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One of the great things about attending conferences is that you often overhear little tid-bits of info that you may never come across in the mainstream (or even stumble across on Google).

I picked up this little gem whilst sitting in on Thomas Burleson’s (Creative Minds) session at Web on the Piste in Queenstown, New Zealand.

So, one of the features of Dreamweaver i’ve always thought was pretty cool was the ability to have a split Design/Developer view which allows you to see any changes you make to your code, updated in the design view (in real-time). I often wondered why this feature was never included in Flex Builder. To be fair, it was originally in version 1.0 and 1.5 (which were basd on Dreamweaver), but dropped in version 2.0 (with the new Eclipse build).

Here’s how you can replicate the combined Design/Develop workspace view in Flex Builder 2.0 and 3.0.

- Open a new project (in Source mode)
- Right-click on the page tab (at the top of the page) and select ‘New Editor’
- This should then create a copy of the current tab/page
- Select the tab and drag it down your workspace (to where ever you want to position your new custom view)
- Set the view mode of the new tab to Design and viola!

You now have a split Design/Source mode workspace that allows you to update code and see the changes reflected (in real-time) in Design mode (and vice-versa).

2 x teams, 2 x webites, 2 x clients, 24 hours – No excuses, no extensions, no budget overruns (and lots of coffee, red bull and chocolate).

I’ve just got back from judging the inaugural FullCodePress competition and have to say it was a great experience. Adobe was proudly one of the sponsors of this charity event, which set out to design and build 2 x websites for 2 x not-for-profit organisations within 24hrs.

Both teams put in an outstanding effort, with the competition being tight….very tight. Infact, at the final bell there was only 2 points (out of 100) separating the 2 x teams.

The winning team was Team Code-Black (NZ) who were developing on-behalf of the Grampian disAbility Advocate Association. This orgainsation helps provide a community voice, and information resource, for people with a variety of disabilities, from the remote Grampians region of Victoria, Australia. Their winning effort can be seen here.

Close runners up – Team Australia were developing for The Ripple Effect. A not-for-profit organisation that works with schools and orphanages in Thailand to deliver projects that help change the lives of children and their communities. Their effort can be seen here.

Each of the teams participating was made up of 7 members;

1. Project manager
2. User experience advocate (information architecture and usability)
3. Graphic designer
4. HTML/CSS
5. Programmer
6. Content editor/writer
7. Captain’s choice (can be someone from any specialty)

It’s worth keeping in mind that both of the sites still require a tad of polishing before they’re officially launched. When this happens, you’ll be happy to know that it isn’t just a case of build, deploy and forget. Each of the clients will be receiving ongoing training and support in the updating and maintenance of their sites. To ensure their long-term success.

Once again – well done to everyone involved!

By-the-way, word on the street has it that the next FullCodePress event (tentatively slated for February 2008 in New Zealand) will raise the bar even further, with 32 countries slated to take place – so watch this space!