Mike Chambers

Just a quick reminder that the Central Desktop Wallpaper Contest deadline is today (5pm PST (-8:00 UTC)).

There have been some amazing submissions thus far, but there is still time to submit them.

You can view the current submissions and info about the contest here.

Just a quick reminder that I am hold a contest for the best Central themed desktop wallpaper. There are already a bunch of entries, but the deadline is not until Friday, so there is still plenty of time to make a submission. (Plus, you could win an Xbox!).

You can find more information here.

As you may or may not have seen, a couple of designers have released some Central desktop wallpapers. Even cooler, is that some of them even released their Photoshop sources files so anyone can modify them:

• http://www.ugoletti.com/blog/archives/2004/01/02/central-wallpapers/
• http://www.ericd.net/
• http://www.joshdura.com/archives/000276.php

Anyways, I haven’t had a contest since the “Spoof Mike Chambers” contest, so I figured I would hold another one. So, here is the deal, I am holding a contest for the coolest Central related desktop wallpaper. Here are the rules:

• Submission Deadline is Friday, February 13, 2004
• The Macromedia Central team will pick the winner.
• You can enter multiple times
• To enter post links to your wallpaper in the comments of this thread.
• Bonus points for providing your source files for other to modify.
• Bonus points for providing multiple sizes, including:
  • 800×600
  • 1024×768
  • 1280×1024
  • 1280×854
  • 1600×1200

The prizes will be:

• 1st : Xbox gaming console
• 2nd : Macromedia Central super schwag pack
• 3rd : Central T-shirt

You can download some Central assets here.

Post links to your entries in the comments.

As Christian posted the other day, we have added some new tools to the Macromedia XML News Aggregator (MXNA). The new tools include:

• A Web Service API
• An ActionScript 2 Class to work with the Web Service API
• A Macromedia Central Class to work with the Web Service API
• OPML Feeds

You can find detailed information, as well as download the Flash libraries and examples from the Tools page at MXNA.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you are looking for the install badge for the Central DevChat, you can find it here. This page / link will always have the latest info on the chat.

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aSH (aka ActionScript Hero) has created and posted a beta SubEthaEdit syntax file for Macromedia Central (and ActionScript 2.0).

You can help test it out here.

CommunityMX has posted the second part of their tutorial on creating your first Central application.

This tutorial is available to CommunityMX members or can be purchased from CommunityMX.com. You can find more information here.

CommunityMX has also updated its Community MXtra Central Application.

CommunityMX.com has posted the first in a series of articles on developing applications for Macromedia Central.

The first article is titled Your First Central Application – Part 1 and gives an overview of Central and getting your development environment ready for Central development.

While you are over at CommunityMX.com, make sure to also check out their CommunityMXTra Central Application.

Jesse Warden has a great post on his thoughts about Central. One of the things he brings up is that he has had trouble explaining the benefits of Central, but once he built an app or two, he just got it.

I have heard this quite a few times (and experienced it myself when I started with Central). Of course, as more features are added to Central, this should be less of a problem. So, i am curious, if you are doing stuff with Central now, what helped you “get it” (i.e. understand it)? If you are not doing Central development right now, what would make you want to?

We have posted some new articles on the Macromedia Central DevNet Center.

The articles are:

• Using Regular Expressions in Macromedia Central (Byron Saltysiak)
• Using the mDialog Box Component(Phillip Kerman)

Check them out. If you have any suggestions for future articles, post them in the comments section.