Some Great Adobe AIR Applications. Already!

Posted on January 22, 2008.

Following on from yesterday’s post, What Is Adobe AIR, today I’m going to take a look at some Adobe AIR Applications.

There’s a lot being written at the moment about how to create applications with AIR, but there’s not so much being said about what applications are being built and which ones stand out from the crowd. This is natural in the pre-launch phase. Adobe have to persuade the developer community to adopt AIR or there won’t be any applications developed.

But even at this pre-release stage, I’ve been surprised at the quality of the applications that are available. I think this reflects one of Adobe AIR’s key selling points. We already know how to build AIR applications. They use the skills we web developers already have and add some desktop jazz.

For me, one application in particular stands out above the rest and that is the Google Analytics Reporting Suite created by Nicolas Lierman of Boulevart in Belgium. Now I’m not sure if I’m just being biased because Belgium is my recently adopted home, but I think this really is an excellent application that sums up why AIR will be successful.

Analytics Reporting Suite

The Analytics Reporting Suite almost completely recreates the functionality of Google Analytics. This is no mean feat, but why do it? Anyone can access Analytics for free, why replicate it on the desktop?

The simple answer is that on the desktop, this application has the edge. It’s more responsive, it’s easier to use and yes, it’s more pleasing on the eye. In short, it makes you want to use it.

The screenshot below shows some of the nice AIR feature, most of which can be done on the web, but all of which work better on the desktop. Multiple windows, graphing, predictable scrollbars, resizeable dividers and date pickers.

Google Analytics In Air

There are other practical reasons as well. Analytics Reporting Suite can not only handle multiple websites, but multiple accounts enabling you to have one central point of access to many accounts which is very useful if you are a web designer with a long client list. In that sense it’s more of a Command and Control Centre than a Suite. And I think the application’s name hints at much more to come from the developer.

Is results caching and storage using SQLite or XML an option for future development of this app, enabling offline access to your data as well as further analysis by other applications or extensions to the suite?

And There’s A Widget

Not content with creating the Analytics Reporting Suite, Nicolas (and colleagues) have also created a companion widget that will keep an eye on your site stats and let you access an overview of all accounts.

The Best Of the Rest

So what else is out there and worth a look at?

Kuler

Well, if you’re a graphic designer you’re probably familiar with the Adobe Kuler which is a great web site for creating colour palettes or finding and adapting palettes shared by others. Well, Adobe have created a companion widget for Kuler in AIR.

It’s not as comprehensive as the web site. You can only search for palettes and not create your own, but it down integrate well with it’s more sophisticated cousin. It’s only really intended as a showcase for AIR, but it shows the kind of companion applications that can be created.

AirPress and Bee

WordPress fans can choose from a couple of decent applications which let you access you posts from the desktop and even set up new blog accounts.

Other examples include maps mashups called MapCache and RoadFinder, and a tool for writing on the desktop called ScreenBoard.

Links to all apps mentioned are given at the end.

Installing Air Applications

Adobe AIR is still a Beta technology and the applications that I’ve mentioned are created using different versions of the Beta (v2 and v3). So installation isn’t always as smooth a normal desktop application. The two versions of the AIR beta can co-exist, but you have to install v2 first. So if you’re going to let on of the AIR apps install the runtime, opt for the Analytics Reporting Suite first.

According to the Adobe website “You can install both Adobe AIR Beta 2 and Adobe AIR Beta 3 on the same computer and you can run both Beta 2 and Beta 3 applications at the same time. However, you should make sure to install Adobe AIR Beta 2 before Adobe AIR Beta 3. Installing Adobe AIR Beta 2 after Adobe AIR Beta 3 will cause the subsequent installation of AIR applications to fail.”

All Adobe AIR packages have the .air extension and installation is a simple process of double clicking. The install screen for all apps is the same. And a bit scary. So if you’re thinking of deploying AIR apps, be prepared to do some explaining to users.

Clearly they are trying to get the message across to people that there are (as with any desktop application) security implications of running AIR apps.

But don’t let that put you off, and try out AIR for yourself.