Who are you?

Designers and developers are sometimes viewed at opposite ends of the communications spectrum. Designers are noted for being highly interactive listeners, whose brilliance and depth of skills are largely unappreciated. Their lives are obsessed with seeking the client who will finally be thankful for all the nuances that make up the entire package (they don’t exist). Developers on the other hand are stereotyped as someone who listens at the back of the room to a conversation between marketing and sales, then goes back to their cubicle and whips out a design that either exceeds the mark, or misses it entirely. Designers are eccentric, Developers are introverts.

We really want to know…

We know that reality exists somewhere in between these two extremes. We have around 30,000 visitors per month. Yet we really don’t have a clue when it comes to trying to figure out who these visitors are, how they ended up on our site, and what made them come back or drove them away screaming into the darkness. We really want to know our audience at a much more personal level, possibly more personal than many of you care for. However before I go all touchy-feely on you, just know that I’ve got a reason, and that purpose is for AFComponents to serve you better.

How many of you really exist?

So we’re going to take our 56,000+ eMail list and send out a selection of choices that will ultimately determine how we should communicate with you. We all get junk mail and I probably get 50 or more informational e-mails that I have over the years opened myself up to by replying to surveys or asking for White paper’s where organizations have required my e-mail address. So I feel your pain, however there is a solution.

Let’s concentrate on those who want to know…

I want to eliminate those people who are no longer interested in communicating and communicate with those who are interested on a schedule that pleases them and allows us to know just what their interests really are. So I’m hoping that you will help us out over the next few months by sending us answers to a few simple questions for a chance to win some really cool stuff in exchange for your loyalty. Yes, we make no idealistic claims or emotional appeals to what motivates you. We will simplify it by offering bribes in exchange for loyalty. Period.

Join us, help us to help you…

We promise to make it worth your while and we will be escalating the entries for the smaller contests into some final contests for stuff that you really want. You know iPods, IPads, Android Smart Phones and cool stuff from our site.

Stay tuned for the future… and remember to Keep your mind wide open to the possibilities.

Thanks,

Curtis

We are working on a product that will allow talented creative’s and junior programmers to connect their design visions through configuration, not coding. We realize this has been done before but our approach is to create an application that will allow behavior modification as well as property modification. Configuring through XML alone has its limitations and our ConfigIT application is just the first step in a product line that will allow designers to select the features they would like, and pay for only those features and behaviors they want to use.

We’d like to get your feedback on these revolutionary ideas and hope soon to see some blog entries and have received some e-mails discussing more of your needs.

Also, there are two weeks left in the Pounding Pixels Challenge and we’d really like to see more of you entering that contest! We know that everyone is jaded when it comes to these contests, however this is a real contest with real winners and we hope to begin holding these monthly. Please realize that there is a purpose:  To understand our audience and the people who are visiting our website to give you more of what you require. So please participate because it will help us serve you better.

Thank you,

Curtis

We are small, but mighty…

A heck of a lot has happened since our acquisition of AFComponents. ProContent, like many Internet entities, can make itself look about any size that we care to put into our marketing efforts. Which explains why there hasn’t been a blog post a while. We have really been busy and there are not that many of us. We are primarily entrepreneurs who concentrate on many different areas that have commonalities and synergies that can be channeled towards our ultimate goal of world domination!

Share your gratitude with our team…

Seriously though, we are focused on new products and building a new team for AFComponents. God has been very kind, and shortly after the acquisition he brought us a wonderful developer (David Ghiurau) who dropped his own efforts to build a company and threw in with us to grow this brand back to its original standing that Andre had enjoyed back in circa 2007. David has been the presence that many of you have enjoyed and praised the last couple of months. ProContent’s partners are grateful to David and we ask that you reach out through this blog and comment about his efforts to assist and make our products work better for you.

Our Jerry Maguire moment, help us to help you…

Our ultimate goal now is to try to get to know a portion of the 56,000 members that AFComponents has built over the years. We know that many of you continue to return, but also we believe many of you have thought over the last year that AFC was growing stale. And truthfully it was, however that was then and this is now.

