Ben Forta | Blog

Blog posts made in September 2011

Kevin Lynch has posted some thoughts on momentum with Adobe's HTML5 strategy from a tooling and standards perspective, and hints at more to come. Also included is a short video about the CSS Regions and CSS Exclusions contributions that Adobe has made to WebKit.

Yep, secret no more now that I've posted MAX 2011 on Approach! over on the Adobe Features Blogs.

Adobe MAX 2011 is one week away. If you'll not make it in person, then be sure to sign up to watch the keynotes live online.

We just announced that Adobe Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 will be launching in early October. To help you get ready, here are some articles on what's new and exciting:

Last year at MAX I hosted Are You Smarter Than An Evangelist (they weren't, the Evangelists won). This year we'll be playing Flash Jeopardy, and once again I am hosting! If you'll be at MAX, join the audience on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 3:00 p.m. at the Flash Rocks Entertainment Lounge inside the Community Pavilion. Help us stump our four constants from the Flash community, send Flash trivia questions to fprocks@adobe.com.

MariaDB is a fork (offshoot) of MySQL, one of the most popular database management systems in the world. MariaDB was created by the creator of MySQL to address some of the limitations and shortcomings in MySQL, and is intended to be a drop in replacement for MySQL as well. At the request of Monty Widenius, creator of MySQL and MariaDB, I ported my best-selling MySQL Crash Course to focus specifically on MariaDB. The new book, MariaDB Crash Course, was just released and is now available for purchase.

Note: As already noted, MariaDB is based on MySQL. Indeed, it can be thought of as MySQL plus new features and improvements. In other words, if you have used MySQL then you already know how to use MariaDB. As such, if you have a copy of my MySQL Crash Course or my Sams Teach Yourself SQL In 10 Minutes, then you'll likely NOT want a copy of this new title.

I've never been a fan of Go Daddy ColdFusion hosting. But, with them announcing that they are exiting the ColdFusion hosting business, quite a few users have e-mailed to ask for alternative hosting recommendations. HostMysite has been hosting my own site for many years, and I've been very pleased with the service and up-time on my dedicated servers. Earlier this week they emailed to tell me that in response to the Go Daddy announcement they were offering discounted ColdFusion hosting. So, for free setup and 30% off ColdFusion hosting plans, just click here.

ColdFusion 9.0.1 Cumulative Hot Fix 2 has just been released.

It's been a few years since we hosted MAX in Europe, and I am hoping that at some point we'll resurrect that event. But, in the interim, we are hosting a series of Back From MAX events right after MAX 2011. These day-long events in Paris, Berlin, and London will deep-dive into MAX highlights and announcements, giving those who are unable to join us in Los Angeles a taste of what MAX is all about. I'll be presenting the opening keynote at these events, and fellow evangelists will be presenting much of the content. Event details are all online, and I hope to see you there (unless I see you at MAX first, that is).

I missed this one while traveling last week. Adobe Edge is a new web motion and interaction design tool that allows designers to bring animated content to websites, using web standards like HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3. Edge Preview 2 is now available for download from Adobe Labs.