Stephen Salel.com Flash Site (2011)
Flash/AS3 website showcasing art in a variety of media
Flash/AS3 website showcasing art in a variety of media
Image 1. The logo of Stephen Salel.com. Originally written in the Art Deco font Parisian, the text was morphed into an image that conveys the sleekness and dynamism of the artwork displayed on the site.
The Flash site of Stephen Salel.com (currently visible at http://www.StephenSalel.com/flash) was developed as a forum in which to present and discuss contemporary works of poetry, paintings, calligraphy, craft art, sculpture, photography, digital art, video, performance art, and music. A high percentage of participating artists are based in Japan, and accordingly, the site is bilingual with much of the poetry written in Japanese.
Image 2. A view of the Painting section of the site featuring "Kan Man", a 12-foot tall Sansrit prayer painted in 2006 by the Buddhist graffiti artist Gomyo.
This website was written entirely in ActionScript3 and powered by either an XML database or a MySQL database, depending upon the capabilities of the server. Technical features on the site include an audio player, a video player, a photo slideshow, a message board, and email capabilities. Poetry submissions can be presented with a traditional scrollbar, or the text can be divided into sections that are displayed in an animated sequence. All aspects of the site, from the logo to the media control panel and scrollbars, were personally designed, and great attention was paid to the way in which different sections of the site interacted with one another. While watching a video or listening to an audio file, the viewer can post a message on the message board, read the biographies of various artists, and peruse images in the photo gallery - all without disturbing the flow of the video or song.
Image 3. Video & Performance section featuring the Ankoku Butoh dance performances of the 1996 Osaka Dance Experience series. The media player is designed to use space as efficiently as possible: while not in use, the media control panel minimizes to a few essentials - the stop button and the pause/play button.
Image 4. Music & Audio Works section featuring the songs of Grendel Angst. During rollover, the media control panel expands to reveal all of its functions, including a back button, a forward button, and a volume slider.
Audio 1. Sample track from the Music & Audio Works Section: "Empty Brass Statues" by Grendel Angst.
Image 5. Prose & Poetry section, featuring the poetry of Grendel Angst. Writings can be displayed with a traditional scrollbar or can be presented to the viewer line by line in an animated sequence (as shown here).
Image 6. Artist Biographies Section, featuring the biography of the calligrapher and Buddhist abbot Harada Shodo Roshi. All texts are pulled dynamically from the database (either XML or MySQL), so information can be edited with ease.
Image 7. Related Links Section, featuring all the sites recommended by the participating artists, including the HTML5-compliant companion to this website.
Stephen's attention has recently focused on a companion site that is fully HTML5-compliant and easily accessed in all major desktop and mobile browsers. Nevertheless, with its wide variety of features, some of which are impossible in HTML, this Flash site remains a breathtaking example of Stephen's skills in web design and development.
