Just left the “Quickly Mockup a Business Website” – another Fireworks session. Seems like there are lots of Flex, lots of AIR, and lots of Fireworks sessions here. *Very* little Flash IDE-based sessions. It’s just Flex Flex Flex. I’ve felt this way for a couple of years and now I don’t think I’m wrong. Things like not including the *much* better Flex components in the Flash IDE is just a clear shot across the bow of those of us who like using the Flash IDE.
Anyways…back to the “Quickly Mockup a Business Website” session. It was advertised as an “Advanced” session, or else I would have skipped it. The presenter was really unprepared in terms of the actual presentation. We walked in and I was thrilled to see tables, so I was able to grab a seat and pop open the laptop and connect. The wireless signal here is pretty weak, either that or my new company-supplied Dell D630’s wireless card sucks. So the presenter starts at 9am and just sits there talking through while he designs an ugly website. It wasn’t any worse than the other designs I’ve seen here at MAX – makes me feel good about my own limited design skills. The session started to get interesting as time went on, as we all just sat there and watched him do his thing while he talked. Some hidden gems that I picked up, like giving a 3d perspective to tabs, using the shadow filter and then moving it with the subselection tool to give a different perspective, etc. Basically I learned one key thing: USE THE FEATURES THAT FIREWORKS GIVES YOU! Sounds dumb, but I’ve been stuck in a design rut for a while so this was, while overall not a very good session, it was worthwhile just for that gleaned observation.
Am I happy I attended that session? Hell yeah – they handed out 10th Anniversary Fireworks T-Shirts at the end for all attendees! Plenty to go around, and the XL size looks to be a little big so I’ll actually won’t feel like spandex wearing it!
Other…
I picked up a MAX baseball cap from the Adobe Store here onsite for $12. Nice hat. I’m bummed though that I didn’t buy one or two of the nice AIR and Flex shirts they were selling. The nice-looking ones sold out the first morning of the conference, so the time to get them was on Sunday after/before the preconference sessions. Good deals on books here too, but I’m kind of ‘booked out’ at the moment.
I’m seriously considering signing up and paying (out of my own pocket) for the Captivate certification exam they’re administering here onsite at 33% off. I’ve been meaning to take that exam for a while but haven’t studied for it. I know the tool at an expert level, so I should have no problem passing it, but I took (and passed!) the Flash designer exam a few years ago and although I did well on it it was a tough exam and I wouldn’t have passed had I not specifically studied for it. But I know Captivate much better than I did Flash back then, so I should be okay. It’s just a matter of timing – I don’t want to miss a decent session for the test. I’ll probably do it tomorrow morning.
Next up…the General Session. No idea what to expect out of this one.