' variables to a swf using a query string.
4) In flash, before displaying or animating anything, check the flag 'hasBeenViewed' , and display appropriate content.

SWF searchability FAQ
( http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/swf_searchability.html )

Adobe is teaming up with search industry leaders to dramatically improve search results of dynamic web content and rich Internet applications (RIAs). Adobe is providing optimized Adobe Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo! to enhance search engine indexing of the Flash file format (SWF) and uncover information that is currently undiscoverable by search engines. This will provide more relevant automatic search rankings of the millions of RIAs and other dynamic content that run in Adobe Flash Player. Moving forward, RIA developers and rich web content producers won't need to amend existing and future content to make it searchable—they can now be confident that it can be found by users around the globe.

Why is this news important?
Adobe is working with Google and Yahoo! to enable one of the largest fundamental improvements in web search results by making the Flash file format (SWF) a first-class citizen in searchable web content. This will increase the accuracy of web search results by enabling top search engines to understand what's inside of RIAs and other rich web content created with Adobe Flash technology and add that relevance back to the HTML page.

Improved search of SWF content will provide immediate benefits to companies leveraging Adobe Flash software. Without additional changes to content, developers can continue to provide experiences that are possible only with Adobe Flash technology without the trade-off of a loss in search indexing. It will also positively affect the Search Engine Optimization community, which will develop best practices for building content and RIAs utilizing Adobe Flash technologies, and enhance the ability to find and monetize SWF content.

Why is Adobe doing this?
The openly published SWF specification describes the file format used to deliver rich applications and interactive content via Adobe Flash Player, which is installed on more than 98 percent of Internet-connected computers. Although search engines already index static text and links within SWF files, RIAs and dynamic web content have been generally difficult to fully expose to search engines because of their changing states—a problem also inherent in other RIA technologies.

Until now it has been extremely challenging to search the millions of RIAs and dynamic content on the web, so we are leading the charge in improving search of content that runs in Adobe Flash Player. We are initially working with Google and Yahoo! to significantly improve search of this rich content on the web, and we intend to broaden the availability of this capability to benefit all content publishers, developers, and end users.

Which versions of the SWF file format will benefit from this improved indexing and searching?
This solution works with all existing SWF content, across all versions of the SWF file format.

What do content owners and developers need to do to their SWF content to benefit from improved search results?
Content owners and developers do not have to do anything to the millions of deployed SWF files to make them more searchable. Existing SWF content is now searchable using Google search, and in the future Yahoo! Search, dramatically improving the relevance of RIAs and rich media experiences that run in Adobe Flash Player. As with HTML content, best practices will emerge over time for creating SWF content that is more optimized for search engine rankings.

What technology has Adobe contributed to this effort?
Adobe has provided Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo! that allows their search spiders to navigate through a live SWF application as if they were virtual users. The Flash Player technology, optimized for search spiders, runs a SWF file similarly to how the file would run in Adobe Flash Player in the browser, yet it returns all of the text and links that occur at any state of the application back to the search spider, which then appears in search results to the end user.

How are Google and Yahoo! using the Adobe Flash technology?
Google is using the Adobe Flash Player technology now and Yahoo! also expects to deliver improved web search capabilities for SWF applications in a future update to Yahoo! Search. Google uses the Adobe Flash Player technology to run SWF content for their search engines to crawl and provide the logic that chooses how to walk through a SWF. All of the extracted information is indexed for relevance according to Google and Yahoo!'s algorithms. The end result is SWF content adding to the searchable information of the web page that hosts the SWF content, thus giving users more information from the web to search through.

When will the improved SWF searching solutions go live?
Google has already begun to roll out Adobe Flash Player technology incorporated into its search engine. With Adobe's help, Google can now better read the SWF content on sites, which will help users find more relevant information when conducting searches. As a result, millions of pre-existing RIAs and dynamic web experiences that utilize Adobe Flash technology, including content that loads at runtime, are immediately searchable without the need for companies and developers to alter it. Yahoo! is committed to supporting webmaster needs with plans to support searchable SWF and is working with Adobe to determine the best possible implementation.

How will this announcement benefit the average user/consumers?
Consumers will use industry leading search engines, Google now and Yahoo! Search in the future, exactly as they do today. Indexed SWF files will add more data to what the search engine knows about the page in which it's embedded, which will open up more relevant content to users, and could cause pages to appear at a higher ranking level in applicable search results. As a result, millions of pre-existing rich media experiences created with Adobe Flash technology will be immediately searchable without the need for companies and developers to alter content.

When will the new results register on Google?
Google is using the optimized Adobe Flash Player technology now, so users will immediately see improved search results. As Google spiders index more SWF content, search results will continue to get better.

How will this announcement benefit SWF content producers?
Organizations can now dramatically improve the rich web experiences they deliver to customers and partners by increasing the use of Adobe Flash technology, which is no longer impeding the ability for users to find those experiences in highly relevant search results. RIA creators and other web content producers can now be confident that their rich media and RIA experiences leveraging Adobe Flash technology are fully searchable by users around the globe who use the dominant search engines. Furthermore, the ability to index information extracted throughout the various states of dynamic SWF applications reduces the need to produce an HTML or XHTML backup for the RIA site as a workaround for prior search limitations.

Does this affect the searchability of video that runs in Adobe Flash Player?
This initial rollout is to improve the search of dynamic text and links in rich content created with Adobe Flash technology. A SWF that has both video and text may be more easily found by improved SWF search.

Will Adobe Flex applications now be more easily found by Google search, including those that access remote data?
Yes, any type of SWF content including Adobe Flex applications and SWF created by Adobe Flash authoring will benefit from improved indexing and search results. The improved SWF search also includes the capability to load and access remote data like XML calls and loaded SWFs.

Does Adobe recommend a specific process for deep-linking into a SWF RIA?
Deep-linking, in the case of SWF content and RIAs, is when there is a direct link to a specific state of the application or rich content. A variety of solutions exist today that can be used for deep-linking SWF content and RIAs. It's important that sites make use of deep links so that links coming into a site will drive relevance to the specific parts of an application.

To generate URLs at runtime that reflect the specific state of SWF content or RIA, developers can use Adobe Flex components that will update the location bar of a browser window with the information that is needed to reconstruct the state of the application.

For complex sites that have a finite number of entry points, you can highlight the specific URLs to a search spider using techniques such as site map XML files. Even for sites that use a single SWF, you can create multiple HTML files that provide different variables to the SWF and start your application at the correct subsection. By creating multiple entry points, you can get the benefits of a site that is indexed as a suite of pages but still only need to manage one copy of your application. For more information on deep-linking best practices, visit www.sitemaps.org/faq.php.

Is Adobe planning on providing this capability to other search vendors too?
Adobe wants to help make all SWF content more easily searchable. As we roll out the solution with Google and Yahoo!, we are also exploring ways to make the technology more broadly available.

About the author
This content was authored by Adobe Systems, Inc.

Yeah I got it. Been waiting for you to come back on YIM for a proper chat.