October 22, 2008

Deyo's Project Methodology

Phil Martin

There a LOT of project methodologies out there. Spiral , Scrum, Waterfall, XP, Agile, JAD , etc., etc. A whole bunch of smart people with millennia of collective experience took the time to write down the best of their thoughts and experiences. Yet, when it comes right down to it, every company has its own personality, its own strengths and weaknesses, and its own unique needs. And successful companies will select (or create) the best methodology that works for them, and stick to it. Oh – but that last part, the ‘stick to it’ part – that’s where so many intelligent, capable and otherwise bright companies break down, resulting in repeated dismal failures when they should have experienced success after success.

Having worked for everything from dot com startups to Fortune 50 companies, I have learned what works well for each type of company. And believe me when I say it is never exactly the same thing. Deyo is a smaller company, which means two things:

1.We need to carefully optimize our resources
2.We can move FAST

Therefore, the methodology that Deyo employs minimizes wasteful down-time (read: resource-intensive, never-ending meetings) while taking advantage of the fact that when it comes time, Deyo can execute and deliver quickly.

So, as a Deyo customer, you can expect the steps below while working with us, both before and after delivery of your new site. Each step results in a deliverable which must be agreed upon by all parties before continuing with the next step. While Deyo will guide the process, it is not always necessary to have a Deyo representative at every meeting. All documents are generated and finalized by Deyo based upon the input collected at each step.

The following is a summary of our project methodology. For more details, click here.

Note: While we use this process for all projects, large or small, some steps for smaller projects may be measured in terms of hours (sometimes even minutes!), not days. It all depends on the complexity and scope of the project. But - each step must be visited and have consensus before continuing. That 'stick-to-it' thing is important.


A. Introduction and Role Assignment

As the first official meeting for the project, all parties must attend. Introductions are made, and each party states their respective strengths as well as their expectations of their role in the project. This methodology is reviewed and any modifications are discussed and applied. Roles are agreed upon (the number of roles and parties/participants vary by project).

B. Business Requirements
The appropriate parties discuss and agree upon the following items:
• The purpose of the site
• Who the audience is
• What content the site will contain
• How often the content will need to be updated
• Who will update the content
• How secure the content needs to be
• Specific metrics/maximum such as named users, simultaneous users, number of pages, and hits per day
• Custom features (photo galleries, streaming media, blogs, forums, storefront, etc.); each custom feature should have all general questions above answered for that specific feature as well (i.e. the purpose of the feature, who the audience of the feature is, etc.)

C. Site Navigation and Appearance
This step allows all relevant parties to design and agree on the high-level user experience. The overall navigation flow, as well as the appearance of the first and second –level pages are identified and presented in a final composition layout, or ‘comp’. A comp reflects exactly how the site will look visually, while the navigation flows represent the manner in which the user will move between pages. It can be assumed that the finished site will very closely resemble the comp as presented in this step. This is the time to ‘nit-pick’ how the site will look, feel, and behave. All pages past the second level will be assumed to have the secondary visual appearance.

D. Site Flow
The Site Flow step results in every possible page being identified and laid out at a functional level, including the pages already listed in the NAD. ‘Functional’ in this case refers to navigation, viewable content and user controls. Inter-page navigation and flow is also represented so that the viewer may gain a complete feel of the user experience. Deyo is responsible for generating this document based upon the BRD and NAD, and will usually be completed using Microsoft Visio. The resulting document will not represent the final look/feel, but will only represent the user experience at a functional level.

E. High-Level Technical Requirements Document
This step is internal to Deyo.

F. Low-Level Technical Requirements Document
Again, this step is internal to Deyo.

G. Alpha Coding
An Alpha version of the web site externally accessible through a temporary link is published for you to review. You (the customer) have a chance to ensure that the site meets your understanding of the BRD and SFD.

H .Beta-1 Coding
This serves the same function as the Alpha Coding step, but produces a site that is functionally complete while possibly missing some visual elements. It should be assumed that it will contain a number of defects (bugs).

I. Beta-2 Coding
This step is implemented only if the Beta-1 step encountered issues that resulted in an update of the BRD or SFD.

J. User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
During this step, the final version of the website is delivered and should be 100% complete with minimal issues. Your user acceptance testing team will sign-off when it is satisfied. A limited warranty period begins wherein Deyo will address all outstanding defects.

