Macromedia Studio MX 2004

Studio Mix – Macromedia Studio MX 2004
J. Kevin Tumlinson

There is nothing more pervasive than the web. It has spread its tendrils throughout every aspect of our lives. E-mail has replaced the telephone as the most common and most preferred form of communication. E-commerce has become, collectively, the biggest retail market on earth. For researchers, hobbyists, or curious passersby, the web is the place for every fact or fiction one can imagine.

As pervasive a medium as it is, however, there still must be those individuals with the skills and tools to build the web sites that make the Internet a colorful, powerful place to be. With that fact in mind, Macromedia continues to be one of the leaders in the industry for web authoring packages. Their latest bid for the market is Studio MX 2004.

Studio MX 2004 is a bundle of Macromedia's very best web authoring and image editing software. Dreamweaver, Flash (in this version, Flash MX Professional 2004), Fireworks and FreeHand are all part of the package.

Dreamweaver
I have personally used Macromedia Dreamweaver for many years (since around 1998). After half a decade of web authoring, I have found no easier or more powerful way to put my ideas on the screens of millions. Dreamweaver has always been my first choice for web authoring. I have always felt it was an excellent product “as is,” and needed very little in way of change.

Dreamweaver MX 2004, however, was a step up I wasn't even prepared for. At first, I found the new layout intimidating. I was used to having floating menus and individual pages to mess with. I had become accustomed to moving all of my tools to a separate monitor, and even being able to put two pages side by side. So when I first encountered Dreamweaver's new integrated layout, I wasn't thrilled with it. But the more I used it, the more I realized how versatile it really is.

In the past, when I've built a web site using Dreamweaver, I kept their site management page open in the background. This allowed me to navigate to needed pages quickly, on both the local and remote sites. But it had always been a matter of discipline to remember to shut down the pages in a certain order so the site management page would be the first thing to open on my next go. Macromedia has since made this problem obsolete by allowing the site management page to become an expandable panel on the desktop.

The properties menu has also been changed to function in the same way. Whereas it was once a floating tool box that had to be moved out of the way, now it is conveniently placed at the bottom of the screen in another expandable panel. One click and it's out of your sight. More importantly, one click and it's back. No more hunting through the Window menu to find my lost properties toolbox!

Perhaps the thing I loved most about Dreamweaver -- finally, FINALLY I have the ability to cut and paste from my Word documents directly into Dreamweaver, without losing my formatting! Font, bold and italics, and spacing all stay in tact! That alone makes this worth the upgrade. Now if only they'd add "justification" to the list.

Flash
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not as proficient with Flash as some people. I haven't used it much because I've always been somewhat intimidated by it. But after using Flash MX Professional 2004 for a few weeks I've come to the conclusion that it is one of the most powerful web tools on the market. That's a “no duh” for most web authors, but it was a truly groundbreaking experience for me.

I came at the software from the video editing perspective and found that it is as powerful (and sometimes more powerful) in its own right as Adobe Premiere or any other video editing package. The quality and depth of what I could create seemed to be boundless, and in most cases it was as easy as “cut and paste.”

The key to this new version of Flash is to go through the tutorials. Anything you want to learn is right there, and it's easy to transfer your newfound skills to your real-world projects.

There are many third-party extensions available for Flash MX Professional 2004, which only enhances its value to web authors.

Fireworks
I've always been adamant about using Adobe Photoshop for image editing. Fireworks, however, has managed to prove itself to me. The interface is familiar and comfortable, and it was an easy transition for me, coming from Photoshop. It was as if I already knew how to use the majority of the program's functions. A real plus if you're in a time crunch, and learning new software is at the bottom of your list of priorities.

One big advantage that Fireworks has over other image editing platforms is that it is fully integrated into the rest of the Studio MX 2004 package. Dreamweaver, Flash and FreeHand are all linked to Fireworks, able to import from program to program with ease. But if you do happen to be using some other graphics or web authoring package, Fireworks can export to a wide range of formats.

FreeHand
Freehand is a vector-based drawing application with a similar layout and many of the same tools as Fireworks. It's an incredible tool for creating text-based graphics, but the feature that draws the crowds is its ability to turn artwork into Flash animations.

It is fully integrated into the rest of the Studio MX 2004 suite, so transfer from one program to another is quick and seamless.

All told, I approached Studio MX 2004 with a bit of skepticism. After all, we're always wary of anything that makes the claim that it can handle all of our graphics and web authoring needs. But, skeptical as I may have been, I have to admit that I've been swayed. I was already a believer when it came to Dreamweaver, and Flash has long been the industry leader for incredible web animations and video. But I've come to realize that I've been doing things the hard way, with a variety of software packages that were not necessarily built for each other. With Studio MX 2004, finally there is a program suite that can handle every aspect of the demands of web authors everywhere.

The entire package (complete with Flash MX Professional 2004) is $999 on the Macromedia web site, and $299 for the upgrade. A bargain, considering that you're getting about 5 pieces of professional software, and that the suite is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems. Each product in this suite is also available for individual sale.

Visit www.macromedia.com for more details and to purchase this and other products.

Visit Macromedia's web site.