About Sarah Allen

Sarah Allen, Director of Application Development at Laszlo Systems, is currently developing an approachable and efficient user experience for web mail and other online applications, along with RIA/AJAX coding patterns for developers. During her time at Laszlo, Sarah has also contributed to the OpenLaszlo platform, an open source, XML-native foundation for building rich client applications that deliver a breakthrough online user experience.

Sarah has been developing commercial software since 1990. She began focusing on Internet software as an engineer on Macromedia's Shockwave team in 1995. She led the development of the Shockwave Multiuser Server, and later the Flash Media Server, introducing streaming video and multi-party communication in Flash Player 6. She has also developed software tools for multimedia, digital video, and graphic arts at Adobe, Aldus, and The Company of Science and Art (After Effects). She was named one of the top 25 women of the web by SF Wow (San Francisco Women of the Web) in 1998.

Personal Statement

I believe that software should be fun. Software should enable someone to do something meaningful that they couldn't do otherwise.

Interests: learning, visual design, experience design, social computing, communication, science ...

Software Projects

• Laszlo Webtop (current)
• Laszlo Mail v1-2
• OpenLaszlo v3 (contributor)
• Laszlo Presentation Server v1, v2 (renamed OpenLaszlo)
• Macromedia Flash Communication Server v1 (renamed Flash Media Server)
• Flash Player 6
• Macromedia Shockwave Multiuser Server v1-3
• Macromedia Director v6-8
• Macromedia Shockwave v1-8 (only 5 versions, they skipped from 1 to 5)
• Adobe ScreenReady v1
• Apple's Open Collaborative Environment (AOCE) released as System 7 Pro
• CoSA After Effects v1
• PACo (PICS Animation Compiler) aka QuickPICS v1-2

Speaking History

• How to Build Webtop Applications, AjaxWorld, Sept. 2007
• The Cinematic Web, presentation, DCamp, May 2006
• The Future of Digital Product Design, panel, BayDUX, Dec. 2004
• Designing Next Generation Web UI in a Declarative XML Framework, GraceHopper 2004
• User Interface talk: The future of the Web is not the past of Windows with Bret Simister, July 2004
• W3C Workshop on Web Applications and Compound Documents, June 2004 (position paper)
• Making data easier to use with Laszlo, Macromedia User Forum, 2003
• Developing Multiuser Applications, Macromedia Web World 2000
• ChikTek ‘97, keynote speaker. A showcase of women using interactive technologies for artistic pursuits. Sponsored by San Jose State University and the San Jose Museum of Art.
• How to be a Software Engineer, SFWebgrrls, 1997
• Streaming Shockwave Futures, Macromedia User Conference, 1997
• CyberDog Unleashed (Shockwave demo), Apple WWDC, 1996

If you would like me to speak at your event, email me.

Awards

Top 25 women of the web 1998 (top25 site, 1998 list, 1998 article)