[Xerte] Xerte, flash and investing my time

[Peter Huppertz]

Hi Mark,

I never worked with openlazlo but it looks really promising. Seems that they are also using a xml syntax for their language, so perhaps converting a Xerte piece to an openlazlo project won't be too hard.
As Julian mentioned the good thing about Xerte is, that it writes pure xml file. In the worst case you have to invest some money to hire a programmer who writes a new parser to display the files in the format you need. If you look at the commercial alternatives you won't get that freedom (e.g. articulate presenter based on PowerPoint, captivate which is just pure flash). On the other hand the Xerte Editor gives you a very good overview of your piece and the (visual) editing capabilities which makes life easier compared to writing anything from scratch. 

The only headache that remains from my side is, that I also include a lot of flash scripting for the logic of my module - this won't be to easy to convert to a new platform. Perhaps Julian has some ideas how to avoid that and make it more generic (I'm using flash scripts for checking answers, counting rights and wrongs, etc.)?

Also designing e-learning for different platforms isn't only a question of the language you use. Looking at the different resolutions, screen sizes, input devices I'm pretty sure some manual customization will remain, apart from the question flash yes or no.

Peter

On 27.06.2010, at 10:51, Mark Gray wrote:

> Hi Julian, thanks for you reply. I like the idea of viewing Xerte Online Toolkits as an xml editor, it clarified the possibilities for me. What you suggest though is well beyond my capabilities (at the moment) except perhaps for the most basic application.   
> 
> I guess I am thinking of a near future where many students are either using iphones and ipads as their primary interface with the www and xerte with its flashness becomes inaccessible and therefore unused. Perhaps I am overestimating the impact of Apple products?
> 
> I also want to say congratulations on your recent award, Xerte certainly is the most flexible and comprehensive development tool I have come across.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> 
> On 25 Jun 2010, at 22:11, Julian Tenney wrote:
> 
>> Xerte could move in this direction, yes, but its a sizable piece of work.
>>  
>> Right now, you can get at the underlying xml for your projects, so you, or other developers can ge at that and present it using whatever technology you like. You can also develop templates to edit the xml data conveniently. It is helpful to think of Xerte Online Toolkits as an xml editor, which currently pushes the output to a Flash based runtime. It can push it out to lots of other things too, so if you can write an iPhone app that can access the .xml, you can parse it and present it on the iPhone. Can iPhone apps access an external .xml file?
>> 
>> From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk on behalf of Mark Gray
>> Sent: Fri 25/06/2010 21:00
>> To: xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>> Subject: [Xerte] Xerte, flash and investing my time
>> 
>> Hello all, I have a question.
>> 
>> I've just taken voluntary redundancy from my university. I'm currently half way through a masters in Blended and Online Education (Napier, Edinburgh). I've been playing with xerte online toolkits for some time now and really like it, but haven't really got to grips with xerte.exe as my actionscript knowledge is negligible. I am fairly competent in html, css and understand what xml is.
>> 
>> Anyway my question is this, I am about to invest a large amount of my time in developing some key skills for working with online learning and I am very drawn to the flexibility of xerte, but, given that it is flash based do you see a long term future for it?
>> 
>> I ask this in the light of the iPad and Apples move away from flash and the emergence of html 5 and javascript's ever increasing capacity. I've looked at the OpenLaszlo project <http://www.openlaszlo.org/> where applications are complied in either flash or dhtml and this seems like a smart approach, could xerte move in this direction?
>> 
>> Sorry that was two questions : )
>> 
>> Thanks
>> 
>> Mark
>> 
>> 
>> 
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==================================
Peter Huppertz
E-learning and IT Specialist
International Centre for Asset Recovery
Basel Institute on Governance
Phone: +41 61 205 55 18
Fax: +41 61 267 55 19

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