Some considerations about Hype and how I would like it to be

Then I guess I missed something. Where do I find these extensions?

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Thank you for the kind words. I'd love to do some drag'n'drop or custom GUI for extensions but that still isn't easily possible.

Hype has custom behavior… that can trigger action stacks. Hype has Symbols that these behaviors can act upon… Hype has Scenes and Timelines. That's all you need to write an interactive adventure with an inventory and all. All only using WYSIWYG.

Ye and no… because if you take it like that the Artist has to follow the rules of the medium he is working in. Okay, let us put the banana stuck with duct tape to the wall aside for a moment. My stepdad was an artist (woodpecker chipping away at wood) for over 40 years. He needed deep knowledge about his tools and wood. It requires effort to achieve mastery.

Given that computing is becoming such a multifunctional medium and creativity is so much closer for everybody because of it. In the early days it felt like working in a nuclear plant with two thick robber gloves on a joystick. These days the canvas often literally paints itself in many cases. I am not so sure if it's always a good thing, though.

Just take the digital camera or the phone camera. The mastery of taking a good image is sinking into a black box that just makes sure people feel like professionals when hitting that record button.

True mastery at anything takes time and effort but it doesn't require to be either or in case of programming and design. There are even computational artists or people using computers to create amazing and interactive installations. Another field is the maker space with all its great overlaps between art, craft and code. One example is cosplay … I saw people there that learned how to programm an Arduino to make their self built armour and swords glow in a certain pattern etc.

AND: any application that claims to be able do do "everything" inside one application becomes a 12,000 lb Adobe Monster.

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Where can I see your workshops? Do you teach online? Reading your post maybe I didn't really understand how to exploit the potential of Hype...:sunglasses:

Adding to what others have written here, I have no foundation in programming. I know basic HTML, CSS and that’s about it. I tried learning Javascript when there was an online course and the first 10 lessons where free. So I sat down, relaxed, noting in my agenda and started the free lessons. I never got past lesson 4. :sneezing_face: It just didn’t “click” in my head. After a few days I had to give up and realize I was “blind” for this type of code, logic and reasoning.

Having written that, there isn’t much where Hype constraints me in expressing my idea’s. Except for creating a full blown game, where being able to code large parts of the game (if this then that, else, x applies) is largely unavoidable, I haven’t run into much where I find myself unable to put my idea(s) into an Hype creation.

Large part is because of the help provided by the developers of Hype and this community, :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: when you are clear in what you have in mind, and can show (people keep forgetting that) what you did thus far and where you hit a roadblock.

Also does this website provide a wealth of information, samples and clues if you make proper use of the top search function. Like one way to create a custom preloader with your own image can be found here: How to make custom preloader with Hype-based animation <- that is the one I use, or this way by @Daniel Creating a Custom Preloader

A lot can be done by using multiple timelines, pause the current one running while launching the next, pause that one and re-start, run backwards or continue the first timeline. Using that technic your possibilities are, I dare to say, nearly limitless without having to manually code 1 single line.

You just need to be able to see those possibilities.

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Dear friend, that’s exactly what I wrote: not everyone can program. This doesn’t mean that with a little effort you can’t learn how to move around the code (and maybe you’ve found a bad course for beginners) but each of us has talents that follow different paths. There are those who have more of a logical mind and therefore will be better off writing the code, those who have a “visual” mind and will be better at graphics and animations. That’s the way we are.
My speech was precisely oriented in giving the opportunity to those who do not have a “mathematical” mind to write their own code without necessarily having to learn a language. And especially without having to ask every time on the forum why you don’t always have an answer and don’t always answer as it should be.

Block programming allows you to program events without writing a line of code. This way of programming has been very successful in recent years and has given thousands of creative people the opportunity to add life to their multimedia creations. Among other things, the blocks are visual and this helps those with a mind that is not purely mathematical or logical to move more easily. I learned how to make games using this system, first with Multimedia Fusion (Clickteam) and then with Construct. However, these are software oriented to the creation of video games and have little to do with multimedia presentations or animations. It lacks many tools such as text management for example which is very lacking. In any case they are a good example of what could be Hype.

Some programs that use blocks, also show to the side the code that lies behind us. A great way to help you better understand how a program works or the logic behind it.

