Join us on LinkedIn...

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=119762

NBC officially dumps Silverlight in favor of Flash for online video.

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/9/nfl-nbc-tap-adobe-s-flash-for-live-football

I recently got an email from LinkedIn about groups. Here is an excerpt:

"As an active member of LinkedIn Groups, we wanted to let you know about some changes we're putting in place in the coming weeks.

We are in the process of adding new functionality to enhance the experience of Groups, including the recent release of a searchable directory. We are also working with our development teams to bring new tools and widgets to this collaborative space throughout the rest of 2008."

So more tools and functionality are coming soon. I think that this is great news and will add more collaborative functionality to the communities (groups). In the email they also noted that they have set a limit of 50 groups that you can belong to.

Since we are talking about LinkedIn, here is a shameless plug for my Flash Coders group:

Flash Coders

For the past few years the common experience was that when you went to Nike.com you could expect to see a website that was completely in Flash. Just recently that appears to have changed. While Nike.com has Flash at the top of the page for a video player, the rest of the page is in HTML.

While this may shock some Flash evangelists, I think that this is a move for the best. More and more you will begin to see sites that were completely in Flash begin to move away from that approach. These reasons are not only for SEO reasons, but also other issues like load times and accessibility.

What does everyone else think? Is the era of full websites being in Flash dead?

After reading more about the whole Adobe announcement, they really seem to be pushing SwfObject 2.0. Why? Simply because it not only makes use of Javascript, but uses the older embed tags that we used to make use of before the whole IE "Click to Activate" issue.

This may also seem familiar if you publish an HTML file directly from Flash. It not only uses JavaScript, but has a no-script area that uses the older embed tags. To my knowledge Flash has already been doing this since Flash 8.

The problem with doing this is that it doesn't allow you the opportunity to make a search engine friendly version of your site. I know that this is the purpose of the Adobe announcement, but it is unproven technology. Additionally there is no way for a developer to test it or program Flash to have things show up properly in Google or Yahoo.

Currently creating an search engine friendly version of your flash site affords you the ability to have control over the way search engines will see your content. It also affords you the ability to create a non-flash version of the site for users that don't have Flash at all. So in theory you are creating a highly accessible version of your site by using .NET or something similar to transform the XML and assets that are used by the Flash into an XHTML version of your Flash.

It isn't all about search, it is also about making your content accessible to everyone, even those that don't have Flash.

Ever since Adobe has made its recent announcement about the improved ability to index Flash I have had a question. Where is the SDK for developers? Late last year when Google announced that they were using the Adobe Search SDK to begin to index flash files it was great because it was an SDK that developers could download.

What is the benefit of this you may ask? If Adobe was to release a new SDK based on the new tech that they are providing to Google & Yahoo developers could use this to build a Flash file that would be indexed properly. If they expect developers to simply hope that their file would be indexed properly they are mistaken. Files need to be built to optimize it for SEO, much in the same way that we optimize html files for SEO.

If the search engines were able to index most of the current flash sites, us as developers have no idea what will show up in Google? Do we have to wait for the file to be indexed before we can fix issues? How do we test it locally before deployment? The older flash SDK at least allowed you test and see what would be indexed from the file.

Adobe, we need a new SDK based on this "headless" flash player.

I like almost everyone out there get a lot of calls for interviews from headhunters, etc. They get paid to find someone for the right job, so why isn't that spread around? Why don't I get paid to go on an interview? My time is as just as valuable (if not more) than theirs. Why should I take time off work and go on an interview? Sure the prospect of a new job is in there for me, but in all reality I should be compensated for my time.

I think I am going to setup a new wishlist on Amazon for recruiters and headhunters. Send me something off that list and I will go on an interview... Not saying that I would take the position, but it never hurts to listen and keep your ears open...

http://www.notchup.com/

I found this website notchup.com after I originally posted this article. It is exactly what I am talking about.

Here is how they describe themselves:

NotchUp is for you if
you're happy at your job
you're good at what you do
you're not looking for a new job

Great concept and Great site!

After exploring the adobe flash search sdk, it does leave something to be desired. First it appears that with using the sdk only your main swf will be indexed, which fails to take into account the current state of flash being used as a dynamic application development tool. This means your text that comes from xml wont show up in Google. This also means secondary swfs that have text in them will also not be indexed.

What does this mean for us? If you want some text/links to be indexed by Google you will need to have that content in your main flash and it can't come from xml. A good way to use this might be to make on on sitemap of your flash that Google would index along with the keywords/description of your flash.

The other problem for Google indexing flash is that most developers now use javascript to embed their flash because of problems with IE. This means that your flash will still not show up due to the fact that Google will skip right over the flash.

I think that Adobe should do their best to get on the ball and make an SDK that lets dynamic content be seen. Otherwise it is just going to be indexing badly organized flash that dosen't make use of xml or text from other external sources.

I just got done reading a series of articles about Google indexing text that is contained in a compiled swf. Pretty cool stuff. It is done with the use of the Adobe Search Engine SDK. It is a good read and it is good information to start building your Flash apps so that they can be indexed by Google.

Google reads Flash text, so optimize it
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13530_1-9844989-28.html

Matt Cutts on how you can help Googlebot "see" your Flash content.
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13530_1-9834708-28.html

Search Engine SDK FAQ
http://www.adobe.com/licensing/developer/search/faq/

Company: R/GA
Job Title: General Manager, London
Contact: dana.moscovici@rga.com
Notes: Be sure to mention you were referred by Jeff F.

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I have been having this debate for a few days now with other developers at where I work. What AS3 development tool do you prefer? Please give a valid reason why you like it and what benefits it gives to you. I have been using Flex Builder to compile my AS3 currently, but I am exploring other options as well.