Samuel Wan keeps on cooking on great Flash MX projects. This time its a Fisheye Menu in Flash MX that is up for serving.

Sam's implementation of the fisheye menu extends the original Listbox component that is part of the Macromedia components shipped with Flash MX.

I must say I am impressed with the way the whole list menu handles, and with Sam's references to sources for building it. But I am not so sure I like the usability aspect of it (see the demo). I feel the menu hides more of the items than a regular list menu would.

Samuel has made the source code available for download this time around too. Thanks Sam :-)

John comments on RSS as a follow up to my posting about Phil's Flash MX RSS reader.

I wish you had comments on your weblog John, or at least that it was possible to reach you by e-mail. Just wanted to point out that while there is a healthy discussion going on about the RSS format, there is actually an RSS standard (RSS 1.0) being used today that supports categories (in RSS 1.0 called subject). Check out my weblog in RSS 1.0 format for an example.

Vectorkid is a cool site with great tutorials on creating vector art in Flash. With tips on how to greate realistic metal, plastic, wood, cloth and much more. I especially like the vector tomato :-)

[Via Flashblog]

This is the coolest intergraton of an RSS parser in Flash MX I have seen so far. Phil Chung work as Multimedia Instructor at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He made the RSS reader for his own use, but promise that he probably will make the source for the reader available in the near future.

The scrollbars use the FScrollPane component, not the browser scrollbars, so instead of having the Flash movie appear in a small "box", Phil is letting it take up the entire browser area. It works really well, IMHO.

He has also made a reader for the Macromedia XML feed that really shows the power of Flash MX in showing information feeds. You can filter the feed on type and category.

It would be really cool to see a RSS 1.0 reader with support for filtering the information in the same way that it is filtered in Phil's Macromedia XML News Feed reader.

The Flash Enabled Book site was made by Steve Leone one of the authors of Flash Enabled, and the designer of the book as well as the web site.

BTW: If you want to pick up the book, you can find it here.

[Via SwfNews & Flashenabled.com]