Repeat, for me the way is this. It’s true that on the forum there are pieces of code to use but those who don’t know how to program can just copy and paste the code because they don’t really understand how it works. And if he needs to modify something becomes a big problem because you are not autonomous. You always have to ask on the forum and for me this is very frustrating…

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Well!!! You and I are equally thinking persons! What you write is like honey for a bee! I agree with absolutely everything! The only interesting thing for me in the new version was that I could make lines and use a pen tool to make something. That is about all! I have stopped checking the forum (discussions are mailed to users who don’t enter the forum department any more or very seldom). Discussions in the forum is more or less only about Javascript. Like you, I have the feeling that Hype is moving away from designers which is a shame as I am sure there is so much designers could use Hype for. Just look at the absolutely TERRIBLE user interface! It is almost impossible to work in if you are a designer. Nowadays I am forced to work in Adobe XD or Affinity Designer or Affinity Publisher when I design and then export to PNG and import into Hype. The only reason why I use Hype these days is because the Adobe and Affinity software cannot export into HLML5. Only Hype can do that and I say this to you, Hype creators, be glad about that. Once XD or the other two can save to HTML5, a lot of people will say good-bye to Hype! Please think about this, take these considerations seriously, do not act like politicians who refuse to see reality in their eyes and then dramatically lose the next election and do not understand why. I hope to see big changes in Hype 5! At the latest.

The apps you mentioned can already create HTML output (using plugins). If it’s only about design and art boards they are the future just because of the massive funding and corporate backing they have. No doubt there from my part. But trying to build a brick game or some custom fancy navigation will still be very hard with them for a while at least. A niche Hype is strong in. I build web pages with Wordpress using page builders or pinegrow not because Hype couldn’t do it but because I don’t consider it the right tool for building pages. If you want something fancy interactive, eye candy or it is a small page it might work though. My point being that Hype will have to pick it’s battles and allies very carefully in the future. For designers an import from popular software packages with layers and positioning would certainly be a welcome start!

I know there are plug-ins like HTML…, but they don’t work very well. I tried it in XD, but the design positioned itself to the left, not the centre. Or am I making mistakes? I have not tried plug-ins for Affinity as I did not know there were any.

Hype has one more nice thing I forgot to mention. You can make hyperlinks (wonderful)!! Also it is easy to use sound for example!

When I make webpages (not portals) I use Rapidweaver and the Foundry Stack. Hype I use for making portals and graphics intensive stuff. Affinity is perfect for making ”eye candy” with their extensive collection of tools!

Hype is a great tool! Absolutely! And without it, I would never be able to publish what I do. So, I hope they will continue developing as it is still very invaluable!

Thanks for commenting!

One more thing with HTML plug-ins in XD. You can only use it for one size. You end up with a lot of sizes. In Hype when you have made say ten layouts and you publish the product to HTML5, all sizes are published in one oiece and when you publish the HTML file on your web server, all sizes are there, Hype has fixed that! Incredibly good.

I tried the HTML plug-in in XD. It does position the contents well, but, as I wrote, just one individual size at a time. Not good. So, sticking with Hype is very important!

Feel free to elaborate on what in particular is problematic. We're welcome to feedback on ideas for change (or pointers to other apps that you prefer in those specific areas). Thanks!

As an FYI, Hype's focus has always been on targeting designers and not requiring code. The tag line continues to state "No coding required." The forums discuss code more than the general Hype usage, as coding is the harder part that folks need more help with. Also one beauty of Hype's basis on HTML5 is that if there is missing functionality, it can be worked around via code -- most other design tools cannot do this.

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I continue to assert that if we want Hype to become a development tool for everyone (and by “development” I mean the programming of a more sophisticated interactivity) then I believe that it is necessary to find a way that gives the possibility, to those who do not know how to program, to do it visually, otherwise Hype will remain, for most users who do not program, only an application to make animations or to create banners.

I admit my ignorance about using Hype. I have made a few multimedia presentations with this application and therefore I do not fully understand its potential but I do not think, as you say, that you can really do anything with symbols, the timeline and some interactive buttons.

Surely you can’t create collisions with objects without Javascript code. If I wanted to make a rudimentary PONG, how could I do it with the only tools available?
If I wanted to create an educational game for children where some figures have to be dragged and placed on other objects correctly, how can I do it without code?
If I want to create a memory game how do I do it if I can’t create, store and manage values?

Obviously Hype is not a tool to make games but in these examples there is a lot of interaction that you could use to create presentations with a very high interactivity.

