Rich Internet applications (RIAs) combine the flexibility of desktop applications with the broad reach of the web, creating interactive and engaging experiences. Working with higher education faculty, we've put together resources for teaching RIA design and development across a variety of courses, such as interaction design and computer programming. Use the course projects and corresponding video tutorials to integrate RIA design and development into existing courses. Explore sample course project ideas for class assignments, and set students up for success with best practices documents. And put together a course on RIA development with book recommendations.
Course projects
Use these free course projects and assets in your courses to help students deconstruct real-world examples of RIAs, learn the skills to create an RIA through step-by-step video tutorials, and be inspired to create their own RIAs.
Designer/developer project
In this photo gallery RIA project, a designer uses Adobe® Flash® Catalyst™ software to create the UI design and add interactivity to a photo gallery. A developer uses Adobe® Flash® Builder™ to add data and event handling functionality and deploys the gallery to the web and desktop.
Project files include the requirements document, project assets, and a completed project example. The associated video tutorial series shows step-by-step instructions for designing and developing this RIA.
- Photo gallery project requirements document (PDF: 123k)
- Source project archives for use in Flash Catalyst and Adobe Flash Builder (ZIP: 63.3M)
- Completed web application
- Desktop Adobe AIR® application installer (AIR:3.2M)
Designer project
In this ecotours RIA project, a designer uses Flash Catalyst to create the UI design and add interactivity to the RIA. The designer then deploys the ecotours RIA to the web and desktop.
Project files include the requirements document, project assets, and a completed project example. The Flash Catalyst portion of the video tutorial series shows step-by-step instructions for designing an RIA.
Step-by-step video tutorials
View the following Adobe TV video tutorials to learn how to complete the sample photo gallery project design in Flash Catalyst and development in Flash Builder.
Photo gallery RIA project introduction
Photo gallery RIA design with Flash Catalyst
- Introduction to the Flash Catalyst interface (7 min)
- Designing artwork for Flash Catalyst (3 min)
- Importing a design document into Flash Catalyst (3 min)
- Working with pages and states in Flash Catalyst (2 min)
- Adding navigation between Flash Catalyst pages and states (5 min)
- Creating Flash Catalyst custom components (5 min)
- Creating a Flash Catalyst data list component (9 min)
- Designing transitions between Flash Catalyst pages and states (3 min)
- Designing a Flash Catalyst form (6 min)
- Roundtrip editing in Flash Catalyst (2 min)
- Publishing a Flash Catalyst project (3 min)
Photo gallery RIA development with Flash Builder
- RIA with Flash Builder (6 min)
- Importing a Flash Catalyst design into Flash Builder (4 min)
- Connecting to an external data source in Flash Builder (3 min)
- Binding a data service to Flash Builder components (8 min)
- Changing UI content based on user events (2 min)
- Calling a service based on user events (4 min)
- Deploying RIAs to the web or desktop (5 min)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
Course project ideas
The following sample project ideas provide a requirements document as a starting point for students developing RIA prototypes or functional applications.
Designer projects
- AIR Music Player (PDF, 86k) — In this basic design project, you are challenged to design a user interface prototype for a desktop music player application.
- Department Calendar of Events (PDF, 100k ) — In this intermediate designer project, you are challenged to design a prototype of an online calendar of events for an academic department.
Designer/developer projects
- Resume Repository (PDF, 81k ) — In this basic designer/developer project, you are challenged to lay out and develop an online repository where students can post their resumes and campus employers can search for suitable candidates.
- Student Gallery (PDF, 87k) — In this intermediate designer/developer project, you are challenged to lay out and develop an online student gallery where students can edit their information and share their work with peers, instructors, and art galleries.
- eCommerce Product Purchasing (PDF, 68k) — In this advanced designer/developer project, your team is challenged to complete wireframes and then design and develop an online store and merchandising portal. You may pick a business area of your choice.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
Best practices
Learn how to integrate RIA projects into courses, understand the workflows and tools for RIA design and development, and explore best practices for designing RIAs with Flash Catalyst.
- Integrating RIA projects into your courses (PDF, 91k)
- Workflows for RIA design and development (PDF, 240k)
- Choosing RIA design and development tools (PDF, 105k)
- Designing artwork for Adobe Flash Catalyst (PDF, 266k)
- Managing artwork in Adobe Flash Catalyst (PDF, 61k)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
Book recommendations
Use these books to put together courses on RIA design and development or to supplement your existing courses:
For courses on programming languages:
- Essential ActionScript® 3.0
- ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques
- Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design Patterns
For courses on JavaScript and Ajax:
- Adobe AIR for JavaScript Developers Pocket Guide
- Extending Ajax with the Flash/JavaScript Integration Kit
For courses on RIA development:
- Enterprise Application Development with Flex
- Flex Solutions: Essential Techniques for Flex 2 and 3 Developers
- Adobe Flex 3: Training from the Source
- Adobe ColdFusion® 8 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 1: Getting Started
- Adobe ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 2: Application Development
- Creating Mashups with Adobe Flex & AIR
- Foundation Flex for Developers: Data-Driven Applications with PHP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion, and LCDS
