[OSM-dev] Naming streets without applet

[Richard Fairhurst]

Tom wrote:

> On 23/05/06, Nick Whitelegg <Nick.Whitelegg at solent.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>> I believe Richard Fairhurst is working, or thinking of working, on a
>> Flash-based alternative to the applet. A combination of that and some
>> basic AJAX functionality on the slippy map a la Freemap would perhaps be
>> the way forward.
>
> I agree that in theory Flash is a better user experience than Java
> applets (because Java applets are undeniably a nightmare in many
> respects), and I am also not precious about the applet.
>
> But... as with Erik's suggestion that adapting the tiles interface
> would somehow be easier to use than the applet, I have to point out
> that Flash is just another tool, and that it won't magically solve
> usability problems. [...]
> Now being a good designer/cartographer/coder, /Richard/ might solve
> the usability problems, but that won't be because he's using Flash :)

Aw, shucks. :)

Yes, I think that's a good point. As it happens I'm certainly not a  
good coder, but fortunately ActionScript doesn't require you to be a  
good coder. It's an enormously easy language just for getting things  
done - in the same way that Perl is, maybe, but much, much more  
readable. Everyone on this list could code ActionScript after about  
two minutes of studying the code. (Ming's SWF primitives require a bit  
more knowledge.)

I have two and a half reasons for wanting to do something in Flash.  
The first is that Flash reaches out to the "great unwashed" (like me)  
who just have their default browser install. I really don't anticipate  
that a Flash applet will be the main choice for many on this list  
(hey, the last few hours on talk have confirmed that ;) ), but that's  
not a problem - there's a place for (as Imi puts it) a "power user"  
application like JOSM, and one for a newbie-friendly interface that  
hides all the intricacies of ways vs. segments vs. nodes via some  
clever UI.

The second reason is that Flash has teh snappy, even the comparatively  
sluggish OS X version. And the half is that it's a way of implementing  
the editing features I want in a language I understand.

As for progress... I'm currently halfway between "working" and  
"thinking of working" on the Flash version. I've done a bunch of  
design sketches and am really optimistic about getting something  
that'll be easy (and fun) to use. But since we don't yet have Ming on  
the server, there's not much further that I can go with actual code,  
so I'm concentrating on the (Ruby) route-planner instead... which is  
currently learning about ways.

cheers
Richard