Me and the guys from Bureau BlauwGeel have been working together on their new website: http://www.bureaublauwgeel.nl
The CMS-based website uses video files to create a dynamic, living and breathing background.
Each menu item has a background image that slowly zooms in to keep that dynamic feel.
Although the background and interface always adjust to the size of [...]
The apple OS X dashboard is a great place to quickly access information. I have been working on embedding a flash movie in such a widget.
The first issue – keeping the widget always up to date – was easily solved by letting the widget access an online SWF. This means that you have to be online to use the widget, but since most widgets use online information this isn’t really a problem.
Another more pressing issue was how to keep the widget from using the mac’s precious processor power all the time, even when the dashboard is tucked away and the widget isn’t visible. Strangely, most widgets just keep running / hibernating when the OS X dashboard isn’t visible.
Apple provides a very simple javascript that tells the widget when the dashboard is openend or closed, so I used this to completely remove the SWF code from the widget when it is hidden.
The next issue is how to let the flash file remember user settings, even when the SWF is being completely removed from the dashboard! This proved to be quite easily solved by using flash’s often overlooked feature: the local shared object.
Even though the OS X Dashboard may not really be intended to run flash movies, it actually works quite well.
Our recently developed flash widget “twitterfountain” is being readied for use on as many platforms as possible! We’re using the fabulous service of www.widgetbox.com to make available a ready-made twitterfountain for embedding on facebook, myspace or any other blog. Not only that, but Arno Hoogma has developed a downloadable wordpress plugin that allows you to install a flash twitterfountain on your wordpress site. If all that isn’t enough you can download an OS X Dashboard widget too. Check it all out on www.twitterfountain.nl
