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Re: open source
Millie Niss on eathlink
Sep 24, 2003 09:18 PDT
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No, I'm not confused about the difference between authoring tools and the formats they create... I know I can edit HTML without Dreamweaver, but Dreamweaver makes it a lot easier. Likewise, Flash is the best authoring tool for SWF. I think the problem with open source for doing web art is that open source developers have focused on tools for programmers, rather than end-users. And open source programs tend not to have the fancy interfaces and automation tools of commercial authoring environments. I use open source PHP and mySQL, and they are great tools for developing collaborative systems, although I haven't reached that level yet myself. But they are, as I said, programmers' tools. I am happy to be a programmer when writing programs, but to do web animation I'd prefer not to have to program (although I do write programs in Flash Actionscript). A simple task like making a graphical button that changes when you mouse over it and does some task is so much easier to do in Flash than in a real programming environment. Java had a good potential for being an open source alternative to Flash for writing web programs, but Microsoft messed it up (as usual!) -- their settlement with Sun said they only had to keep Java in their browsers for 7 years, and they have only Java 1.2, not Java 2. Also, Microsoft introduced C# as an alternative to Java and it is slowly eking away at Java's user community. So if you write a Java 2 program using useful tools like Swing (yes, it is possible but difficult to use Swing on 1.2), you make your Microsft Internet Explorer users download a 20-minute plug in to get Java 2. And experience shows that they simply won't do it, just to look at web art. Also, Java is great for making applications, but it is not as good a platform as Flash or Director for making multimedia because it does not have built in support for concepts like the movie clip and tweening (or transitions in the case of director). I would be happy to write, say, a tax calculator in Java, but I'd hate to make a cartoon in it! Again, Java is a programmers' tool. I don't mean to be critical of the open source community here, because the authors of open source tools ARE programmers and they are writing for a community of programmers. There is nothing wrong with that. Plus, many open source tools, such as the UNIX operating system (which is not really open source now, but sort of is) and the C language were developed for companies the developers worked for, and then released to the general public. That meant that the developers were getting paid while they worked on these tools. I don't know how people would have the free time to write major programs if they couldn't do it on work time (although the developer of Linux did use his own time, I think). Still, I wish I could do all my work with open source tools. I like the ethos of the open source movement. I used Emacs on Unix for years, as well as TeX and fig and other open source programs. In fact, during my college and grad school years, I rarely if ever used a commercial program, since I was working in Unix where so many open source tools are available. Millie ----- Original Message ----- From: <garrett-*at*eudoramail.com>; To: <collabo-*at*topica.com>; Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 11:36 AM Subject: Re: [freecooperation] the tools we use
alternative >there are no decent authoring tools). I'm also not >aware of any technology that allows you to do cross->platform cross-browser programming as well as Flash >and with as much penetration. I don't even know an >open source alternative to Dreamweaver, although I am >sure there are some-- HTML editing is not that hard a >task. I'd like to use open source, but how, given >that I want to do web art? (DHTML is not the answer >and it isn't open source anyway...)
are not limited to creating swf's in flash, there are some other applications out there that do this - i think i remember seeing a review of them on webmonkey.com at some stage.
thing for you! its not that your necessarily programming cross-platform more the donkey work has been done for you to ease development. on client side things like this there are other options, Director or Java for example, true steeper learning curve for these but more control as well. Java is open source and can be created (at least i think thats the official status, somebody might correct me on that?) with many different environments and is cross-platform. by dreamweaver i suppose you mean html which again is opensource - all you need to create html is notepad on pc or simpletext on the mac! they are both free - i use bbedit, i think theres a free version of that.
route -- >to simply choose an environment and then, over the
the tools that might be needed for this but good simple tools to start with, open-source, open-ended and accessible would help overall.
rather than have vague wandering disscussions as there tend to be in many lists we can identify problematic areas and work towards solutions for these much as a scientific study would.
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