An
enhanced version of the Adobe Developer Community, the Developer Connection
was launched very recently (late September 2007). The key purpose is to
facilitate support and training for developers and to connect with other
Adobe developers worldwide.
Its users
are made aware of current trends and advanced techniques via blogs, forums,
exchanges, and events.
10
Platform
components for community
1. User Forums
2. Exchange for sharing applications and code
3. Adobe Developers’ Blogs
4. Blog Aggregator (Feeds/News Aggregator)
5. DocumentationResource Center
6. FlexCookbook – resource
for sharing code and solutions
7. User Groups
8. Adobe Labs – information on pre-released products and technology
9. Technical support for products
10. Trial downloads
11.Developer Center Article Archive
12. CSS Advisor – resource for queries on cross-browser
compatibility and CSS
13. Edge Newsletter – free newsletter with videos, ADC Update
Newsletter for Developers
14. Flex bug base – source for reporting and reviewing bugs related
to Adobe Flex builder & Flex SDK
15. Information on Product SDKs
16. Certification & Training resources
17. Developer Events
18. Support Plans for customers and developers by product
19. Search user groups, community experts and developers/designers
by technology/expertise (ADC introNetwork)
20. The ADC Developer Desktop – provides desktop notifications about
changes in status of bugs
11
Vendor for
community
In-house
(developed by a team of Adobe employees led by Jonathan Wall, Group Manager
for developer relations in the Platform Business Unit at Adobe Systems)
12
Top 3
great features / things about this community
Ease of navigation and extensive content – Access
to all features and components of the ADC website are provided on the
homepage itself, ensuring easy navigation. The page layout and
information architecture is user-friendly. The community also
incorporates a broad range of developer-centric features and content
into its website.It focuses on the
most important component of any developer community – technical content
on core developer issues. This is done by means of articles, tutorials,
videos, newsletters, forums, information exchange platforms and
streamlined search features.
ADC introNetwork – A social network for
developers, the ADC introNetwork provides users with a search engine to
for finding developers and/or designers by technology and Adobe product
expertise. Users can search based on professional attributes, skills,
professional background and even personality traits. One can also use
the introNetwork as a job portal or for engaging certified developers
close to their location.
Developer Spotlight – The community, as
recognition of the efforts of developers worldwide, has created a Developer
Spotlight program which features innovative developers every week. The
developers are selected by other members of the community through online
voting polls.
13
Top 3
items that need to improve for this community
A community as big as this could do with a
separate listing of the key contact points prominently.
Having a stat counter listing the number of active
users and the total number of users, is conspicuous by its absence. It
is a good indicator of how dynamic the community is.