I’ve been playing around quite a bit lately with Central. You know, that obscure Macromedia Widget app that it seems never really caught on? I’m not sure why people have been stand-offish about it, though. I mean, to create an uber-simple Central app and pod, I added a whole whopping 1 line of code to an existing database driven Flash app! 1 LINE OF CODE!!!
Granted, that’s a bit of an understatement as to how easy it really is to create these widgets. But it really isn’t that difficult. Creating something that has some intrinsic value, on the other hand, is the tricky part. I ran across this app by Smashing Ideas the other day. It’s nice. they made it for USA Today, and it is quite well done.
Equally well done, albeit not as pretty, are these apps at PowerSDK. The XML editor is pretty slick, and actually quite useful.
What is really needed though, is for some folks like Grant Skinner, or Colin Moock to come up with something cool. It’s going to be up to us (obviously), the development community, to either make or break this thing. So get up off your arses! The next best thing is Konfabulator, and it isn’t even close. Can’t even begin to touch the functionality available through Central. Sorry Yahoo!, but it’s true. I’m glad you guys bought up Konfabulator, and it’s free now – but it’s no Central… Hell! You can even place Flex apps into central – so you can have online purchasing with one click shopping from a widget! That alone makes want to buy something…
So come on guys/gals, give it a go! Download the SDKs, it’s cross-platform, and see what comes to mind. I will be posting some new widgets shortly as soon as I finish them up. I will be sure to try to make up some tutorials for them too…