I say we consider giving Hype a visual way to program. I’d given examples in previous interventions. Look towards Scratch, Stencyl, or Construct and Game Salad. They could be key examples to add an extra dimension to our Hype.

We leave Javascript to the most complex projects and to those who want to program.

…and I add: if we have to pay an extra price for this, I am willing to pay double for it…

The other way rond:
I would like Hype to make accessible more or all of its capabilities within its API :slight_smile:

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We could always modify the runtime :slight_smile:

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yes, you’ve shared the principles of that approach. Thx :slight_smile:

But it’ll always be an unsupported hack and it may need some effort on any update …

There are two types of Hype users: those who divide Hype users into two types and those who don’t.

As for the other two types of Hype users, one is good with JS and the other isn’t.

I’m among the second group. I work with such a dizzying range and quantity of projects and with such insane deadlines that the idea of taking the time to master JS just for one app is a non-starter. This is life in the real world, where we have to master fifty apps and a whole lot of money depends on the results. There simply isn’t the time to earn a certificate in JS in order to apply the skills to Hype projects.

In an ideal world (such as one in which a person could make a living writing books about Hype) it would be wonderful if someone would write a book specifically about learning JS in the context of Hype.

If there were to be a book filled with brief, practical JS lessons that someone could do in fifteen minutes or so and specifically in the context of a Hype project, that would help those of us from the lower caste of Hype society to be able to hang with the cool kids.

If you had a book specifically about hype js.

The very first page would need to be.

LEARN JAVASCRIPT BASICS.

the second page would be.

THE END.

Many of us have said with the help of hindsight,
That it does not take very long to learn the basics nor is it very hard to get your head around.

It is important to understand. That whilst the JavaScript indeed most programming languages are large,

-You do not need to learn it all.
-You do not need to remember it all.

You just need to learn the fundamentals of the basic code structures.

You do not need to learn every command.
Just the basics of how command statements go together and the bits that join them into bigger structures , the basics of how they work.

Once you do have the basics and have read the Hype documentation related to Hype’s JS, things will make sense.

You will be able to use the vast amount of examples and reference to tricks, commands, libraries out there to apply them to your hype code.

You need to understand the basics of JS to be able to move forward easily. Just looking at examples of Hypes interaction with JS will bog you down with mistakes in application without some small bit of understanding of JS that it sits on.

I have said this a few times. I have a memory like a sieve.

But I can code because I retain the basic knowledge of how JS code goes together.
Even the basic syntax I forget or just never bother to commit to memory, I can quickly reference it on the web or elsewhere (copy a snippet).
I can do that because although I cannot remember the full syntax structure, I know the basics and that for instances, I want to loop/ iterate over some items.
I know that the basic way to do this is to use a for loop statement /command.
I know a for loop exists and thats what I need and I can just go and get it even though I am never arsed to remember it full structure, once I see it I instantly know how it works. Because I learnt that and retain that.

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That very precisely defines the glass ceiling.

I used to be an absolute wiz at Lingo (Director) and coded multiplayer titles from soup to nuts, with one title being the central draw of a 40’x40’ Vegas show booth. The reason I was able to do this was because the documentation directly connected the code with the app. The documentation from Macromedia was simply the best I’ve ever seen. Having spent nearly 20 years as a published software reviewer, which requires an intense amount of learning, this kind of documentation is worth emulating.

There needs to be a connection between the knowledge of JS and the app. Beyond generalities, there are specific Hype-related questions, such as multiple instances and other things that need to be covered.

People who are good at JS and who know the ins and outs of deploying it within Hype are like people who try to teach English to a non-English speaker. Teaching the general rules is easy, teaching the quirks is something else altogether.

It should also be recognized that there are different learning styles. People who are great coders tend to be left-brain dominant whereas highly creative types tend to be right-brain dominant. The former teach via left-brain methods. That does not work well with right-brain learners. They habitually skip a critical step - the theory behind how it plugs into Hype and why it should be done in a certain way - and this also includes a variety of unusual situations.

I would imagine that there are many highly imaginative and creative types that can do great things with Hype but who can’t make the leap to JS because of this. The concept that all one needs is to master basic JS - well, that leaves out the one thing that stands as a barrier. It is not just as case of “plug it in here and you’re done”. When someone plugs some JS into Hype and it doesn’t work - that is what is not covered in the documentation. What is missing is the theory. Among other things, the knowledge of why something should be done in a certain way in the context of Hype can provide the means by which a learner can fill in the gaps.

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