ok guys and girls it is that time again. time to announce a new front end that is going into development. I am beginning the development of new front end that will be available by May. this front end will be designed primarily to run on the mac mini ( what i currently run in my car) but will be available as well to you windows users out there. The app will be built using adobe's new flex builder 3 utilizing a new tech called adobe air that will allow the app to be installed and run natively on your machine and not in a browser. With adobe Flex the app can run on any platform with the provided free download of adobe air from their website
www.adobe.com.
I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this will not become vapor ware. I am building this as my senior project so that i can graduate this may with my undergrad degree. Since i have to turn in a well built, well thought out app in order to graduate (and thus not waste $40,000) there is quite a bit of motivation behind this project.
Features:
Functionality - this will not be a super elaborate front end. i have been using AMP as of late, and with due credit to Alchemo for creating a very solid front end, there were just to many things that he tried to do. First and for most this will be a music player. With that this app will be very simple and very easy to use. At most you will be two screens away from every function. 90% of the time you will only be one screen away. the biggest use of course will be the music side of things, but i am planning a way for users to add there own functionality. Since i only have a little over a month to finish this app for school i am not sure that this function will make it the first time around, but i am going to try.
Looks - The idea that I am running with in this app is something very simple and elegant. I know there is a huge debate on aesthetics (wether the app should look like the corresponding OS or not) and I will do my best to please but ultimately it will be my design choice. On the other hand, one of the benefits of flex is the easy skinning capabilities, so each user theoretically will be able to customize the look and feel to a certain degree. as soon as have something to show i will post some screen shots.
i will need some people to help me test the app especially here in a couple of weeks. my mini currently has a blown logic board (speaking of which if anybody knows where i can get a new one on the cheap i would be very much appreciative). PM me if you want to try it out, and as soon as i get a stable running version i will send you a copy.
if anybody has any ideas about how attack certain areas of functionality please feel free to share your thoughts