Macromedia Makes Online Contribution

olution providers helping small businesses create an online presence have Macromedia to thank for a new tool that helps even the least Web-savvy of companies edit and maintain their own Web sites.

Macromedia, San Francisco, recently launched Contribute 3, the newest version of a Web-site editing and publishing tool first released in December 2002. Macromedia has sold more than 200,000 units of Contribute, making it the fastest-growing product in company history, said Lawson Hancock, senior product manager for Macromedia.

Small businesses comprise about half of those sales, Hancock said, noting the product’s low cost--$149--and ease of use.

“Contribute allows you to update Web-site content without having to know technical information about Web sites,” he said. “If you can post to the Web site, you can use Contribute to make updates.”

Macromedia has added a series of page templates to the tool to help solution providers get a head start designing sites for customers. Contribute 3 also has image-editing capability based on Macromedia’s Fireworks tool, and allows users to insert video files to Web sites without extra coding, Hancock said. It also includes technology called FlashPaper, which converts documents into Flash and PDF files. FlashPaper is sold as a stand-alone product for $79, but is included in the standard price for Contribute 3.

AD
id	unit-1659132512259
type	Sponsored post

Julie Vetter, a Web-site consultant who runs Mendocino, Calif.-based AskJV.info, said she often has recommended Contribute to shave the cost of making editing changes to the sites her company designs for customers. For example, Vetter said one small wine shop wanted to invest the money it allotted for its Web site in creative design, not in developing content. The shop bought Contribute to add original copy to the site and continues to use it to update the site with wine-tasting notes on wines sold in the store.