K. Production/Warranty
At this stage in the project, the site has been completed and is in a full production state.

Obviously, there are times when the methodology must be adjusted to accomodate unique requirements. We have no problem adjusting as needed provided the changes are agreed upon and documented in the very first step.

Be sure to click on the attachment link near the beginning of this article for more details for each step.

We look forward to working with you!

Posted October 22, 2008   |   View   |   Post a Comment

October 08, 2008

Thoughts on Branding: Part 1: I Don’t Mean Cattle

Daniel St. Clair

For a couple years, I have kept the Logo Design Workbook (from the designers at AdamsMorioka) at my desk. I can't say I've read much of it straight through, but that's not why I bought it. I occasionally pick it up and flip through it when I want to see good design, see a well-developed visual identity carried through multiple pieces - product packaging, posters, mailers, business cards, web site, whatever. But every time I pick up that book, the large black text on page 19 jumps off its yellow background and makes me both nod and shake my head.

"A logo is not a brand, unless it is on a cow."

Why I nod:
I nod because it's true. Unless you're burning your mark into an animal's hide, your "brand" is made up of so much more than your company initials and a cool wavy line. An EPS file cannot contain your brand. But why not? What is a brand?

A brand is an identity. It's who your company is in the mind of consumers. That brand, that idea of who your company is, is formed based on your products, your services, your customer service, your advertisements, your brochures, your copy, your photos, your colors, your fonts... and yes, even your logo. A brand is what floods into your mind when you see an Apple sticker on a windshield or a white "swoosh" on an orange shoebox. A brand is the sum total of what makes you say "I love Company ABC" or "Man, Company XYZ sucks."

Why I shake my head:
I shake my head because so often companies seek shortcuts in defining their brand. They perceive that developing a strong brand is important, yet because of more obvious, more apparently pressing business matters, smaller companies often choose to go for a logo and one or two printed items with a similar design, and call that good. However, with such an approach, they may lose sight of the fact that a company's brand or identity is constantly being shaped and molded with each impression, each communication with the consumer. And unless all of those impressions communicate the same message, the waters get murky.

Who are you? Who do you say you are?
You're at home, watching TV and a commercial comes on for a European car manufacturer. A shiny black sedan hugs a curvy wet road at 70 mph, with the words "Professional driver on closed course" at the bottom of the screen. Gorgeous classical music plays in the background and the picture fades to black with a simple, sleek, shiny logo. Quality. Luxury. The brand is starting to form in your mind - I can see it from here. So far, this is a phenomenal brand.

Now let's step into the dealership. You pull open the door and are greeted by the sounds of telephone chatter and synth-saturated muzak. You take two steps in and notice your shoes are sticking to the floor ever so slightly. A salesman slowly approaches with his hands in his pockets and his head slightly cocked to the side, looking you up and down and quite visibly deciding that you cannot afford one of these fine automobiles. Needless to say, you don't buy one. You leave.

Fast forward two weeks. You're back at home, and you see the same commercial again. What comes to mind? You see the logo - what does it represent? Who is the company? What is the brand?

If a logo isn't a brand, is a logo really that important?
Your logo is not your brand in and of itself, but it is a part of it. It’s an important part. Your logo, along with the rest of your design standards such as colors, typefaces, selection of photo imagery, etc., come together to form your company's visual identity. Your company's visual identity can be thought of as what your company "looks like." And that, though only one element of your brand, is definitely important.

If you didn't look like you, how would people recognize you?
If you looked different, would that change the first impression you make?

Are you confused yet?
So your brand is much more than your logo. But your logo is part of your visual identity, and that is a vital part of your brand. If you want to develop a strong brand, where do you begin? We'll look at that issue next time.

Posted October 08, 2008   |   View

September 15, 2008

Silverlight - Flash Killer or a Flash in the Pan? (Part 3)

Phil Martin

Previously we talked about Silverlight 1.0's shortcomings, and then how version 2 (beta) addresses most of them by adding support for 'real' languages.

Now for the bottom line:

1. Does Silverlight give the browsing world anything that Flash cannot do? Not at this time, at least nothing the world cares about. No point awarded.

2. Does Flash give the browsing world anything that Silverlight cannot do? Yes - access to local hardware (webcam, microphone, etc). 1 point awarded to Flash.

3. Does Flash have any other advantage over Silverlight in the browser world? Yes - Version 7 or better is installed on over 99% of the world's browsing computers (according to Adobe http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/version_penetration.html). Microsoft seems to be stingy on reporting Silverlight penetration so who knows? Point to Flash.

