PhilWeavers · The Philippine Webdesigners' Network · Weaver Spotlight

Interviewed by Jose Olarte / Published March 16, 2006

Actionscript was never really taught, but we had exams na kailangan mong gumamit so we were forced to learn it on our own through the Flash help file which is probably the most comprehensive help file na nabasa ko, I mean nandun na lahat eh.. if you really know the basics of programming and wanted to learn actionscript just read the help file.

Good day, Donald. Please tell us a little something about yourself...

Right now, im currently employed as Lead Flash Developer for a local company, like most of the PW peeps, I also do freelance work for various offshore companies and some local ones. Meralco Foundation Information Technology undergraduate, ala pang certificate eh. Not really a jack of all trades, mahilig lang mag jack, pero I try to learn every application I come across with, and usually pag may nakita ako na nakakainggit pinipilit ko yung sarili ko na matutunan ding gawin. Resident asshole on most company I worked in, mahilig mang away sa forums ng philweavers. Fueled by coffee and cigarettes, tinker around flash on my spare time, loves to get it off in front of AS codes instead of porn (must be a sickness of some sort), and I wanted to be a doctor and heal people when I grow up. Bumbero yung 2nd choice ko…

How long have you been developing websites?

Can't really remember, I started out with desktop application then CD ROM presentations, along the way I managed to get some websites projects and also work on my personal site. All in all, I've been in the IT business for almost 5 years now.

What got you started with Macromedia Flash and ActionScript?

Flash was introduced to me when I was studying at meralco foundation pero that time hindi ko nakitang magiging flash developer ako, Actionscript was never really taught, but we had exams na kailangan mong gumamit so we were forced to learn it on our own through the Flash help file which is probably the most comprehensive help file na nabasa ko, I mean nandun na lahat eh.. if you really know the basics of programming and wanted to learn actionscript just read the help file. Developing CD-ROM Flash presentation on my OJT also helped me a lot and I was also a frustrated designer and flash is the perfect tool for designers who wants to program or programmers who wants to design, I still wished I've taken up fine arts instead of Information Technology though. Pero ang number 1 reason is pera, mukhang pera ako eh, napansin ko na knowing the right skill for flash development leads to the pot of gold hehe, eventually, it lead to having a passion for flash development (naks bumawi kunwari).

Tell us about the development process of the Murder By Design whiteboard application...

Meron na ko talagang nakatabing AS ng whiteboard chuva before, naghihintay lang talaga ako ng time na magagamit ko sya… kaya nung tinatanong ako ng PW peeps about it, sabi ko

ako na lang gagawa, sumingit lang ang lola mo hehe.. Nothing special with the codes really, basic implementation ng drawing API, a single stroke is actually a single movieclip para madali lang i-track yung undo

and replaying. Tapos serializing the movieclips and drawing points to XML. The backend is a simple PHP script that saves an XML file and ASP script for dynamic image generation sa server then retrieved whenever needed. Quick and dirty

lang din yung pagkakagawa, maruming tao kasi ako… I wanted to release the source codes, kaya lang madumi pa, siguro pag nalinis ko na and with proper documentation marerelease ko na yun.

Your skillset extends well beyond the realm of web-only development. Tell us a bit about your adventures in C programming...

Ah hindi naman talaga ako C programmer (nagrurunong runongan lang)… medyo familiar lang sa pasikot sikot ng language ng konti, and most of the time ginagawa ko lang if I need win32 functionality na wala sa flash, and even if I do its just C# or

VB not really C. I used to do prototyping and unit testing kung gano ka effective yung integration between a win32 application and flash sa fbmsoftware, yun na siguro yung pinakaadventure ko, pero may isang buong software engineering group sila, so medyo limited lang talaga access ko sa win32 development nakiki epal lang kung minsan..

Your blog indicates that you go beyond the point where other Flash authors usually stop and get comfortable in. What's the idea behind your various experiments?

No idea actually.. parang wala lang kung anong trip ko lang gawin or maisip or masubukan kung pwede. I wouldn't really say that's its beyond most authors stop, I was actually inspired by flash developers that utilizes heavy math for effects or creating a flow for their project. My blog reflects what concepts im interested on working at the time of posting. Mahirap kasi makakuha ng project where you can utilize the interesting stuff in development, so ang alternative ko is to have some experiments with it.

And to top it off, you train people! What does it take to be able to spread the word of Flash to fellow developers?

Hindi naman spreading my word it's more of sharing, alam ko naman na there are things that I don't know that other developers know and vice versa. Its more of collaborating and sharing ideas to execute a flash project, ang nasasabi ko lang basically is to have the right structure when starting a project, may pagka structure freak kasi ako, if I feel na mali yung base structure ng codes sa umpisa, pahihirapan lang kami nun along the way. I also had a chance to work on a company that provides great experience, so the least I can do is to share this experience with other flash developers.

What's it like working for projects with high-caliber companies such as Mobius and BMW? How is it different from when you're dealing with lower-profile clients?

Actually its less contact with me pag dating sa mga high profile companies, we all know gano kahirap ma gain yung trust ng mga high profile companies, I had the chance working on their project because of the marketing arm ng mga companies I worked in like Primesoft and FBM Software. What I usually do is to provide a prototype for the project and it's the marketing peeps job to bag this project from high profile companies using my prototype. Pag lower profile clients naman, pang raket yan usually, mga personal projects or sidelines.

What are your thoughts on the Adobe-Macromedia merger and its effects on Flash?

IMO the merger is good for the industry just as long as hindi pababayaan ng adobe yung macromedia community. One of the reason macromedia got so popular is their support for the community; they have always relied on the users for their product feature specs, and actually improves the product based on the comments made by the community. And the timing is actually perfect, since maglalabas na rin Micro$oft ng set of applications the is similar to adobe-macromedia products, kakailanganin nila lahat ng moola na makukuha nila to improve the product because the field is going to get competitive once the MS product comes out.

How do you approach the co-existence of industry-established Flash and newcomer AJAX in the web development world?

These technologies have their own advantages; you just have to know what these advantages are and know when to implement it. Flash still has its limitations, and there are a lot of technologies to fill up these limitations. And IMO, flash and ajax are starting to shape up another niche in the development process, I've always thought that there should be a client-side development group and expertise in these technologies prove that it is important that we have that.

Any future plans, say, along the lines of a killer Flash application project?

None right now, pero I've always wanted to collaborate with local flash developers on a "trip lang" project that would give recognition to our developers, medyo nakakalungkot na lately kasi most killer flash site you will see is produced by korea, japan and some southeast asian countries, parang medyo naiwan tayo. I'm also waiting for flash lite na kumalat dito sa tin, given that most of the people here have cellphones, then probably slowly migrate to flash games. Also my dream project is to revised inq7 into a full flash site, parang ala roadrunner by Fantasy Interactive hehe.