Pikeo – A Solid Flex Application

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I think I’m losing my touch. Here’s this very interesting photo sharing application done in Flex and I didn’t even know it existed until JD posted about a party they’re having. Even though I’m smarting a bit because I’m missing what is very possibly the first Web 2.0/Flex 2 party, I checked out Pikeo. I must say, I’m pretty impressed. Jaz has a good roundup, but Pikeo is a photo sharing site from Orange (a subsidiary I think of France Telecom)

First thing they do well is not make it look like every other Flex application out there. That’s key, because we’ve seen so many of those that it makes Flex look bad. But Pikeo proves that you can use Flex to build a great experience while branding your application to your taste.

After playing with it, I can see how some people might think it goes a bit overboard, but I disagree. I think Pikeo shows off what you can do with Flex and Rich Internet Application technologies. The Pikeo UI is good and the effects and transitions give the user a feel of depth. It’s mostly eye-candy, but it’s cool eye candy, and there are no performance hits to speak of. The app just feels more uniform than an Ajax application.

On a pure photosharing side, I like what Pikeo did. I think the who/what/where tagging options are a good idea. I think the map integrates with the pictures somehow, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. If it does what I think it does, that’s great, but the fact that I can’t figure it out is a negative.

Overall I think Pikeo does a good job of showing off an RIA photo sharing site. The application flows well, it contains some rich interaction between pictures which is good. Of course this could have been done as an Ajax application, but I think Flex 2 gives them more room to grow as demands increase.

[tags]Pikeo, Flex 2, photos sharing[/tags]

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  • http://www.pikeo.com Celine Lacombe

    Hey! Thanks a lot for your review. We’ll work on integrating better the map with the pictures ;-)
    Don’t hesitate to give us more feedback. Hope you’ll put more mountaineering pics!

  • Xiaolei Shi

    Flickr beats it in almost every single way. Moreover there is no significant use of flash besides ‘actually’ slowing down the application. Inappropriate (if at all) utilization of Flash’s current strengths: video and (still) vector based animation.

    The replacement of my mouse cursor makes me feel as if some other worldly force has commandeered my computer. The uneasy lags between the frame redraws makes me think that this other worldly force is malicious to my computer.

    “The app just feels more uniform than an Ajax application.”

    One written by a 14 year old, yes. at least in AJAX you can select the text. Now you’ve permanently alienated the audience, and made them think that their computer is under the influence of a virus. Way to take a nosedive into the uncanny valley guys.

  • John M. Starory

    just another bad use of Flash/Flex example

  • http://www.brandonellis.org/ Brandon Ellis

    Hey Ryan,
    You know I’m a forward thinking Flash/Flex guy but I’m wondering what requirements determined Flex was the correct tool for the job. Aside from a couple alpha fades, the ‘showBusyCursor’, and (IMO) the annoying thumb view, there isn’t much that could not have been accomplished with HTML/JavaScript. I can understand the benefits of how fast and easy an app can be created in Flex but the whole thing just seems clunky to me.

  • Bruce

    Tried to visit Pikeo, but just go the Loading animation for too long.

    You blogging about them probably crashed their server with the referrals :)

    Bruce

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  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    All valid points. Is this the perfect Flex implementation? No. Could this application have been done in Ajax? Sure. In this case, Flex is a differentiator. How many Ajax photo sharing sites do we have? Dozens? Hundreds? How many Flex photo sharing sites do we have? One? I think that played a big part (to answer Brandon’s question).

    I don’t think it was a bad use of Flex, I think it shows some of the shortcomings of the platform but also some of the strengths. It builds a unique experience. That is different from the typical web experience. Some people like that and some people will hate it. But in this case I think Flex gives them room to grow, make the experience unique and differentiate themselves from competitors.

    Sorry I’m late in answering this, I’ve been swamped today.

  • http://www.brandonellis.org/ Brandon Ellis

    Fair enough. :)
    Looking at it from the standpoint of ‘how many flex based photo sharing sites are there?’, you are dead on Ryan. Now I feel guilty for not being more supportive of the home team.

    I guess part of is expecting a certain level of the ‘wow factor’ and as far as the visual experience went, I wasn’t feeling it.

    Still you are right. This app will lead to another and another. That’s a good thing.

  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    Nope, you’re absolutely right Brandon. There isn’t a big wow factor with this. But I think despite some of the criticism above, it’s good enough to help Flex 2 adoption.

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