Logged In

Sneak peek: Upcoming cookbook area for Flex developers

As executive editor of the Developer Center, I want to let you in on a project we're working on. We're currently designing a new area on the Developer Center, code-named Flex cookbook, where Flex developers can share best practices and code.

What will this new cookbook area be like? Well, of course it's going to be great, but only if you show up for the party. That's why we're providing you with a heads up and encouraging you to participate in our seed program.

Below you'll find several core qualities and goals we plan to achieve with this new area:

It's open 24/7. Everyone will be able to use the cookbook. You can enter for free, search for free, and post for free.

It doesn't give unconditional love. Basically, if you—the community—post and comment and shower your love on the cookbook, it's going to love you back. As they say: What goes around, comes around. That's why we want to continue to work closely with all of you as we plan and build this new area so that we can make sure it will be something you love to use.

It bubbles up the best of the community. You may ask, "Is this a wiki?" Well, kind of—but not exactly. The cookbook will have many of the great qualities of a wiki: it will harness the power of consensus; it will be a magnet for the knowledge that you all have in the collective community; and it will store and display that collective knowledge so that others may benefit. Part of our goal is to help connect everyone working in Flex so that we can develop great user experiences more easily and quickly.

One other community-related sneak peek I'd like to share: The team over at O'Reilly has let us know that they're planning a new book called the Flex Cookbook. They want to give our recipe writers—that is, you—an opportunity to submit entries to the book, and O'Reilly authors will also be working with our community to cook up recipes for our new Flex Developer Center area.

It's like a drive-thru for answers. This new area will be like a pick-up window for quick solutions when you need them—or a kitchen where you can help cook up recipes for new Flex solutions. Sometimes you need an in-depth example, like the ones we provide in our articles, tutorials, and sample file downloads. But sometimes you just need to see a few lines of code to get things running. That's what this will do.

Our information architect for the project, Laura Smith, agreed to give us an early glimpse at several features and functions we'd like to include (see Figure 1). This sample features an entry from Matt Chotin of the Flex team.

Figure 1. Flex cookbook sample

(+) View larger

For more samples, visit Matt Chotin's blog and use the comments feature to suggest ideas for new ones.

This will always be evolving. We plan to continue adding content and features. Right now, we're in the design phase leading up to our first iteration. We will soon provide an Adobe Captivate demo that will give you a tour of some of the functions we're considering for the interface.

The cookbook needs you. During the seed phase, we'll open it up to interested members of the community to start posting and sharing their tips and code. This will be a time for you to give feedback and help us make items easy to find, publish, and share. Want to participate? Please contact us if you'd like to be involved in this upcoming seed program. We'll keep you posted on our progress!

Sign up for the cookbook seeding program

About the author