As a frequent flyer, who has averaged over 200000 flown miles every year since 1998, I have a vested interest in your survival as an industry. I completely understand your need for revenue – however a few recent developments have caused me to question not only the wisdom of your decisions, but also whether or not the people making the decisions have actually flown in the last seven years.

I completely understand that things like water and soft drinks aren’t free for you, but I also know that you get some sweet deals in terms of pricing on these items in return for announcing that “your airline is proud to serve soda X”. I also know that I just paid a hefty price for this ticket. So, it’s a bit ridiculous to ask me to pay $2 for a bottle of water that cost you $.35. Buying onboard food – fine, if I want other food I can bring it from home. Keep charging the $5 for beer and wine too – but don’t rape me for something that was free a few months ago back when fuel prices were, hmm, exactly where they are again now! And especially when that particular item can’t be brought through security anymore.

But even more troubling is the new baggage insanity fee. Again, I’m all for making money – but in a smart and equitable way. Your recent requirement to pay $15-25 for a checked bag has done nothing but cause passengers to attempt to stuff their entire apartment into a roll-aboard and backpack (neither of which can fit into the overhead bin without using a crowbar and personal lubricant). The result is that bins are completely full before even half of the passengers have boarded – a process which is also slowed because of the time needed to wedge all of the oversized duffelbags into the minimal space available. And then your flight crew gets to waste even more time checking the rest of the carry-ons in the gangway – for free!!! I’ve even heard passengers giving each other tips about this very thing!

Let’s get real – there are two far more intelligent solutions to this problem. Feel free to chose either one…

First, charge a carry-on fee instead of a checked bag fee. Charge the same $15-25 for any bag larger than a standard computer backpack or briefcase size. Upon paying, issue a bag tag that is attached to the bag in order to bring it onboard. It’s far less time-consuming for a gate agent or flight attendant to glance at the rollaboards being brought on than to fill out 20 or 30 luggage tags for bags that can’t find an overhead bin space.

Not only would this free up bin space, thereby alleviating the major bottleneck in the boarding process, it also ensures that the majority of bags go through more rigorous inspection than that afforded at most checkpoints – helping to keep us all safer.

Now if you don’t like that idea, how about just tacking on the stupid $15 to the price of every ticket as a fuel surcharge? That is the reason that you’ve said you needed to add the baggage fee, isn’t it? So let’s be fair and make everyone shoulder the burden of the higher fuel costs. We’re all getting on the plane – why does my checked bag cost more in the cargo hold than the one in the overhead bin? And don’t tell me it’s a matter of weight – you already have weight restrictions – and you are able to distribute the weight in the cargo hold much more effectively than you can in the cabin. And a fuel surcharge could actually be decreased or even recended as fuel prices decrease (as if you’d ever actually do that…).

The bottom line is that we all know the economy sucks – but I also know that every plane I get on is packed to the gills. We all want you to survive and even to turn a profit, but nickel and dimeing us in a way that makes the entire traveling experience even more of a headache is the quickest way to lose any goodwill that you might still have following 9/11. And, yes I know, as a frequent flyer I am not subject to the bag fees – but I do still have to get on the plane in a timely manner. And when I can’t manage to be one of the first ones on the plane I still need to find room for my bag. Think about it – or better yet make your executive fly coach (in a middle seat) on six flights this week. I bet we’d see a lot of changes come next week. ;-)

Sincerely,
Greg

P.S. To my readers, I’d love to hear your thoughts on my ideas – or any of your own airline stories. Comment away!

You know, it’s funny that “we” somehow get forgotten in all the hoopla surrounding a new product announcement. By “we” I mean all of the evangelists, sales engineers, training partners, community experts, book authors and all the others out there that serve as your source of tips, tricks, and techniques that you rely on when learning our products. Just like you, we get frustrated by the perceived “quick” arrival of the next “greatest software release in the history of the company”. But even more frustrating is the fact that we have a far shorter time to react and learn than you.

