If you read Bob Atkinson's Tool Tips column in Sep/Oct 2010 issue of DesignEdge Magazine you would think Flash Catalyst was the second coming for web development.

It isn't.

In my opinion, Bob has done designers and more importantly their clients a disservice by suggesting that Adobe Catalyst can replace a web dev team. Let me use the filter of the client's perspective to explain what I believe are the downsides of using Flash for web development, because we're all in the business of customer service, aren't we? 

Today's blog post is the first in a series of chats with designers, programmers and marketing experts about web design and development. We hope you'll enjoy this informal discussion and that you will maybe learn a thing or two along the way.

Today we "sit down" with Steve Fisher. Steve is the National Website Chair for the GDC and UX team lead at Palantir.net, a Chicago-based development studio specializing in Drupal-powered websites.

In and amongst all the discussion at and about Design Currency - now a week and a half ago - there is one talk that stands out for me. And it is not to do with the way it was said, or its value to business, or its philosophical implications, or its parallel struggles with marketing in the corporate decision making process. It had to do with Cameron Sinclair's talk on architecture for humanity, an organization that he founded:

"Architecture for Humanity is a nonprofit design services firm founded in 1999. We are building a more sustainable future through the power of professional design."

Sounds good. But what does that mean in practice? The most recent (and current) example illustrates this well...