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Adobe AIR Apps for Web Designers
Introduction
There are many ways that web designers can increase their productivity or improve their workflow. A boss of mine many years ago preached 'work smarter and not harder' and this is something that has always stuck with me. One of the best ways I have found to streamline what I do is to use the multitude of desktop applications available with Adobe Air.
Unlike most Adobe software, AIR (or Adobe Integrated Runtime) is free to download. Released in 2007 it now comes bundled with Adobe's 'Reader' software. Adobe AIR is a cross-operating system runtime that enables web developers to use their existing web development skills, code and tools to build and deploy rich web applications and content to the desktop. What this means in plain English is that the majority Adobe Air apps are created by web designers for web designers. The apps often help the user to interact seamlessly between their desktop and various websites.
Laid out below is a collection of my favourite Adobe AIR applications and where you can download them. If you don't have a copy already then you can download Adobe AIR by clicking here.
Adobe kuler
If you don't already have an Adobe kuler website account then you are missing out. Kuler is a place to develop the perfect colour scheme for a graphic or web design project. There are thousands of colour schemes created by other designers and you also have your own personal space to create and share your own colour schemes. Known as 'themes' the colour palettes are free to download and use.
The Adobe AIR kuler application allows you to run some of the functions of the kuler site on your desktop. You can search recently submitted themes, most popular and even the themes that you have created yourself on the main website. This can all be done without opening a browser and visiting the site at all.
Probably the best feature of this App is the ability to 'drag' a colour scheme 'swatch' directly on to your desktop for use with Photoshop, Illustrator or Dreamweaver. You can download the Adobe kuler app by clicking here.
Shrink O'Matic
Ever been setting up an e-commerce site for a client and been faced with converting five hundred images into thumbnails for the store? If you have (and that is how I discovered this app) then Shrink O'Matic is for you.
It's truly a time saver as you can drag and drop a batch load of image files into the application and it will start creating your thumbnail images whilst you get on with something more interesting. There are plenty of image formats and naming options for you to choose from and the output size can be controlled by either pixel based sizes or by ratio. You can download the Shrink O'Matic app by clicking here.
Polaris Analytics Reporting
I find that one of my great 'time thieves' is Google Analytics. Sad I know but I spend a fairly substantial amount of time logged in and checking how my site is performing. I will tend to stay logged in to the Analytics page whilst I am working. Wouldn't it be good to get Google Analytics straight to your desktop? Well, now you can with the Polaris app for Adobe AIR.
All you need to do is put in your Google Analytics log-in details and the charts, graphs and other info that you will already be used to from the Google Analytics website will be available on your desktop. Stick it up in the corner of your screen and it is there ready for you to check on when you feel the urge. You can download the Polaris app by clicking here.
Font Picker
I like Gill Sans MT Ext Condensed Bold but I also like Gill Sans Ultra Bold. But which is better? There's only one way to find out... FONT PICKER!! (sincere apologies to Harry Hill for the blatant plagerism). I don't know about you but I have quite a few fonts and it can be hard choosing which will be best for your new logo design.
The Font Picker app comes to the rescue. This Adobe AIR app is simple to use. When you open the Font Picker app you will get a list of all of the fonts on your machine. All you need to do to find your font is type in a word or two to see an example of those words in all of your fonts. You can scroll through them all and see which catch your eye for a potential font for your next design.
This little app may not be much to look at (sorry, but it isn't as funky as Shrink O'Matic) but it has saved me hours in font searches and, for that alone, it deserves a place on your desktop. You can download the Font Picker app by clicking here.
Icon Generator
Icon Generator is a quick and easy way to produce some 'Web 2.0' or Adobe style 'CS' icons.
The interface itself gives you a charming range of background colours and also allows you to to change the text on the icon. The icons make use of some great gradient and glass effects just like the ones you can create in Photoshop. The CS and 2.0 icons can then be exported to a chosen folder in four sizes; 128 x 128, 48 x 48, 32 x 32 and 16 x 16. The more observant amongst you might notice that 16 x 16 is the perfect size for a favicon (the small picture that appears next to web addresses in browsers.
The images are exported in PNG format and are then available for you to use in your 2.0 web project. You can download the Icon Generator app by clicking here.
Adobe Shortcut App
One of the best ways to reduce workplace stress is to know and use keyboard shortcuts for the applications you use the most. Almost every action or function your software tools can perform will have a keyboard shortcut. The one that a lot of people are familiar with is Ctrl + C for 'Copy' and Ctrl + V for 'Paste'.
The major problem with using shortcuts is remember what the hell they are! Especially when there is such a dizzying array of them. Well, Adobe have given us the Adobe Shortcut app to cover the keyboard shortcuts for all of their major software releases including Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Illustrator.
The Shortcut app has categories of essentials and also a place where you can store your favorites or the shortcuts for the actions that you use the most when you are working. So now there is very little excuse for not knowing the keyboard shortcuts for the entire Adobe Creative Suite! You can download the Adobe Shortcut app by clicking here.
Pixel Ruler
Always guesstimating the size of stuff? Well, no more with the Adobe AIR Pixel Ruler app. The app is a simple rectangle that can be dragged at the sides to increase or decrease the size of the measuring area. All measurements are then read in pixels. Superb if you want to know the dimensions of a web page or the size of an image.
The app also has lines similar to Photoshop 'Guide Lines' that may be dragged across the measuring area to measure elements inside of the grid. The app is easy to use and surprisingly useful. It's not until you have it to hand do you realise exactly how often you take a guess at the size of something, especially when designing with flash. You can download the Pixel Ruler app by clicking here.
Snippely
Snippely is a great place to keep all your snippets of code. Whether that be CSS, HTML, Javascript, PHP or anything else come to that matter. Just those things you would like to find close to hand on a regular basis or the little gems you come across once in a blue moon and will struggle to find again.
Split your best and most used snippets into groups and then add the code and notes on each snippet for easy indexing. This application can come in very handy if you happen to hand code your websites using Notepad ++ or another text editor. Dreamweaver, of course, already has it's own snippets box but the Snippely app is still a useful addition to any desktop as you may not want to be surfing the net with Dreamweaver open just in case you stumble across a killer piece of javascript or a new CSS3 property. You can download the Pixel Ruler app by clicking here.
Conclusion
I hope that you can see how Adobe AIR apps can really help to shave hours off of those fiddly, annoying and time consuming tasks by delivering web applications straight to your desktop. Of course you can also join the throng of developers who are building these handy little apps and submitting them to Adobe for distribution. If you have any other Adobe AIR apps that you think designers should know about and use then feel free to comment here and they may get added to the list.