You see, while all of you were happily impressing friends and colleagues as you discovered the Auto Align command in Photoshop or the added productivity of Dreamweaver’s CSS starter layouts, those of us “in the know” were already “knowing” – and beginning to learn – even though CS3 was only in its infancy. And that is an even bigger challenge – being out on the road, demoing one version (with which you yourself are not even comfortable) while knowing that issues are already being addressed and new workflows invented. But such is our life…

In fact, unlike us – the Adobe faithful (read: slaves… er, um… faithful) – you even have the luxury of skipping a version – although as an Adobe stockholder I am obligated to inform you that doing so can cause headaches, dryness of the mouth, loss of hearing, nasal congestion and a temporary inability to complete any creative (suite) task. Should any of these symptoms last for longer than four hours, well, you know what to do… Buy the upgrade!!!

But my actual purpose in posting this was to draw your attention to those individuals in the community that you admire and learn from. There are a lot of them who have been spending countless hours working with and bug testing these new tools. And all of the great content you’ll be experiencing shortly on blogs, Adobe TV, tradeshows and elsewhere, was created and perfected using unstable and at times frustratingly irritating builds of the great software that you will soon be enjoying in their (hopefully) bug-free form.

So if you get the chance to meet one of these individuals that have created tutorials, written blogposts or authored a book for you to learn from, please take a sec and thank them. I know they’ll appreciate it – cause not only do I do these things myself (I’m writing this on my iPhone on the way to Dallas right now to film some upcoming Adobe TV shows), but I enjoy learning from my fellow Adobe enthusiasts as well.

Want to know more about Creative Suite 4? Then be sure to register for the live premiere – or visit Adobe TV following the announcement on Sept. 23rd.

Let us know what tips or tricks you’re interested in hearing about, and we’ll be happy to blog these tips.

On a personal note, I have to admit that I’ve had the pleasure of being able to spend these (unprecidented) 6 weeks with my kids and with Stephanie – so if you’ve missed my posts, thanks for your patience. Cheers!!!

Unbelievable! Almost 3000 attendees – eager to learn more about CS3 techniques…

I often tell stories of seminars past that I have had the pleasure to conduct in Korea, of the crowds, the enthusiasm for our products, and the professionalism with which my Korean colleagues arrange and execute them. And, in fact, I had mentioned to Jason several times leading up to the trip that he was in for a real treat – this being his first trip to Korea. Thankfully this time I wouldn’t need to fight jet-lag, as I was coming from Sydney and the WebDU conference – just a mere 12 hours in a plane and I’d be there!

The venue was once again the hotel Grand Intercontinental (the site of a very infamous story which will never get told in the blogosphere) – which is definitely on my list of favorite hotels in the world. After a day of preparation with our translators, we were well rested and ready for a day of evangelizing, and our Seoul friends did not disappoint! In fact, Min-Hyoung (our Korean Group Marketing Manager extraordinaire) had treated us to a wonderful Korean BBQ (one of my favorite foods) the night before, where he had expressed serious concern about the fact that they had been forced to close registration at 6000, due to the venue, which could only seat 2500.

It’s so funny to see my old picture… pre-ponytail and goatee!

Dear reader, there is nothing that can excite an Adobe evangelist more than to tell us, not only is the venue huge, but we’ll be flirting with the fire code – with people literally sitting on the floor, in the aisles and standing (some of them did for 5 hours!) at the back of the room. Having told Jason what to expect, I was still smiling as he voiced his surprise at the size of the venue – and the throng of attendees waiting to get in when we arrived that morning. At the appointed start time, people were still filing in – so many that we had to postpone the start of the session by 15 minutes! As the lights came down and the opening intro (a really cool Flash piece that the Korean team put together) for our session began to play, there were some 2300 people seated and more than 200 standing/sitting in the aisles – with more still filtering in! How quickly 8 hours can pass… At the end of the day, after numerous autographs, photos, and huge smiles, we all agreed, “Ah, Korea, how I love you!”

Our shout-out to the Adobe Korea team for a job well done!

I’ve got a few more pictures in my Flickr stream – along with pictures from our weekend in Beijing for those who are interested. And now, it’s off to Taiwan, and then on to Hong Kong… maybe I’ll see some of you there! Cheers!

