Note: This post was written by Rich Lowenberg. When I migrated this site from Wordpress to Blogger, it assigned them all to me, but he deserves the credit.For the last five years I've been working for ad agencies doing rapid flash site development. Most of the sites I've worked on have had to be translated for multiple regions (sometimes more than fifty!) and plugged into various different forms of content management system. They have often had rotating casts of developers working on them, and usually those developers don't have the opportunity to pass knowledge to the next person.
After leading a lot of teams and working with developers from a lot of different technical backgrounds, I've started seeing the same pitfalls over and over again, and I've come up with a few things that I think make flash coding in a team run smoother.
It's important to note that these strategies are for sites on a very tight deadline. There are recommendations in here that would be a bad idea if you had the resources you need. But if you don't, then you have to make compromises. These are the compromises to make:
1) There is a big difference between doing what's right, and doing what's best.
The problem I often come across with developers who have come from another technical background, particularly in software, is they get a lot of enjoyment from figuring out the perfect solution and implementing it. The trouble is, there usually simply isn't time for a perfectly architected solution. If it works, move on to something that doesn't work, and only tackle poor architecture if it starts causing serious problems in other areas.
2) Think about what it IS.
Often in rapid site development it's hard to plan for every circumstance. The spec changes multiple times in mid project and suddenly the developers have to mould their work into something new. If you can't anticipate everything, what can you do to make the code as flexible as possible? The most important thing is to keep dependencies between site elements to a minimum. This is standard OOP stuff, but in the flash world it's still often poorly executed. A common problem is using the same instances of a class to create site elements that look the same, but that are actually semantically different. An example might be a subheader that happens to have the same visual treatment as a photo caption. But to build a class to handle that text and use it for both the photo caption and subheader creates a dependency between those two elements that shouldn't be there.
3) Use constructors as much as you can.
The great thing about a constructor function is that it allows you to force an instantiator to pass the class everything it needs. Take advantage of this, and avoid having to use setter functions during instantiation. I know I know, getters and setters are standard practice. But bear with me - the point here is that if you define a constructor that builds everything you can be sure you have all the data you need. If you use properties and setters for instantiation you don't know that, and it can be a real headache for a developer taking over who doesn't know in what order properties need to be set, and what data the class needs to run properly. Constructors tell other developers clearly what data is needed to use a class, and they help avoid the need to write both constructor and modifying code, which takes more time and is more prone to bugs.
4) Make new instances, don't modify old ones
There are plenty of exceptions to this rule. But what I see often, particularly with simple components such as tooltips or notifications, popup panels etc, is developers instantiating a single instance of the class and then just changing the content of that instance when a new tooltip / panel is shown. The problem with this is that it forces you to build modifiers into a class instead of being able to just use a constructor, so that's double the code and double the potential for bugs. Secondly, by using the same instance for two elements you're often creating a dependency between two site elements that doesn't need to be there, and can reduce flexibility and cause interference with mixed up variables, conflicting tweens etc.
5) When taking over another developer's work, take the time to understand it.
Code is difficult to read, especially when you didn't write it, and modifying someone else's code just isn't as much fun as writing your own. Because of this, developers are often too quick to dismiss someone else's code and rewrite from scratch. This is sometimes necessary, but often it's just because the developer isn't willing to take the time to figure out what the first dev did. Make sure you have a reason to rewrite someone else's code other than not understanding it. If you must rewrite, try to rewrite only the parts that are aren't up to par, don't try and get it perfect (see 1).
6) COMMENT!
Commenting doesn't only help the next person to work on your code, it also helps you think clearly as you build. There's no need to comment the simple, obvious stuff, but as soon as something isn't intuitive there should be a short explanation in there. It often doesn't feel like there's time to do this, but it's absolutely crucial and helps prevent situations like number 4 happening.
7) Name things properly
Take the time to name your variables properly, and for God's sake don't use acronyms and short forms unless it's really obvious what they stand for. If you're using almost anything outside of the flash IDE these days then you'll probably have auto-complete for your variables and functions anyway. So use full, descriptive names that leave no ambiguity about what that variable or method is. This will help you think clearer and it'll be a godsend to the developer who takes over your work.
8) Be realistic about changesIf a change to spec comes in, be clear about how it will affect timelines, and make sure you give yourself breathing room in your estimates. A lot of developers, especially as they get good, tend to be optimistic with their time estimates. They decide something is easy without taking the time to fully think it through, or they just want to look in control and competent. Don't let your ego get involved when you're setting other people's expectations, be careful and realistic.
9) Prioritize
Sometimes there are things that can be worked on after client delivery. Often there are things that need to happen outside development before the site can launch. Typical post-delivery work might be plugging everything into the CMS, making sure components work with all possible content not just the test data, or fixing bugs that are harder to reproduce. Keep track of them and keep the rest of the team aware that the work needs to be done, but leave them until the end if you want the best chance of meeting your deadline.
10) Find compromises outside of the development If something looks like it will be tricky to build, talk with the creatives about implementations that will be easier to develop and achieve the same goal. Sometimes the tiniest little components can cause big delays, and if there's a faster way to implement them then it's worth having a ten minute conversation to determine that. Don't assume the creative is inflexible.
Thanks for reading, and I hope this helps! If you have any comments I'd be happy to hear them.
This could not psosilby have been more helpful!
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