REFLEXRethinking Component Design

by Jacob & Tyler Wright

FLASH - AN OPEN INTERACTIVE MEDIUM

TED PATRICK“Platforms should never limit creativity, they should

enable it openly and this strikes at the core as to why

Flash has succeeded for so long. There are no SWF

approval police or terms of use for Flash content, it is

the wild west of interactivity.

“Flash will never stop innovating both inside and

outside of Adobe. The Flash ecosystem is one of the

greatest in terms of creativity and technical ingenuity.”

REFLEX DEFINED

• Reflex: a Component Framework

• Component: User Interface control

• The UI is the window into an application

• ... Reflex is a method and a framework

COMPONENTSA BRIEF HISTORY

• The Graphical Operating System

• The Magical Interwebs

• Developed for the present: familiarity === usability

• “What has been proven by Flash developers is that users expect so much more...”

THE NEED

• A new generation of UI design & branding

• User Experience: usability & content focused

• Diversity in screens & devices

• The line between enterprise application & mobile widget is blurring

THE NEED

• Increased capacity for custom design

• New approaches to interaction

• Even more flexible, faster, lighter

REFLEXRETHINKING COMPONENT DESIGN

• ... Reflex is a method and a framework

• A coming together of ideas, for “richer and cheaper”

• A new approach, captured for the Flash Platform

THE SOLUTION

• Principles:

• Pay-as-you-go & composition

• Close to the core, strength in the Flash Player

• “Less code”

THE SOLUTION

• Approach:

• Review of data

• Selection

• Progress & Position

SKINNING

• Visual representation on the screen

• Render to any target display object

• Enhanced by ISkinnable targets

• data, state, layout, getSkinPart()

SKINNING

• Skin Types

• Drawing API

• Flash Professional Graphics

• MXML

BEHAVIOR

• User interaction and state defined

• Listen to any interactive object

• Also enhanced by ISkinnable targets

• Listeners, state, skin parts

BEHAVIOR

• Behavior Types

• Step behavior

• Slide behavior

• Cursor & Tooltip behaviors

THE COMPONENT

• Reflex component suite

• Core design and functionality unified

• Named package for convenience and styling

THE COMPONENT

• Containment

• Layout

• Replication

THANK YOU

• Tyler Wright - Legato Mediaxtyler.com ... @xtyler

• Jacob Wright - Jive Softwarejacwright.com ... @jac_