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Company: Macromedia
Purpose: Create Web applications and Web content including design and development, graphics, and rich content.
Starting Price: $799
Reviewer's View:
A suite of tightly integrated Web development tools, which include industry standards Dreamweaver and Flash. The MX upgrade sports a new interface along with task automation and improved program integration, and at $799, this is the bargain of the year.
With the release of the MX line, Macromedia has taken its premiere Web development tools-Flash, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver-to a new level. Sporting a completely redesigned interface and improved integration between the products, managers can dole out jobs to the right team members and easily integrate work into the final project. What's more, the MX line (especially Dreamweaver) has an eye to the future allowing your team to develop Web sites, Web applications, Web services, XML, and more. Studio MX also includes FreeHand 10.0 (which has not yet been given the MX makeover) and a single-user version of ColdFusion MX Developer Edition (really just a tease as you'll need to purchase the Enterprise version if you are serious about using the product). Nonetheless, the Studio MX suite offers a lot for its $799 retail price tag and that should appeal to any manager faced with a purchasing decision in a year where belt tightening is the rule. If you were to purchase these products separately, it would add up to almost $1600, and if you own any earlier versions of the Studio MX products (and given their popularity, that's highly likely), you are eligible for even cheaper upgrade pricing.
This review will look at the Studio MX product, paying particular attention to Dreamweaver MX. [Jeff Sauer reviewed Flash MX in EContent, September, 2002-Ed.]
A BRAND NEW FACE
When you open up one of the MX products for the first time, you will be struck by the new interface. Gone are the annoying floating palettes of the earlier versions of the product, replaced with a new integrated work space, meaning that the entire interface stays together no matter how you adjust the window size. (Dreamweaver users still have the option of using the floating palette view.)
Each program uses panels in place of previously floating toolbars. You can easily show or hide these panels and...