Macromedia Studio MX 2004

Macromedia's market domination must make the competition spit. With Dreamweaver and Flash, it owns the de facto standards for both page-based sites and rich and interactive multimedia content. Studio MX brought the two together and even included Fireworks, FreeHand and the local Developer Edition of ColdFusion MX server, but what really stood out was the efficient docker panel system across all the apps, with its central Properties panel that handled most of the work.

Thankfully, this release (reviewed as a late press beta) consolidates the MX advances rather than overhauling them, and each application (apart from FreeHand, which is still the MX version) has been tweaked. They also share the new Aqua-inspired colour scheme and Start screen for quick access to recent documents, possible formats, samples and web support.

The applications also work well together: Dreamweaver can preview embedded Flash and FreeHand-generated SWF movies, as well as Fireworks-generated GIFs and JPEGs. It also allows you to load the originating FLA or PNG file for editing. But this integration has now deepened further: Dreamweaver can directly control the next generation of 'Flashlet' mini-applications via its Tag Inspector, while Flash's CSS support means the embedded SWF can share the same styling as its containing page.

Few people will be experts in both Flash and Dreamweaver, and some will only install one of the two. As such, Fireworks and FreeHand are just as important. Fireworks' role is central, as its combination of vector, bitmap and HTML handling is ideal for producing web-friendly JPEGs and GIFs. FreeHand MX, meanwhile, is an ideal supporting application for Flash when designing storyboards and layouts.

It still isn't fully integrated, though. The online help, for example, is different in each application, and the drawing tools in Flash, FreeHand and Fireworks have little in common. Other irritations include a price increase and the new activation scheme, although individuals can install on two systems for non-synchronous use.

Even so, Macromedia Studio MX 2004 will be a bargain when it's released in October. For double the standalone price of Dreamweaver or Flash, you get four complete packages. Each app stands out on its own, but together they enable the professional developer to do what they want.

Author: Tom Arah