Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Introducing Lightningbeam!

If you haven't already heard of S.W.I.F.T., here is the basic idea:
To create interactive web content, there are a few options: Flash, Java, Silverlight or HTML5. Java has problems with the web: any java applet comes up in a window marked as 'unsafe', and it doesn't work very well for anything graphics-intensive. Silverlight is Windows-only. That leaves Flash and HTML5. There are two ways to create Flash content: in a GUI (Adobe Flash) and by hand, as text (Adobe Flex, swfc, ming etc.). In HTML5, you only have the latter option. Adobe Flash is a very good tool for this, with two problems: one, that it won't run on Linux; and two, that it costs $700.
Lightningbeam aims to address this, by providing a free and open-source editor for dynamic web content. As some platforms support Flash but not HTML5 (e.g. Internet Explorer), and others support HTML5 but not Flash (e.g. the iPhone), Lightningbeam allows you to seamlessly create both from a single project.

If you have heard of S.W.I.F.T., here is what is new:
Lightningbeam is a complete rewrite, based on lessons learned from SWIFT. It runs on other platforms than Linux, without installation. The HTML5 "engine" has undergone vast improvements in performance (running nearly 100 times as fast in FireFox). The underlying system is now much cleaner, making it easier for Python plugins to run.
Lightningbeam is still under heavy development: it is incomplete, but many new features are being added every day. To see the latest features added, visit https://github.com/skykooler/Lightningbeam.

7 comments:

  1. i love what you are doing and i am trying to get it on ubuntu but it seems to still be really glitchy. do you know when you will have a stable version?

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    1. i forgot to mention that i am running a beta version of ubuntu 12.04. would that be causing all of my problems or have you noticed it being glitchy on ubuntu as well.

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  2. It is in the works. The main problem on Ubuntu is that GTK3 is not quite the same as GTK2, and as Ubuntu already does some fiddling to try and get the menus in thne top bar, stuff gets weird. I hope to have a stable beta by July.

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  3. i am interested in funding this project. how much money would you need to be able to finish this?

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    1. I would prefer to discuss this over email. If you post your email here, I will send you an email and then take down your post.

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    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. here is my email: daveyshepard@gmail.com

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