4. Does Silverlight give the development world anything that Flash cannot do? Yes - support for REAL languages, and an IDE that is actually usable. And that whole evil timeline thing is secondary. 1 point awarded to Silverlight.

5. Does Flash give the development world anything that Silverlight cannot do? No. In fact, in my opinion they have the world's worst IDE ever invented. Real Intellisense anyone? How about highlighting a row of code without having time to sit back and watch the latest episode of Heroes? How about strongly-typed variables? How about a real language??? 1 point awarded to Silverlight.

Totals:

Browsing World - Flash ahead by 2.
Development World - Silverlight is up by 2.

So it's a wash overall for now. But to kill Flash, or at least be a real competitor, what is going to have to change? In our case, a 'real competitor' can be measured by penetration, or the percentage of browsers that have Silverlight installed. Ah, but there's the rub - until Silverlight penetration increases, developers will not want to use Silverlight (why create content that most people cannot see?) However, until web developers start using Silverlight, web viewers have no reason to install Silverlight, and penetration won't increase. So we're caught in a tautology of sorts, a catch-22. But remember - at one time Flash was in the exact same position, and it caught on because of the sizzle it provided to web pages. So, to beat that curve, Microsoft has to provide a reason for the browsing world to WANT to use Silverlight. If they can convince web viewers to install Silverlight because that is the only way to get something that is really desirable, then we're good to go. Microsoft tried that with the '08 Olympics on NBC's web site, and I am sure it greatly increased penetration - we'll have to wait for the numbers to see by how much. Unfortunately, NBC provided an option to view the coverage without installing Silverlight, so the penetration might not be as much as it could have been.

So Microsoft has two options - broadcast more events (or provide must-have content) that require Silverlight, or enhance Silverlight to do something that Flash cannot do - something that is so cool viewers will flock to download Silverlight. As I said before, in the pre-Flash days, Flash had no real competitors and were the only game in town. But Silverlight is fighting an uphill battle against Flash, and they need to pull out a secret weapon - soon. The inability to access webcams is not helping them either. Live video is becoming more important every day.

The bottom line is that it is up to Microsoft to generate the critical mass needed to tip the scales in Silverlight's favor. We here at Deyo are a Microsoft shop, so we are naturally interested in Silverlight as it allows us to reuse existing functionality inside of a rich experience environment. For use with a limited audience, we are developing several Silverlight-based applications. I hope that Microsoft's secret weapon arrives soon.

Posted September 15, 2008   |   View

September 03, 2008

Redefining 'The Sales Guy'

Brad Davis

So I'm the newest member of the Deyo Team and am quite excited about what I think God might be doing with our work here.

I started working for Deyo in June (on a contract basis) primarily, because well I was bored. Having finished my Masters and teaching only one course at the community college, I needed something productive and time-consuming to keep me from watching history and discovery channel all day long :) I approached John and asked him to give me some work on a purely commission basis. I started the abominable business of cold-calling...hours a day. That constant rejection really gets to you. Perhaps worse than the rejection is the feeling you get when someone intimates that you have really wasted their time...oh that's the worst! Needless to say I started wondering if this was gonna work long term, so I kept telling myself after two months if it didn't get any better I would find work elsewhere (another reason I wanted to stay commission only). It wasn't so much that I questioned WHAT I was selling as much as HOW I was selling it.

After a few weeks I started getting involved with networking meetings, first the Canyon Creek group then the Black Finn group, and that's when things really picked up. In retrospect it makes perfect sense; sales is all about relationships, period. I started really enjoying the meetings there as people WORKED to get ME business...go figure! I then joined the Plano Chamber and oh man that has been a continual lesson in sales. First, the Chamber Business Interchange is one of the most entertaining events I attend on a weekly basis, and I am involved in A LOT of other events. Furthermore, the members have made a point to get to know each other and be a welcoming group. Lynn Barrett and Lindsey Kleinhans have been so hospitable! Brad Shanklin, the president & CEO of the Chamber, along with his staff have done an amazing job at facilitating a fun and effective group of business individuals who mix business and pleasure quite well.

After having such a great time at these events and actually getting to know people in addition to doing business with a number of them, I decided to go on staff with Deyo Group as the sales manager and am looking forward to proactively and cooperatively solving business issues while building relationships with people whose path I cross. I am slowly learning a more relational approach to sales.

