The long awaited jQuery 1.4 has been released. The jQuery team chose a special day for this event because the number 14 is very special: January 14th is the birthdate of jQuery.

Version 1.4 contains some very promising and long awaited features. For a full list of these features, check jQuery’s special website dedicated to the release of jQuery 1.4: The 14 Days of jQuery.

If you are having problems getting a new SDK installation to work with Flex Builder 3 (e.g. if you’re trying to compile a Flex project as AIR application using Flash Player 10) and get the following error:

Process terminated without establishing connection to debugger.
Command:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Flex Builder 3\sdks\3.5\bin\adl.exe" "projectPath" "bin-debug location"
Output from command:
error while loading initial content
Process terminated without establishing connection to debugger.
Command:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Flex Builder 3\sdks\3.5\bin\adl.exe" "projectPath" "bin-debug location"
Output from command:
error while loading initial content

here is the solution, thanks to Jim Hayes.

In your project, there’s a file called <yourApplicationName>-app.xml. Open it and change the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/x.x">

to:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.5">

That should solve your problem.

LorenzGames.com has a nice and clear article explaining how to create your own contextmenu in Flash, like the infamous JW Player has. See the link below.

http://www.lorenzgames.com/blog/how-to-customize-the-swf-right-click-menu-with-as3

A video Microsoft released earlier this year shows all kinds of applications in and around our house and work. It’s truly amazing if you look at it and realize it could be real. I find the video to be quite inspiring and like to share it with you. See below.

Cristian Pascu wrote a nice blog post on FlairBuilder. It’s an article about the basics of User Interface (UI) design of a website, which will definitely come in handy. Here’s a shortlist.

1. Content layout

Always keep in mind that a clean and consistent layout helps people navigate through your website.

2. Typography

Learn about different font types, sizes and families, to ensure you got the right font for the job.

3. Colors

Clear text is useful, but colors can play an amazing part in guiding a user and manipulating his/her feelings about the use of the application.

4. Technical writing

Think about every part of text you put in your UI. Descriptions may be clear to you, but to someone who sees your application for the first time they may not. It doesn’t really matter if a paragraph is long or short, as long as you can motivate why it is as it is.

5. Error handling

Error messages should always be clear and simple. Don’t overdo, but also don’t underestimate the value of good error reporting. Choose the right style for each type of error users can bump their heads on using your application.

6. Forms

When creating a form, make sure a user can easily navigate through and understand it, by using hints, help messages and default values. Also, make sure forms cannot be falsely or double submitted and make sure you provide the user with the proper warnings and error messages.

7. Keep it light and simple

Don’t overload your pages with all kinds of information. Instead, keep it simple, take the user by the hand and take it one step at a time. It’s usually better to have a process divided into ten simple steps than having two huge and sophisticated steps.

8. Understand your users

Think like a user: what does your application has to offer, what public are you aiming for and how will they respond to the application?

These are some nice things to keep in mind when creating and developing an application. And it goes for webapplications as well as other kinds of applications, like Flex, Flash or even desktop stuff.

For links and a more detailed explanation, read the full article at FlairBuilder.