New resources for Flash Catalyst and Builder beta 2

Today we released the beta 2 versions of both Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder on Adobe Labs – if you looked at either of these products at beta 1 but felt they were a bit early for regular usage then I’d encourage you try out these news builds.

With lots of bug fixes and performance improvements in both products, I’m now using these as my regular toolset for RIA design/development – Flash Catalyst in particular has added a significant number of new features over beta 1, including the ability to work with audio/video assets, as well as import and control Flash SWFs that were created in Flash Professional.

I’d like to highlight two updated developer centre articles that I’ve written and also point out a brand new one discussing workflows between Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder:

• Building a data-centric application using Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder 4 (updated for beta 2)
  Learn to create an employee directory application, starting from the Illustrator design, working in Flash Catalyst to create the user interface and moving into Flash Builder to connect to a PHP or ColdFusion back-end.
• Flash Catalyst Best Practices (updated for beta 2)
  A set of hints and tips for designers using Illustrator and Flash Catalyst that will help ensure that projects created in Flash Catalyst will be optimized for use by the development team you’re working with.
• Exploring Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder workflows
  Understand the different workflows that are possible between Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder and learn which is most appropriate for your team and the projects you’re working on.

If you have any comments/feedback on the articles then please do get in touch.