Advantages of Using Flash Catalyst

We have been currently working on a desktop application with customized components. As you may be aware without Flash Catalyst the work flow for creating an application with customized components can be time consuming and very demanding. You can customize the components using Flex Style Explorer or customize the templates offered in Illustrator, Fireworks, Flash or PhotoShop. However, Adobe is now bridging the gap between design and development to make it easier. Flash Catalyst Beta has just been released. Is it a disappointment or not? There are many opinions out there. In this post we will review some of the advantages of Flash Catalyst and what it has to offer.

Graphical User Interface Design

Currently, we are working on building a new desktop application. It all begins with good planning and beautiful design. Here are four steps with tips that will help designers design a successful application.

Flex Style Explorer

An important part of developing for Flex is skinning or styling the components. Flex has a great set of components with a default appearance. If you want to customize the components to style them without loosing time use Flex Style Explorer. Flex Style Explorer has a very nice visual dashboard which allows you to edit colors, padding, corner radius, fonts, shadows, alpha, background, and more. Once you edit a component it creates the CSS for you and you can export the CSS. This is great for any designer or developer. You do not need Flex to use Flex Style Explorer. You can use Flex Style Explorer in Fireworks CS3 or on the web. This article will cover new features, the advantages, the disadvantages, and exploring components in Flex Style Explorer.