[wp-hackers] since I'm sure some people here will be interested...

[David Chait]

I've got a pre-Alpha of CG-FlashyTitles 3 (yeah, skipping a number!) just 
barely limping along, using alpha sIFR 3 code and a somewhat-reengineered 
FlashyTitles codegen to make...


wait for it...


on-the-fly drop-shadowed titles!


Finally, you can do really sweet titles client-side...

I'll have a screenshot tomorrow, hopefully (it's working in the admin 
interface, just not on the blog...), and can start distributing a (weak) 
alpha version later in the week if there are folks who just can't wait. ;)

Oh, and just to be clear, drop-shadows aren't the only thing it'll do. 
Basically, I'm planning on having a drop-in 'effects' folder you can pick 
from, leveraging the Flash 8 core -- so it'll do shadows, knockouts, bevels, 
glows, you name it.  If Flash 8 filters support it, hopefully it'll be 
exposed.

Of course, the cooler effects require Flash 8, with a non-effects-font 
fallback to Flash 7, and a non-replacement fallback under any other case. 
So, there's certain disadvantages to it over say image-based 
server-generated methods -- but the advantages should be obvious as well.

And the sIFR 3 code should be much better at generating proper-sized 
replacements, rather than the weird spacing and 'shrinking fonts' issues 
seen in sIFR 2 (+ FlashyTitles 1).  Not to mention I should be able to 
remove a ton of the options from the admin panel, as less things need 
tweaking, more should 'just work', and advanced users can always add CSS 
directly when needed. :)

-d