While I was vaguely aware of the Adobe Exchange, I hadn’t really checked it out until a recent purchaser of our Spelling Plus Library mentioned that he had been unable to find our component on it. While the Exchange is still in beta, and has some rough edges, it’s looking pretty good overall. I was able to submit SPL, and have it moderated and listed in under 48 hours.
I think one of the major weaknesses of the Flash platform is the lack of a strong component and source code ecosystem. The Exchange provides one of the key elements needed to grow this ecosystem: Providing a central location for finding and rating third party components.
The main issues I encountered while submitting our spell checking component were:
- Some of the submission UI needs tweaking (ex. the technical requirement lists are way too small and unorganized).
- You can only submit an item in one primary exchange. Our spell checker works in Flash, Flex and AIR, so it would be nice to have it in all three exchanges.
- You can’t have carriage returns or html in your description, which makes it difficult to provide detailed information in a readable format.
- The download button on product pages opens in a chromeless JS window, which is a pain in the butt.
- I still have not been able to figure out how to associate a thumbnail with my entry â it’s obviously possible, as most items have one, but I cannot find any way to do it (if anyone knows, let me know).
Anyway, I’d definitely recommend having a look at the Exchange, and tossing it into your bookmarks. There’s a lot of great content there already, and more is being added daily. It might save you having to reinvent the wheel on a future project.
I agree that the Adobe Exchange could use a few tweaks, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Regarding the thumbnail, I’m able to edit my uploads by clicking “Uploads” under “My Exchange”. You should get a list of your uploads with an “Edit” link underneath the status. That should take you to a page that has a section called “Submit Files”. There you can edit the Upload Thumbnail and Upload Preview.
Hope that helps.
Juan,
I’ve tried this, but I only get a section called “Upload File”, with the option to choose between uploading a file or providing a URL for the main download. There is no option for uploading a thumbnail or preview. I’ve tried viewing it in Safari and FireFox (in case it was a browser issue), but still don’t see these options.
Hi Grant,
Thanks for the note about the Adobe Exchange. I’m glade you are finding some value there. We recently spent a bunch of time talking with customers about the Exchange browse UI and made some changes which users were happy with. Sounds like there is more work to do on the submission process. I will take your comments and make sure we consider them when we revisit the submission process. BTW, I love Mass Effect and have been playing it waaay too much recently. — David Hatch, Chief Information Architect, Adobe.com
If you only discovered it recently, you should be glad. It used to be all Flash-based and a brilliant case of where NOT to use Flash 🙂
J
Jensa,
I vaguely remember Exchange as a Flash app. I think that’s why I stopped paying any attention to it
Rubbish! I submitted an upload last Sunday and it still hasn’t been verified. How long is it supposed to take?!?!