Designer to Flex developer workflow in CS3?

Flex This is a question to Adobe and everyone else … I would like to know in detail which products from Creative Suite 3 can/should be incorporated into a Flex User Interface designer to a Flex developer work flow and how each of these products would facilitate or enhance this flow?

I asked this same question at the CS3 launch in Bangalore on Thursday but the Adobe presenters there had very little idea about what Flex is (one of them thought Flex is a server side only technology) and could not help me much. I know both Fireworks CS3 and Flash CS3 have some special support for Flex but I’m yet to explore all that.

Thank you in advance to everyone for all your help

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Published:: 05.12.07 / 1pm

Category:: Flex, RIA

11 Comments

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Serge 05.12.07 / 2pm

You can use Illustrator to create SWF’s which you can use to skin components through CSS.

You can use Fireworks to create styled (not skinned) MXML. So In FW you can drag and drop Flex components, give them colors and export it to MXML.

In Flash you can now make Flex components with the component kit that you can find on labs.adobe.com and you can off course also make SWF’s again to use through CSS.

Serge
Mrinal Wadhwa 05.12.07 / 2pm

Thank you for your comment Serge.

The SWFs could be used even before CS3, so the new stuff you mention is:

1. Fireworks: create styled mxml …. well this may be helpful to some but I would prefer to do it all in css as styles take away a lot of flexibility.

2. Flash component kit: This seems to have good potential, I had noticed talk about this a little while back on mxna but just didn’t have to explore… i will do that now. Thank you.

Are there any other Flex specific features in CS3?
JabbyPanda 05.12.07 / 3pm

You had mentioned 2 CS3 products Flash and Fireworks to have some support for Flex already, and I cannot add more to that list

Flash can now import Photoshop’s PSD files directly and automatically recognizes layers, thus can I say that Flex supports design that was mocked up in Photoshop too?

BTW, be sure to watch this intelligent presentation recorded in Adobe Connect:
“How to embed Flash CS3 content into Flex 2″
https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a300965365/p75214263/
Mrinal Wadhwa 05.12.07 / 5pm

Thank you for pointing to the recorded session, it was very helpful
Serge 05.12.07 / 5pm

True… SWF’s to use in CSS is not new to CS3. Have a look at the Flex Component kit for Flash CS3… That is really amazing and very powerful!
Mrinal Wadhwa 05.12.07 / 5pm

Wow it sure is …. I’m impressed !
david 05.13.07 / 5am

Look also at the new 9-slice support in Illustrator!
Matthew Fabb 05.13.07 / 10pm

On the Adobe Developer Center, there’s a couple of articles about using CS3 to help design for Flex 2.

Exporting MXML and images from Fireworks CS3
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/mxml_images_export.html

Creating rich symbols for MXML and Images export in Fireworks CS3
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/rich_symbols_export.html

Designing Flex 2 skins with Flash, Photoshop, Fireworks, or Illustrator
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/flex_skins.html
Mrinal Wadhwa 05.14.07 / 9pm

Thanks for the pointer David
The scale-9 support is very nice!
Mrinal Wadhwa 05.14.07 / 11pm

Thank you Matthew,
All those articles are very informative.
swetha 08.06.07 / 10am

hi all,

did anybody knows how to write code for REDEYE removal for an image?

thanks,

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Mrinal Wadhwa, I am a 24 year old Rich Internet Consultant with extensive experience in building Rich Internet Applications. This weblog captures my thoughts on the evolution of a richer Internet.

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