Now we are ready to connect with you, find out what your needs are, listen to what you have to say and build the best products for the best people here on earth. So I’m asking you to please fill out our five question survey and tell us a little bit about yourself through easy selections. Even if you’ve never bought anything, or have an account, we don’t care. We’re not going to sell your e-mail address or start bombarding you with junk mail. We just want to know our audience so that we may serve you better. Oh yeah, by participating in the survey you will be automatically signed up for contest where there will be three winners on Labor Day.

Get active and stay that way

I look forward to compiling hundreds of surveys and hopefully thousands over the next couple of weeks. We are at your service and seek to give you what you want. We are listening, just tell us what you need.

Sincerely,

Curtis Fisher

My name is Dee Skiver and I am very excited about the direction ProContent is taking AFComponents.com. An immediate focus is to encourage collaboration and communication within the Rich Adobe FLASH & FLEX community.

I want YOU to actively participate in the planning of the next generation of AFComponents. To do that, I’ll be blogging, doing surveys, sending emails…and who knows what else. I’m even toying with the idea of doing a monthly drawing for a free component for outstanding participation. Ah…I like that word….FREE!

So, how about we go ahead and get started. Tell us what YOU want!!! Take our Online Survey … ONLY 4 questions!

We are here to serve the community, and with your help, ProContent will take AFComponents to new levels of excellence in rich Adobe components and services.

My name is Curtis Fisher, and I’m a developer with a high regard for those who have chosen this craft to make their living out of their passion. I am joined by my two partners whom I will introduce shortly. Together we seek to change the world. Even if that’s one component at a time!

We are in the planning stages for the next phase of our journey. We will begin slowly over the next few weeks, and as we gain momentum our plans will include new AS3 components, switching over to CS5 and offering compatible versions to CS3. We will also begin building FLEX 3.x and FlashBuilder 4.x Versions of many popular components.

Please continue to download and purchase components, ask your support questions and communicate your needs. AFComponents is here to stay, and we want to hear from you!

I’ll be communicating more as we move forward. Introductions to the rest of the team will be forthcoming. I want to thank you for your support, and promise that we will continue to build on the AFComponents vision Andrei created back in 2005.

Sincerely,

Curtis

Just over one month ago we announced the intention to sell afcomponents.com, and today I am thrilled to say that the site has been acquired!

The new owner is a Raytown-based ProContent, who is excited and very capable of taking AFComponents to new heights. ProContent has been developing Flash / Flex solutions since 2002 but are best known for their work on Flash-based content and Amazon-branded cloud services.

Before making the decision, we reviewed a number of offers, and ProContent stood out for their technical expertise, strong product portfolio, solid understanding of the interactive space, and established presence. Most importantly, the guys have shown a strong commitment to continue to develop AFComponents and grow the community. All in all, it is a great fit!

After working on AFComponents for 5 years (more on that in the next post), it is extremely rewarding to know that the project is in good hands. We look forward seeing it grow under the new leadership.

All the best to ProContent and AFComponents!

Today we sent out an email to tens of thousands AFComponents.com customers announcing the intention to sell AFComponents. Here is the original email that provides a good summary of the situation:

Let’s be honest, we haven’t been able to give AFComponents the attention it deserves lately. With it’s continuing revenue and consistent traffic, it would be a shame to see our support for the project diminish as we focus more and more on UMapper. That’s where you come in.

Why are we selling AFComponents?
Over the past year most of our resources have been focused on the interactive mapping platform UMapper, which is growing quickly. Our small team can no longer fully support both projects, and we have made the decision to pursue opportunities with UMapper.

We are still devoted to the success of AFComopnents and would love to see it grow instead of simply maintaining the status quo. AFComponents is a great asset as it continues to generate revenue and enjoys consistent organic traffic.

How can I get more info?
In order to receive more information please sign this NDA. You can email the NDA to andrei at afcomponents or fax it 303-694-7305. Once we receive a signed copy we will provide you with additional details.

Please help spread the word! Forward this email to all of your friends to receive amazing blessings for the rest of the day!

That said, if you are interested or know someone who might be, sign the NDA and shoot us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.