For those who care, this trip will begin with a gawd-awful 5am wake-up and 6:30am pickup to head for the always lovely [sic] Sky Harbor airport here in Phoenix. Should all go as planned, the first stop on the mega-tour will be in the Netherlands, where Jason Levine and I will be holding court at the annual AVManifestation in Hilversheim. We’ll be demoing Adobe’s web/video solutions to this year’s visitors. From there, it’s a mad dash (I’ll be driving, so fasten your seatbelts) with Jason and Stephanie Sullivan down to Kortrijk, Belgium for another year’s appearance at MultiMania ’08. (The site for 2M08 is definitely worth a look – nice, all flash site.) Sadly, we won’t be hanging around for long, as it’s immediately off to Paris for the Flash Festival where I’ll be bringing folks up to speed on what’s happening in the world of Flash. Thankfully, Stephanie and I will get to spend a day enjoying Paris (sunshine, please).

Germany is next on the list with an initial stop in Karlsruhe for Webinale ’08, and then onwards to Zurich, Stuttgart, Berlin and Graz, Austria for the encore of our Adobe Masters’ Tour, featuring Jason, Rufus Deuchler and myself.

A brief stop in the US is next up – Orlando and ToDCon. I’ll be giving the keynote along with a session on Progressive Enhancement with the Spry Framework for AJAX. ToDCon is one of those really fun, small conferences where you really get to hang out and visit with both fellow speakers and attendees. I love doing this conference.

But my time on terra firma will be short-lived, as Stephanie and I will then embark on a 22 hour journey down-under, arriving just in time for WebDU. This is my other “favorite” conference – not the least of which is due to the fact that it’s held in beautiful Sydney. If the weather gods allow, we’ll be doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb on Sunday. I’ve already done it once, and it is truly spectacular. I just wish they allowed you to take your own camera up with you.

After a bit of a rest (it was supposed to be a 14 day vacation on the Great Barrier Reef, but alas, work calls…), I’ll be putting Stephanie back on the plane, and for me, it’s off to Seoul, Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for the Asian leg of the Adobe Masters’ Tour.

I can assure you that when I finally see my house again on July 12th, it will be a sight for some very weary and tired eyes! But, if you’re in any of the areas I’ll be visiting along the way, please feel free to drop a comment here – especially if you know where the good beer is! And, of course, I’ll see you back right here for reports, pics and stories from the road. Cheers!

Finally, for those that missed it… there was a recent flurry of Twitter activity around a marriage proposal that I made to my co-author (and love) Stephanie Sullivan. Little did we realize just how much the “rest of the world” cared – LOL – it got picked up by Wired News! Prost!

I will be conducting a session on Sunday (at the obscene hour of 11:30am) on “Responsible Web Design“, together with Stephanie Sullivan. During the session, we’ll be taking a look at web standards from a “standardista” approach (Stephanie) and how Adobe is addressing these issues within our software (me, duh!).

We had hoped to field an Adobe team for the annual bowling tournament, but unfortuntely, the team registration filled up faster than an Irish pub on St. Patty’s Day. Fortunately, Stephanie was able to secure two spots for herself and me on the Yahoo! team – so we’ll be slugging it out and helping them beat back the Microsoft team (get it?!). Wish us luck!

But of course the main Adobe event is sure to be the Adobe-sponsored party on Monday night at the Dirty Dog from 8-11pm. There’s sure to be a packed house – because “open bar” is like a mating call for geeks. If you’re in town for the conference (yeah, right – you’re in town for the parties, be honest), then I hope to see you there.

Now, back to packing… where is that crate of Advil that I bought at Costco?! Cheers!

Unfortunately, even with six hours, there was still a lot that we wanted to cover – but we simply couldn’t fit it all in. And sadly, one of my favorite new features that I couldn’t get to was Spry. (Don’t worry, Spry fans – I’ll be trying to juggle some of the other features in order to get it in in future stops on the tour.) But for my friends in Munich and Frankfurt, I want to fill you in on Spry.

First of all, what is Spry? Well, Spry is an Ajax framework – or in other words, it’s a collection of JavaScripts which we’ve created for you to use to implement Ajax functionality in your web sites. While it is built directly into Dreamweaver CS3, you can use Spry with any HTML authoring tool – yes, even Notepad! But if you are a Dreamweaver CS3 user, before you dive into Spry, make sure to run up to Adobe Labs and download the latest version of Spry – version 1.6. This new version of Spry includes an updater for Dreamweaver CS3, which shipped with version 1.4, to bring it up to date with Spry.

