Macromedia Studio MX

All told, there's a huge amount for the upgrading Dreamweaver user to get to grips with, let alone a new user. The real success of Dreamweaver MX is that it incorporates all this new power almost seamlessly into its tag-focused working environment. One of the beta testers compared the program to a tricycle with a jet-engine on the back, and that seems about right. The sheer power on offer might intimidate and unbalance the novice, but as you pick up confidence and speed you'll appreciate that there's nothing to hold you back.

beyond html

Dreamweaver MX helps users move beyond the limitations of the traditional static HTML page and this can be seen as the aim of the Studio suite as a whole. In the past, the means of achieving this was by adding some bitmap-based graphical impact with the dedicated Web-imaging package Fireworks. The new Fireworks MX (see p138) is still a crucial component, but what makes the new Studio MX bundle stand out from its predecessors is that it includes the vector-based FreeHand 10 (see above) and Flash MX (see Reviews, issue 92, p140).

The immediate difference between Flash and Fireworks is that Flash handles its images as efficient vectors rather than as profligate pixels. But Flash MX provides far more than just static images and rollovers. It offers state-of-the-art animation capabilities, advanced ActionScript-based interactivity, MP3 audio handling and even dedicated video. Even better, it provides all this in a bandwidth-friendly streaming format that, thanks to the market penetration of the Flash Player, can be immediately accessed by up to 98 per cent of the Web audience.

The advantages are just too compelling to ignore and, by including Flash and Dreamweaver together for the first time in Studio MX, it's clear Macromedia thinks it's time for Flash SWF authoring to go mainstream. Both Dreamweaver and Flash lead their respective Web page and Web plug-in fields, so it's surprising Macromedia hasn't already tried leveraging their use, but previously there was little common ground between them. In their MX incarnations, however, that's no longer the case.

To begin with, it was actually Flash MX that introduced the new MX look and feel with its use of dockable panel groups and the central role of the context-sensitive Properties panel. There are still some interface differences that should be tackled in future releases, but once you're happy in one environment you'll quickly feel at home in the other. More importantly, once you've got used to the changes, going back to the old ways is unthinkable. In the past, Macromedia's old-fashioned, fussy and idiosyncratic interfaces were major failings; now the modern, streamlined and shared MX environment is a major strength.

More common ground with Dreamweaver MX is evident in Flash MX's new emphasis on tag-based coding - its Actions panel offers features such as syntax colour coding, a full ActionScript reference and Code Hints. And, as the ActionScript language is based on JavaScript, many Dreamweaver developers will be surprised at how quickly they can get results in Flash.

Another area where the latest Flash fits in well with the new thrust of the MX platform is in terms of its integration with server-side technology. Its support for XML - the format used for client-server data exchange - has been radically improved and given a boost in speed. At the same time, Flash MX now provides a range of pre-built interface components such as scrolling textboxes and drop-down lists that, once programmatically linked to XML data sources, enable the rapid development of Flash-based client interfaces. Best of all, because the link from the Flash Player to the server is live, there's no need for those awkward page refreshes necessary to process HTML-based data.