html:

<div class='semi'><p>This site is awesome!</p></div>

css:

.semi {
  background-color: rgba(0,0,255,0.5);
}

This works great except for our beloved Internet Explorers below version 9 so let's add the magic:

ie8 and below css:

.semi {
  background: transparent;
  filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#0000ff50,endColorstr=#0000ff50);
}

Yes you add it as a gradient filter! from starting color #0000ff at 0.5 opacity to #0000ff at 0.5 opacity

• Rounded corners? Most browsers* support CSS3 border-radius!
• Dropshadows? Most browsers* support CSS3 box-shadow (even with alpha channel!)
• Gradients? Most browsers** support CSS3 gradients!

* All modern browsers except IE8
** All modern browsers except IE9 and IE8

So ok, without looking at IE we can turn a simple anchor tag into a nice looking button by just using CSS; for IE we need some magic; this is where your trusty other front-end developers come in and Jason Johnston developed CSS3PIE just for this; take a look at the site by clicking the name or by following this link to CSS3PIE.

Take these small snippets to get things started:

html:

<a href="http://www.logarie.nl/blog/" class="button">This is a link to lo-ga-rie</a>

css:

.button {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
border: 1px solid #666;
padding: 5px 10px;
text-align: center;
-webkit-border-radius: 8px;
-moz-border-radius: 8px;
border-radius: 8px;
-webkit-box-shadow: #aaa 0px 2px 3px;
-moz-box-shadow: #aaa 0px 2px 3px;
box-shadow: #aaa 0px 2px 3px;
background: #f00;
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0 0, 0 bottom, from(#ff0000), to(#00ff00));
background: -moz-linear-gradient(#ff0000, #00ff00);
background: linear-gradient(#ff0000, #00ff00);
-pie-background: linear-gradient(#ff0000, #00ff00);
behavior: url(/PIE.htc);
}

Make sure the path to PIE is working and there you go, a nice looking button while only using html and css! Why should we care about this?
Older techniques like the sliding door are adding unused DOM elements to the html; which slows down page rendering, isn't the best for SEO and could be breaking the accesibility of your site. Techniques like I explained with fancybutton is only working with javascript enabled browsers and thus not fully complient with the accesibility standards. This technique is just using that what is provided by the browser; with a gracefull fallback (background: #f00;) in case nothing else works. Creating hover and visited states of this button is as easy and you think; just a few extra lines of CSS; don't forget to include PIE in those rules!

Performance is key on mobile devices and that is where Air (the programmer and the animator) is failing at a bit. Vectors should be bitmaps, Tweens should be picture sequences etc. but overall most of the performance issues are common sense. A badly written html5 webview with crappy expensive javascript is a killer as well.

Although I'm of the generation "why should we care about memory management if we know everyone has GB's of internal memory we can use" I'm very interessed in getting the hang of being memory and loadtime efficient. Getting the hang of it? Ye I'm no pro at that yet but I'm doing my homework :P

• be sure to make a loader class with a dictionary that holds references to files you already loaded
• make a basebutton class to handle your different button states
• extend that class when you need to
• implement a reset function in your swf files so you reset an already loaded file
• program event driven, the more events you dispatch the more power you have to interact
• leave designing to the designers and motion to the motion developers and force them to use flash as it is intended; as scripter you need to demand fla files with embedded animations instead of making them yourself
• Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE is very powerfull if you use a MVC program model sinc you can access your Controller when the model is added to the stage.
• trace debug stuff with the timestamp and fully qualified class name so you know which class spawned the trace event
• Declare baseclasses of .fla files as a dynamic class so you can add new properties on the fly (you know you want to!); you can always implement or extend the property in the class itself
• buy a crap cheapy netbook to test performance on a low level machine
• never think a preloader isn't needed; implement it but hide it if the file is loaded < 500ms or so (a flickering preloader is just as bad so don't always show it)
• the predefined flash components are just as strong as the predefined html form elements, they do a lot but never everything your crazy designer thinks off
• let buissines logic be handled by the backend if available (e.g. let the backend decide what you need to show make sure you can make it show)
• Use a generic XML parser (if used) or use json if you can handle it ;)
• if you are using XML parse the nodes into AS values so you can handle them directly

It all started at schiphol http://www.purring.nl/p/004Js6 and after an easy 2 hour flight I landed in Madrid at the barajas airport http://www.purring.nl/p/004Js8 from there I took 2 metro's and a lightrail to pozuelo http://www.purring.nl/p/004Js9. I've stayed the night in pozuelo and made a trip to El Escorial http://www.purring.nl/p/004Jsd the next day, which is an awesome and very impressive monestary.

We left at 19.00 exactly

The next day i went back to barajas http://www.purring.nl/p/004Jsf and strait back to Schiphol and back home!

Bands

1. Devin Townsend Project
2. Stone Temple Pilots
3. Edenbridge

Songs

1. Devin Townsend Project – Numbered!
2. Devin Townsend Project – Bend It Like Bender!
3. Devin Townsend Project – Resolve!

Lol; just listen to Devin like I do ;)

Bands

1. Stone temple pilots
2. Ayreon
3. Pearl jam

Songs

1. 30 Seconds to Mars – Vox Populi
2. Linkin Park – The Little Things Give You Away
3. Epica – Martyr of the Free Word

The new Stone temple pilots album is great!