Macromedia launches Macromedia Studio 8 Web suite

Macromedia launches Macromedia Studio 8 Web suite

Macromedia has updated its range of software applications with the launch of the Macromedia Studio 8 Web suite. However, not all the changes are incorporated on the individual applications. Instead, the company has this time around focused on the tighter integration and improved links to databases and other Web resources. In simpler terms, the critics say that if you work on any particular of the integrated applications, you might not be interested in paying up for the upgrade this time around.

The upgrade cost from the MX 2004 Suite is around USD 399, which the full version retails for around USD 999. Macromedia Studio 8 adds Contribute 3 to the lineup, which is an application for updating site content. They have also added FlashPaper 2 for converting files to Flash or PDF. However, what is missing from this suite is the Freehand drawing program, which was part of the two previous Studio releases.

Three of the most important components of the suite Fireworks 8, Flash 8 Professional, and Dreamweaver 8 are nicely integrated with each other than ever and the interfaces are simplified to give them a common look. Flash Professional 8 now features a new video encoder plug-in that provides more ways to control how video plays. The free Flash Player 8 also gets a video upgrade via On2 Technologies’ new VP6 video codec, which promises improved playback and faster downloads of Flash files.

Our favorite Dreamweaver 8 now comes with a unified CSS panel and CSS layout visualization that make it much easier to design and use Cascading Style Sheets. Overall, Flash is the reason for getting this upgrade. Other applications are more of a minor updates. Much work has been devoted on the integration of the applications rather than enhancing individual applications.