Additionally, I recently attended a Chamber info session facilitated by Janet White, president of Ditch the Pitch Public Relations, and it was a reminder of how to do business with the customer in mind. So many times we focus on our deal and our products, but fail to really connect with the customer. Jesus taught this same principle thousands of years ago when he said, "Do to others as you would have them do to you (Luke 6:31)." It's so simple, yet so often forgotten. In sales or in any relationship for that matter you have the opportunity to treat the other person as you would want to be treated (according to their unique personality, struggles and hopes). I am sure this one teaching will radically transform my life as it is applied continually to more than just sales.

So although I do still make some cold calls, I get a far better response asking people to share with me their web frustrations and brainstorming possible solutions that we may be able to provide for them. And the majority of my time is now spent meeting with like-minded individuals who want to discuss how we can help improve each other's business and ultimately life.

Posted September 03, 2008   |   View

September 02, 2008

Thoughts on Google's New Web Browser, 'Chrome'

Daniel St. Clair

Today, Google releases the beta of their new web browser, Chrome. The beta is free for anyone to download and start using. In fact, I’m using it right now. Google is truly an amazing company – I’ve said for a while now, that pretty much anything they do, they do it better than anyone else who does it. In my opinion, their search engine is heads and tails above Yahoo!, Google Maps is far better than Mapquest, Yahoo! and everyone else, and Gmail is the best web-based email I’ve ever seen. But will this trend continue? Will Google Chrome be as amazing as I hope? And does it stand a chance against Microsoft’s Internet Explorer? Or, will it simply be another browser choice out there that does things just differently enough to give designers one more headache?

Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way – I strongly dislike Internet Explorer. I’m a Mozilla man and proud of it. Firefox 2 is my standard browser (I have installed Firefox 3 on my macbook, but haven’t run through it terribly much yet). I only use IE when a site requires it, or when testing to make sure a web element looks and behaves right in it. That said, IE holds about 75% of the market share, while Firefox only has about 10%. Even though I love Firefox, I’m resigned to the fact that it will never win a majority of web users out there. So in steps Google with a new (and did I mention open source?) web browser, and I’ll admit I’m pretty excited to see how this plays out. If anyone out there can topple IE with a superior browser (and more importantly the power to promote it), it’s Google.

Chrome has got some pretty interesting ideas put into it, if you look under the hood. Separate processes for different tabs, the “new tab page” and the “omnibox” are all exciting to me, as are the promises of a faster, more stable browser, and open browser standards. Some of these elements I’ve seen before in some form (for example, the “new tab page” looks a lot like what I’ve used in Opera, though it seems more powerful in Chrome), but never all together, and never quite like this. I really think that whatever else happens, Chrome is going to shake things up in the browser world, and if it doesn’t knock out IE, maybe it will make IE better. Google is releasing Chrome as completely open source, encouraging other companies to take their ideas and run with them.

So here I am, all excited to be blogging in Chrome. I haven’t given it much of an examination yet, but on one of the first pages I pulled up, I noticed a layout issue, where a couple table cells were blown out (or something that looked like that) – an issue not present on that page in IE and Firefox. Currently, when Deyo is building a web site, we test in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. So as I sit here and gaze at the cool, clean lines of Chrome, and a glitch in the rendering of the page html, I wonder… I know this only day one of the beta, but are we looking at an end to all this different-browsers-render-html-differently-craziness with one truly great browser that crushes (or saves, if Microsoft lets it) IE? Or are we just looking at one more browser that developers need to test their sites in – one more way of rendering to balance against the others, in trying for a site that looks good and works well in all of them?

Will Google Chrome mean an end to the juggling, or yet one more ball to juggle? I think (well, hope) the answer is in the question. This is a Google product. I’m hopeful. I’m very hopeful.

You can download Chrome (for Windows only – Mac & Linux versions not yet available) at…
http://www.google.com/chrome

You can read Google’s comic book, explaining Chrome’s features (some in fairly technical detail) at…
http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html

Posted September 02, 2008   |   View

August 28, 2008

Silverlight - Flash Killer or a Flash in the Pan? (Part 2)

Phil Martin

Last time we talked about Microsoft's first release of the supposed 'Flash killer', Silverlight. Silverlight 1.0, while interesting, came up short of matching Flash's capabilities. But - over 1 year later in June of 2008, Silverlight 2 Beta was released. "Beta" is Microsoft's way of saying 'Hey, all you masochistic nerds out there, test our half-baked products and tell us what we need to fix - and we're not going to pay you a dime.' Which is not much better than Version 1.0 of anything Microsoft releases. So, I digress. Again.

