Macromedia&'s Feature-Rich Studio 8 Suite Should Be A Hit Among Web Developers

Key improvements include enhancements to language support and a new state-of-the-art rendering engine that helps developers gain more control over code, images and cross-platform development. Test Center examined the final beta code.

Dreamweaver 8 now supports PHP objects and behaviors code on a stand-alone server, including PHP code hints and code coloring to distinguish syntax. This means developers can build database queries, user-authentication and page-navigation routines in Java code. Dreamweaver 8 also supports Java Tag Libraries and JavaBeans.

Since ASP.Net 1.1 is now fully compatible with Dreamweaver 8, .Net developers can use new ASP.Net server controls to build database queries using native OLE DB drivers; they can also switch between stored procedures and create complex multipage handling algorithms without changing code structure. Dreamweaver can generate tags that separate business logic from display code. And the new .Net design rendering capability uses native .Net controls.

Authoring content for mobile devices with Flash Professional 8 is easier now. With the mobile device emulator, developers can ensure their designs work on most major devices. There&'s also a new table that describes which devices support graphic content and text configurations for faster development.

No other graphical design tool for the Web reviewed by CRN Test Center engineers can produce the rendering effects seen in Flash Professional 8. Blend modes can blend image sections and even blend across complete scenes in realtime. The rendering engine can simulate visual effects that happen when objects move, such as shadows, blurs and glows.

Macromedia&'s font-rendering engine for Flash produces extremely sharp fonts and has an anti-aliasing feature for better resolution processing. A new animation control feature works on graph paths, improves object speed and provides more precise positioning.

Flash Professional 8 arrived with expanded video capabilities and a new stand-alone video encoder that helps designers use more videos in their Flash Video (FLV) files. On dedicated PCs, designers can also batch-process multiple video-encoding jobs.

Designers can embed cues on FLV files and associate events for playback. This feature provides better coordination between animation files, since it helps designers create triggers between effects. Flash Professional 8 also includes a new video-encoder plug-in for video editing that exports Flash files to some Avid and Apple-based editing suites. Flash Professional 8 also includes a new component that customizes sizes for video files that are streamed or downloaded.

The products in Studio 8 are more interoperable than previously because they are based on a common cross-product communication architecture. For instance, Dreamweaver 8 has a drag-and-drop Flash Video capability that makes adding videos to pages easy. Some features span multiple products. Like Flash Professional 8, for example, Fireworks 8 has new blend modes to change colors and objects.

Fireworks 8 supports many new formats and can import BMP, FreeHand FH7-11, GIF and Photoshop PSD files. The tool supports JavaScript command scripts, and with JavaScript, Fireworks developers can now build objects that work on documents.

Contribute 3 bundled with Studio 8 provides better integration with Dreamweaver and platform-specific features such as WebDAV. The latter makes Contribute an idea tool to use in content management systems. Macromedia has added better HTML editing features to Contribute; developers can use a WYSIWYG HTML editor without having to access Web sites.

Studio 8 arrives with FlashPaper 2, which allows users to change files into SWF or PDF format. FlashPaper integrates with Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Studio 8 is priced at $999 for a full version and $399 for an upgrade, and VARs can purchase it through any authorized two-tier distributor. CRN Test Center engineers highly recommend using Macromedia&'s development site for tutorials and support.