Designers (UI people) and developers (coders) usually have totally different views of the world, and that was highlighted for me last night when I attended a local user group to watch the big MX2004 product introduction and demo (great event by the way, I was really pleased at how well Breeze handled the audio and slides). While watching the screen I kept one eye on the audience so as to see what it is they reacted to.
Dreamweaver including basic image editing capabilities? Lots of nods. That Fireworks gradient fill thingie (hey, I am a coder) used to fill the plane? Audible gasps. Flash animations using simple menu clicks? Smiles, lots of whispering, and even more note taking. You get the picture. And then Lucian mentioned ActionScript 2.0 and most of the smiles faded. Flash Professional? Noticeable enthusiasm until the mention of XML and Web Services and data integration and the comparison to VB. Suddenly the atmosphere changed.
I introduced myself to the group, most seemed to have never even heard of ColdFusion and did not seem to understand what “server products” meant. I am not putting anyone down, the group I crashed was a designers group, and so the reactions and responses were as expected. But even so, seeing the distinctions so blatantly and apparently was somewhat startling.
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