information designer

The DIGG API for AS3 is set up for use in Flex, not the Flash CS3 IDE (which seems to be a bad trend). Even though you can make it work without Flex, it’s not exactly straight forward. It also does not include any examples to help a developer get started. Unlike the AS2 version of the API, which includes three semi-useful examples.

In my quest to become Actionscript 3.0 / OOP proficient I put together this simple example using the DIGG API to pull the last 10 popular stories. Right now it’s only using the TextField to display and handle the events so there is no useHandCursor option unless you attach it to a Sprite or SimpleButton. But I added a rollover color and these are linked to the articles on DIGG.

Flash Content

Source Code

Note: The source code includes the entire set of Flex 2 classes, as the Digg API requires it and I wasn’t sure how to strip out the unused classes. I wanted to include everything necessary to publish from the Flash IDE.

Visualizing: tracing an aesthetics of data is a great overview from the recent Visualizar workshop focused on presenting data and numbers visually. Lots of fantastic information visualization example and info.

Joshspear.com interviewed one of my all time favorite designers and huge inspiration, Joshua Davis. I first heard about Josh when he presented at Flash Forward, San Fransisco 2001. He was talking about easing equations using Flash 5 and showing off his large collection of exploratory work in Flash. He continues to create new and interesting illustrations generated from his Flash “machines”.

Here are a few quotes from the interview:

Being creative, for me, is just a way of seeing the world hyper-sensitively. It’s not something I can turn on or off or something I learned.

I have commercials clients who hire me to create systems for commercials purposes. I feel it’s harder because you need to take the rules and boundaries of the clients project and brand, try to breathe a bit of yourself into those confines, and hope you create something new and exciting that benefits your growth as a designer and helps elevate the clients brand.

I’d like for my studio and the projects we take on to attempt to innovate and not replicate — set the trend, rather than following it. A lot of time this refers to the fact that clients often aren’t thinking about innovation, they’re just looking at what’s already been done. My studio is in the business of trying new and unexpected things.

Full Interview

Also, check out Joshua’s Flash workshop presentation and source files

ProximityManager for AS3 is a new class released by Grant Skinner who has recently updated it from his AS2 version. This is a great resource for graphing data or creating an interface based on proximity. Looking forward to playing with this one.

Flare Visualization Toolkit is a collection of ActionScript 3 classes for building a wide variety of interactive visualizations. The Demo page shows off some very interesting interactive graphing effects, I especially like the Distortion > Fisheye XY demo. Includes an API set up for Flex and documentation with tutorial.

gotoAndLearn() has been updated to Version 2 by it’s creator Lee Brimlow. This site is a fantastic reference full of video tutorials for anyone looking to learn or improve their Flash / Actionscript / AIR skills. There are many basic tutorials for a beginner and also more advanced topics on coding with AS3 and Papervision3D. The latest video is on creating a video player from scratch using AS3. I found it to be very informative to get Lee’s opinion and instruction on the topic.