There are several really cool new features in Spry 1.6. First of all, there are a couple of new Spry widgets (or interface elements) like a sliding panel widget which allows the visitor to visually scroll through a lot of information in a limited space. But for me, the best new feature is the ability for Spry 1.6 to overcome one of the shortcomings of Ajax – what happens if JavaScript is disabled?

Up to now, Spry used XML in order to retrieve data – but if no JavaScript is present, no data would display. Now, with Spry 1.6, we have the possibility to read HTML as a data source. What this means is that we can designate an area of the page as “the data”. When Spry reads the data, it automatically hides that designated “data element” and displays the page with the Spry enhancements. When JavaScript is disabled, the browser displays the data element – and with a simple rule or two in CSS, we can hide the empty “enhancements”.

Finally, Spry 1.6 also supports the ability to externalize all of the Spry code – including all of the JavaScript calls – meaning that the entire JavaScript is unobtrusive.

If you want to learn more, check out the sample files and documentation that comes with the Spry 1.6 download – or buy “Mastering CSS with Dreamweaver CS3” (the book I wrote with Stephanie Sullivan), which will be on shelves in a few short weeks (finally). Chapter 6 covers Spry, HTML DataSets, along with the Sliding Panel widget in-depth.

And now, on to Cologne and a nice cold Kölsch… Prost!

The actual seminar day began in a bit of a hectic scramble as I had somehow set my alarm to the time we were supposed to meet in the lobby… hmm. A quick shower later, we were off to the venue, which fortunately was only five minutes away by foot. But it was definitely a COLD five minutes.

Amazingly, almost everyone who registered for the event turned up and we had a packed house of almost 300 attendees. (For those that don’t know, seminars usually have a 30-40% no-show rate.) The show went off perfectly, with no technical difficulties – and Stephanie remembered how to work around the Leopard/Dreamweaver bug. Jason was literally on fire, with some great new material.

It’s always sad when we come to the last tour stop. We’ve had a lot of fun, met some great new friends, and… hopefully… sold some software! After all, that’s what we’re here for.

The best part of the seminar (for us internally) was that we finally solved a puzzling “bug” in Dreamweaver CS3. Stephanie had been plagued on stage by some really weird behavior when copying and pasting between Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Her images would randomly not appear on the page, or even replace the previously pasted image when she had clearly given the image a new name. I finally solved the problem when I realized that the issue occurred when she was moving internal CSS rules to an external sheet. Even though she gave the sheet a name of “styles.css”, Dreamweaver created the new sheet as “untitled.css”.

The issue is with the dialog “update” in Leopard. Unless you actually click into the dialog to select a folder, the name you choose is not actually applied to the file. Stephanie had simply been giving the file a name and hitting OK. So, if you’re seeing this problem, click into the dialog to change to another folder and then back to the one you really want.

Of course after the seminar, there was only one choice for dinner… well, actually, there are two choices for great dinners in Helsinki. (My apologies to my Finnish readers… there are many, many great Finnish restaurants, but since I get to Finland only 2-3 times a year, I like to visit my favorites!) Anyone who loves a good steak should definitely visit the Grill It restaurant in the Radisson SAS Royal hotel. They make simply the best steak that you can get on the European continent. And if you don’t believe me, check out Jason’s opinion.

The other insider tip for a visit to Helsinki is the Garlic Restaurant. Every single item on the menu has garlic in it – from the drinks (Stef’s “Garlic Mary” or Mike’s “Garlic Beer”) to the garlic steak, pork tenderloin to the dessert (yes, there’s garlic ice cream) or the garlic coffee. This is an amazing experience from start to finish… IF you’re a garlic fan.

The evening concluded with a visit to what we had “hoped” was a real ice bar experience, since we had “forgotten” to head for the ice bar in Stockholm (don’t even ask how we “forgot” since it is literally around the corner from our regular hotel). Unfortunately, the Helsinki ice bar is not nearly what the Swedish version is… instead of a large, hopping bar with good music, we were greated with a converted meat locker – with a maximum of 12 people allowed in the “room”. It was still fun – but I’m not sure the $14 Apple Martini was really worth it. Hmmm…


At any rate, Helsinki, you’ve once again been fabulous hosts.