Flex allows designers and developers a quick and easy method for creating stellar User Interfaces in record times. Now Adobe has released betas for the new Flex as well as a new program called Catalyst, promising to make UI creation even easier.
Flash designers around the world rejoiced when Flex was introduced. A simple drag-and-drop interface coupled with a backend HTML-like coding structure made it quick and easy for developers and designers alike to create amazing user interfaces (UI) in a timely manner. Score. For those unfamiliar with Flex – you most likely have seen it around, maybe just not known it. Anyone that visits Pandora.com will be greeted with a simple and effective UI completely built with Flex. It may seem like a giant Flash file, and in most respects it is. But it’s not – however it is. Follow? Me neither, and I use Flex. Quite simply, Flex bridges gaps that you’d normally have to code around via different files and formats (you still have to code, but it’s localized (read: intergraded)), then deploys in a self-contained easily uploaded and updated package.
Catalyst looks to me like a GoLive/Dreamweaver type of app. But much, much better. Like the others, Catalyst lets users quickly create web apps with little worry over code – Dreamweaver is well know for putting in tons of excess code, but Catalyst seems pretty streamlined and only includes what is needed… maybe this means Catalyst is Dreamweaver, and Dreamweaver will die – but then why is the a Dreamweaver Beta? Oh well, Catalyst is the new hot-shit on the block, steamy…
For the beta downloads, visit Adobe Labs.
Flash Builder 4: New Features
Catalyst Introduction
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