Tag Archive for 'adobe'

Where is the “Save and Compact” in CS5?

Published on August 10, 2010 in Interaction design and Power-up Media. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I found the “Save and Compact” was missing from the new Flash CS5. At first it didn’t bother me until I copied a previous project with loads of bitmaps to act as base for a new project.
I always work this way when I start a new project: I copy my most recent (similar) project, remove the stuff I don’t need, rename some stuff and start building the new project.
No problem for as-files, but oddly enough stuff like movie clips, sounds, bitmaps, etc. you remove from your fla-file-library are not actually removed from the fla-file itself. This means all stuff removed from the library is actually just hidden (but with no way to un-hide) and will float forever in your fla-file without any use.
In previous Flash versions this problem could be solved by hitting the “Save and compact” option but for some reason they removed this option in the CS5 version of Flash.

Very annoying if you ask me because I just want to work like I was used to without fla files growing in size with each new project (for no apparent reason).
Luckily I found a very simple solution: clear everything from your library you don’t need any more and then just hit “Save as…” and save as a CS4 file. Thiss step will remove most of the overhead. After this, saving it again as CS5 file will reduce the file-size even more!

This trick is a bit more work than before (and it would make more sense if Flash did it all by itself),  but atleast it gets the job done.

Hopfully an update for CS5 will get rid of this problem once and for all…

Buggy Flash 9 IDE

Published on June 24, 2007 in ActionScript, Interaction design and Power-up Media. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Just great how Adobe manage to screw up something that was working just fine. :|

After reading Den Ivanov’s post I wanted to make a comment but it became so big I decided to make a post about it myself;

Apart from the bug Den describes there are tons more. I also have troubles with the panels who very often lose their “titlebar” in which case it’s impossible to close them or switch to other tabs in that panel. The only way to restore them is to close and open the panel (hit F4 twice).
There also is a bug in the sizing of the help window as it often resizes to the height of the screen making it impossible to read the complete content. :(

It’s a shame they release a version that is even more buggy than it’s alpha version. Flash 9 is almost the same as version 8 (apart from the as3 compiler) and yet they manage to screw up the IDE.
Too bad the alpha version of Flash 9 couldn’t handle components because it was much more stable than this buggy crap. :evil:

I really hope they fix these bugs (they are definitely not eastereggs like Den said) in the next update…

How Adobe sucks on interaction design…

Published on June 7, 2007 in Interaction design and Power-up Media. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .

…at least when it comes to installing the Flash Player plug-in for IE.

 Just great! now I have to help people with installing the Flash Player because Adobe makes the install procedure way harder than necessary! Here is the story:

First of all, most people who need to install the Flash Player are probably not as handy and familiar with the internet like you and me. And they were most certainly linked to the install page by the site they wanted to view.

Note that I emphasized the word “need” because these people want to see a certain site (or other Flash-app for that matter), but therefore they need to install the player! Remember that the Flash Player is just a tool!

Like I said, most people who need the player are internet rookies, so the trick would be to keep the procedure as simple and clean as possible. That way people can’t click the wrong buttons or panic because they are afraid to click anything at all (like my mother always does :roll: ).

Unfortunately the install procedure is just the opposite simplicity.
It starts at the first page:

1) There  is too much text and it’s all over the place; causing the panic effect.

2.1) There is some stuff about the Google Toolbar. Why??? I want to install the Flash Player. Nothing more, nothing less.

2.2) The Google Toolbar-install is preselected.
If I wanted that toolbar I would have downloaded it elsewhere! But OK, if they want to point out how useful the toolbar is, fine! but DON’T PRESELECT IT!!! If I want it I can select it myself, thank you!

3) The “Install Now” button is somewhere in the middle of the page. Put it on the top or the bottom of the page so people can find it! I admit it’s a clear button, but if you’re using a small resolution (still normal to most people though) you could just as easily miss it when scrolling down too fast.

4) The instructions on how to install are BELOW the install button!?!?
This means that when I press the install button I miss out on the part where they tell me about the security alert on the next page. Which leaves “my mother” clueless when the alert shows on the next page.

Somehow all above problems are gone when you try to install the player on Firefox. So they know how it must be done, but they just refuse somehow…

Anyhow; if the user gets to the second page (most users probably are already scared of by the first page) it’s slightly better… if the player was installed. But if the user clicked the “Don’t Install” button (because he didn’t read the instructions on the first page) there is no message telling the user the installation has failed because he didn’t allow Adobe products to be installed. Resulting in the following situation:
Failed Flashplayer install

They display a small version of the instruction on this page again (saying “click Yes” while there is no “Yes” button for miles around :? ), but if your browser screen is not big enough (like in the image below) you see the warning after you pressed “Don’t Install”, leaving the user clueless on what to do next (no “installation failed” message, remember).

Flash install security

If Adobe doesn’t change the install procedure of the Flash player I’m afraid many inexperienced internet users can’t get the player to install and will never experience the beauty of Flash… :cry:

PS: this story is based on real end-user feedback (some of them even sending me screenshots of the install procedure) which means I’m not just assuming this procedure sucks, it means:

I know this procedure suck!