The Flex compiler has an option to generate a link report. This is a file that contains information on classes, dependencies and more for a Flex-project. Maybe the most common use for the link-report is to compile modules against it to optimise them for a certain application, but it can also be used to find classes and packages that might be included in your project without you knowing it, adding to the projects total file size.

The link-report file is a plain XML file, perfectly readable as it is. That said, there are tools to make even more use of the file. I have had experience with two such tools, both of them AIR applications that parses the link-report and presents the information in a more user-friendly way.

ItDepends has a very nice feature that lets you see exactly which classes that refers to a certain class, very handy for identifying unnecessary classes and reducing file size.

Link Reporter Visualizer is a tool similar to ItDepends, but also features a nice tree map, that you can zoom in on to get a very clear graphical view of package sizes:

I recommend any serious Flex developer to take a look at these tools and all their features, as there is much to be gained from using them!

Tags: flex, link-report, air, itdepends, link report

Recently I got introduced to a "new" form of direct marketing. One of the bigger grocery stores, where I hold a card, sent out offers on the 10 or something products that we (me & my partner) purchase the most. It still on trial in my area, and I haven’t actually got any discount as promised. Never mind, I like the idea. I think it’s great to get these offers on something that I’m actually likely to purchase. Obviously a brand might have different purposes, or conditions, to send me offers, but what’s crucial is the need for relevant data.

The retailers have a big advantage, when it comes to data collection. But for others it might be a big challenge. Ok, I’m not going to try to make this text look like anything it’s not. What I want to say is that Yooba can be of great help, but it’s also because it’s a relevant question for any brand to consider how to deal with.

Tags: data, direct marketing, ica, yooba

Among other interesting studies from AC Nielsen. Word of mouth seems to be the most effective selling tool, from this worldwide studie.

Tags: word of mouth, marketing, consumer trust, perception

While we’re at it. We’ve also had some, actually a whole page, coverage in the Swedish major business paper - Dagens Industri. They visited us at Internet World, and took more of a business perspective in the article. It’s available on the net, if you have a subscription.

Tags: yooba, dagens industri, internet world

We’re a bit late on this, but obviously we want let you know. All the webmeisters out there might have noticed the latest issue of .net, or Practical Web Design as it’s called outside the UK. More precisely in the gallery section, where Yooba is represented.

It’s just one of those things that, for various reasons, happens and makes you think, - “yeah, things are going alright, aren’t they.”

Many of you are probably aware of the magazine, but check it out if you aren’t. - It’s all good!

Tags: .net magazine, yooba, web design,

Last week, Adobe released the first public beta of the Flash 10 player, codename Astro. Here at Yooba HQ, we've been trying out some of the new, exiting features and thinking of different ways to take advantage of these in future versions of Yooba Studio.

I believe Flash 10 will bring lots of good, and not only in terms of the more obvious features (I'm thinking of the pseudo-3D and GPU-rendering) but also the revamped text engine and the improved drawing API.
It's allready possible to try Astros' features out by making some adjustments to the Flex environment, but still we're eagerly awaiting docs (other than Senoculars nice tutorial) and some more tools to play with.

Yooba is really exited about Astro, and what cool features it can bring Yooba Studio (and you!).

Tags: astro, yoobastudio, studio, flash player, 3d

We’ve all come across the most annoying banners. The misuse of “bad” advertising may not be a problem today, but for some media there should be some warning bells ringing. And also for the consumers; if the market for banner blockers keeps growing the media needs to take their income from somewhere else. That means less obvious advertising, from a consumer perspective. If you still want the content for free, that is.

How to avoid the growth of banner (ad) blockers then? A developer from Adblock Plus, one of the successful tools on the market, gives some fairly fundamental comments on the question. – Don’t forget that you’re dealing with humans. He also believes that the problem with bad banners is just the beginning.

The obvious answer is; don’t do bad banners. Make the consumer participate in an active way, and even better, make your advertising good and viral. Let the consumers be the sender for you.  

Tags: banner blockers, media, content, adblock plus

I’ve touched before and we’ll probably do it again, but there’s quite big shifts going on, which concerns most of us. We must keep on our toes.

So good news; though we’re going towards recession, the future for digital marketers looks good. Digital marketing is going to be your hub in your future marketing communications. But irrespective of the percentage number of expected rise, the changes in the marketing field are going to make new demands on digital marketing.

So why is this so concerning? Well, there’s signs that points out that we’re not always keeping on our toes. Discussions and research about social marketing, and the lack of understanding of it, within larger organisations is a bit alarming. A recent studie in Sweden indicates an attitude like – “If not everyone else is doing it we don’t necessarily need to do it.” Obviously social marketing is just a part of the (digital) marketing mix, but there (in social networks) is crucial behaviour that you need to apply to any marketing communication in the future.

Engagement.

Forget pushing. It’s about give and get, 2-way communication, person 2 person etc. Maybe Facebook isn’t going to be the channel for you, but there’s always going to be another one. And now your customers/end-users wants a level of engagement whether you’re their friend or a brand who wants to talk to (with) them, otherwise you’re not interesting. As in Real Life.

Tags: engagement, social media, digital marketing, engagement, internet

So, we’ve had our first encounter with potential buyers and users. The overall feedback was very good, but it has also lead to the fact that we need to rewind and revise a few basic functions in our service. Or rather implement a few functions.

We see lots of advantages, and a few necessities, of having Yooba Studio as web based service, and in many aspects we differentiate our service against traditional software’s.  But if you look at usability, I can’t get into details, we still need to keep an eye on what functions the user might want from the environment that he or she is used to. – I.e traditional software’s.

One thing that we want to communicate is that Yooba Studio is going to be the marketers complement, in the ways they work today, both when in comes to the marketing communications itself, and in the ways that content is produced.  That means that our users will still work in Photoshop, Illustrator etc. as they’ve always done, but to get branded Flash content they’ll complement with Yooba Studio. Therefore it’s crucial for us that the transition between these environments isn’t becoming a lengthy procedure. In reality that means putting a bit more effort on some fairly basic features that in the end necessarily don’t get noticed, but if they wouldn’t be there it could cause a rather annoying situations for our users.

Tags: yooba studio, photoshop, software, flash, content, usability

Sometimes we, Yooba the company, get categorised as a start-up. And to just make a statement; we don’t see ourselves as a start-up. In its present form the company has been operating since 2001. No, it was not in the best of times we decided to actually become a start-up (i.e during the dot-com bubble). But we survived, and since, we have years of experience doing what we do today. It’s these years of experience that actually have evolved into our forthcoming service. Related to the definition of a start-up we’re in a phase of development of a new service, but it doesn’t make us a start-up if we may decide.

So, rather, what we’re about to introduce, is a service that we have “productified” from years of creating web campaigns. For us it was about; - why do we need to build everything from scratch for every campaign we’re making for a customer? That’s where we’re now; soon to introduce a facilitating platform for any marketing professional.  

Tags: yooba, start-up, marketing, web campaings