But, behold - what is this? Native support for real languages like C#? (Notice I did not mention VB.Net, because VB.Net has so many evil carry-overs from VB that it's more of a handicap than a help. But there I go again.) I can code in my favorite language, not have to deal with Flash's "we hate developers" mentality, and still look really, really cool??? But - C# is a .Net language, and we all know (well, us geeks know) that the desktop CLR requires the 20MB monster download to install (if you don't know what the CLR is, think solid, heavy foundation - every house has to have one). The biggest bane for us .Net developers writing Windows applications is that .Net is not on every computer, and who is going to download a 20MB file just to get a really, really cool web page? Bill Gates does NOT get a vote here. The answer? Holy Roach, Batman! Silverlight comes with its own embedded CLR! All in a 4.6MB package! That's still 3 times bigger than Flash (Version 9 is 1.5MB - but the version 10 beta is reported to be over 5MB!). Point awarded to Silverlight for making development brain-dead easy without any penalties.

One of the coolest things about Flash these days is its ability to play video without requiring any additional installations. Ever try to play a Windows Media File (WMA or WMV)? If you don't have Windows Media Player installed and functioning on your computer, you are just out of luck. That's why YouTube loves Flash so much.

But before you award a point to Flash, listen to this - Silverlight has its very own embedded media player. Now it can play WMV, WMA and MP3 files without any additional downloads or installations. And it works on Macs and Linux (soon). Noooowwww we're talking! No point awarded to Flash.

Flash 2, Silverlight 2. So looking at both pros and cons, they come out about even. So should you jump on the Silverlight bandwagon or not?

Next time, we'll bottom line this whole discussion and see if Silverlight is worth buying into.

Posted August 28, 2008   |   View Comments (1)

August 26, 2008

Let's launch this bad boy - DeyoGroup.Com v3.0

John Von Runnen

Well, here it is; 11:16 P.M. and I can't sleep . . . .again! Every once in a while I get hit with the can't-sleep-bug for a week or so. My iMac kept blinding me from the kitchen, so I decided to get up and come in here to blog.

This is my first time to blog, so bare with me? (or is it bear . . .no that's an animal . . .right?!) Anyway, I had to hack in to my own website. Can you believe that? I didn't even know my own username and password, so I had to log in as Phil to reset my password. Ha! Phil, you really oughta change your password!! Same password for everything . . . .come on . . . who really does that?? (yes, I do.)

Anyway, so this is a really exciting point in the life of Deyo. We have come a long way in solidifying the code base DeyOne is working from. We have also spent many hours over the past week and a half talking about improving the UI and making the product even BETTER. The sky is the limit for this product, and I truly believe that we will experience a tremendous amount of growth as our customers begin to enjoy the hard work we have put in over the past year. A lot of hard work from a lot of different people.

I read the other posts from Daniel, Phil, Jamie, and William before I came to do mine. Wow, what a great group of people we have working at Deyo. Each person has done a tremendous amount of work getting this codebase ready for our everyday use. Not to mention the other employees we have had over the past 2.5 years of our existence. As with every startup, we struggle to keep up with the demands of running a business. We've done Ok, though, and I know that is due mostly in part to God blessing us.

So, there are great things to come. If you are a customer reading this, you're going to love the impact that DeyOne is going to have on our client base. Our hope is to transfer all existing sites to DeyOne at some point. At the very least, we will be doing all new sites in DeyOne going forward.

If you are a friend of Deyo reading this, thank you thank you thank you. Thanks for all of your support and for believing in us. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We've got a long way to go, but we have a great guide!

So, let me know what you think of my blogging skills by clicking on the "Post a Comment" link below.

K, I'm going to try and go to bed!!

Posted August 26, 2008   |   View Comments (1)

August 25, 2008

No photo? No problem.

William Lemons

If you've been reading our blog posts, then you've noticed the photos that go along with them. Using a feature of our DeyOne framework, users can build profiles which, among other things, stores a photo which can be added to article posts, site quotes, and, of course, blog posts.

But what if you don't you don't have a current photo to upload? No worries, all you need is a webcam. Thanks to a progam developed in flash, you can take a snapshot of yourself from any connected webcam. All it takes is a few simple clicks, and you can capture and upload a picture of yourself for your profile. Just remember to smile!

