Designing the RIA Experience (Adobe “Thermo”)

The next generation of rich Internet applications (RIAs) will continue to stretch our imaginations with groundbreaking interfaces and creative, engaging experiences. However, these new applications will demand even greater cooperation and iteration between RIA designers and developers from beginning to end.

One challenge is that developers and designers take a very different approach to creating a new RIA experience. Developers start out by dragging components onto a form, whereas designers prefer a more free-form approach—drawing out what the UI and controls should feel like. Despite these different approaches, designers and developers are craving better ways to work together throughout the iterative process of creating rich internet experiences.

In this session, you’ll see a sneak-peak of the new RIA design tool under development at Adobe, codenamed “Thermo.” You’ll see how Thermo enables designers and developers to create working application prototypes starting with static comps created in traditional graphic design tools.

Thermo will change the way RIA design occurs by allowing a designer to specify fluid application transitions and motion. Properties and events can be “wired up” in an application design without having to write any code. Developers will use Thermo to selectively turn artwork components into functional controls and assign design-time data so interactions and behavior can be visualized when access to final data isn’t practical.