Posted August 25, 2008   |   View

August 25, 2008

Software Engineers - The Third Kind of Person

Jamie Smith

Well, school started back last week. I'm back to learning all the things that universities think are important. It's interesting (and a bit frightening) when you get a job out in the "real world" and realize that much of what you learn in school isn't directly applicable. However, you do learn great principles and perhaps more important, you learn how to learn.. quickly.

In the field of Computer Science, things change rapidly. New technologies are constantly released that make a developer's job easier. Ironically, it's difficult often times to keep up with these technologies.

Anyway, as I stated, I'm back in School for my master's in Computer Science. One of the interesting classes that I'm taking that I find really interesting is Advanced Software Engineering. If you had asked me a year ago about the different types of people involved in the development of a computer program or system, I would probably have told you that there are 2 kinds. The visual designers* - who are the artsy people (ie Daniel) who make sure things look good and are presentable, and the developers - the ones who write the code and make it work. However, I think there is a third kind of person - the Software Engineer.

The Software Engineer is the one who architects the project, generates the blue prints if you will. In a corporate atmosphere, it's best to have a team of people who come up with the requirements for the software, design it on paper using UML, think through it, and have a full functioning idea of the final result before coding even begins. This is the nature of good software design. How simple it is to forget this key step, but I've come to realize that in a project, these are often the most important ones. Software without a design is like spaghetti. It's really messy. Although spaghetti does taste really good, so maybe that's a bad example, but it's the one often used.

I almost thought about switching my degree plan over to Software Engineering rather than CS, however, it will be pretty difficult to finish by the end of the year if I tried. It's still a possibility of course, but it's a decision I'd have to make pretty soon.

Posted August 25, 2008   |   View

August 22, 2008

Silverlight - Flash Killer or a Flash in the Pan? (Part 1)

Phil Martin

Anyone who has visited a website knows what Flash is. Sure, you may not know the name, or what it means - but you know how cool it looks when things fade in, slide across the screen, and then magically fade out. More likely than not, that's Adobe Flash doing the work.

Flash is an optional browser component that allows web sites to create a very rich experience, Unlike the usual static web pages that are - well, let's face it - if it ain't got Flash, it's boring. In geek-speak, Flash is a downloadable ActiveX control running in the browser sandbox that creates dynamic content using interpreted script. Which is a fancy way of saying it looks really, really cool. And Flash has been (until recently) the only way to look really, really cool.

A little history: Flash was originally developed for designers, and as such the development experience has been focused on keeping designers happy. So hard-core developers such as me have a love/hate relationship with Flash. We love the way it makes a web page look, but equate working with Flash with a root canal - it's something you have to endure in order to look good (unless you think rotting teeth are sexy). To say that I abhor working in Flash is an understatement. Any sane 'real' developer agrees with me. And by 'real' I mean anyone who has coded at length in a true object-oriented language such as C++, C#, Java, Delphi, etc. I'm sure that now I'm going to get hate-mail from all of you Flash developers out there. But there is no way you guys can appreciate how hard it is for people like me to wrap our minds around that timeline thing. I had a tough enough time figuring out Photoshop! Coding in 3-dimensions is just bizarre.

But everything changed around May of 2007. That's when Microsoft released their 'Flash killer' called Silverlight. Every time I hear that name I get flash-backs of Silverfish, those nasty mini-roach creatures that scurry around in the dark eating the Fruit Loops you dropped the morning before. But I digress.

So enter Silverlight 1.0. It only supported JavaScript, which is no better than the ActionScript that Flash uses. No point awarded. It didn't support access to local hardware (such as webcams) like Flash does, so 1 point for Flash. It looked really, really cool, though - just like Flash. No point awarded.

One awesome thing about Silverlight, though - instead of requiring a pre-compiled move as Flash does (think .swf) Silverlight can run off of XML that is interpreted at run-time. That means that you can create an entire movie programatically on-the-fly in ASP, ASP.net, PHP, etc - any platform that supports scripting of some kind. It also means that Silverlight application content is visible to search engines, whereas everything within a Flash movie is hidden. 1 point to Silverlight.

And, of course - Flash has an embedded base (already installed) of over 99%. SIlverlight is the newbie and requires a new download. 1 point to Flash.

Flash 2, Silverlight 1. Not too promising. But a little over a year later, something changed all of that. We'll talk about it in my next blog post.

Posted August 22, 2008   |   View