As with most seminars, Macromedia Web Solutions in São Paulo, Brazil, started a bit later than expected. But it was well worth it...I'm still wiping the drool from my chin.
Armed with engaging demonstrations, ingenious wit, the latest hardware and killer software, the Macromedia presentation team drove the point home: they're going for the gold, no holds barred. After a brief introduction, Diana Smedley started off, showing some tricks in Fireworks 2. Besides including most of the functionality of ImageReady and ImageStyler both, FireWorks is staring greedily at the share of the market now occupied by the big kahuna, Adobe Photoshop. After demonstrating several FW features, Diana also showed how nice the workflow is from Dreamweaver to Fireworks: choose "Optimize in Fireworks" from a DW menu and it opens ONLY the FW optimization tools. Adobe could learn a thing or two about integration between apps from these folks. I mean, how hard can it be to add an "Optimize in ImageReady" menu option?
Diana went on to exhibit some great features in DreamWeaver. I confess...I'm coveting. Not the software itself [yet], but the features. Why? See for yourself:
- Astounding Table Management Tools
- Easy Selection
- Predefined alternating color schemes
- TABLE SORTING [YES!]
- Transparency controls over images [or layers...I'll have to check it out in DW sometime], demonstrated with the purpose of laying things out with layers, with the image in the background as a guide
- The ability to SAVE AS 3.0 SITE, for older browsers who can't handle all the fancy stuff we love including in our sites.
[Note: reader Charles Mason points out that "If your layers are overlapping DW won't convert it for you. Their not going to show you that in the demo." To which John Dowdell from Macromedia replied "Charles may wish to know of the "Prevent Overlaps" checkbox in the
Layers panel, which is also in the Layers->Tables dialog... this is a way to snug layers up against each other and prevent the overlaps that can make tables difficult." Even if you need to tweak it, this feature is still more than AGL users have.]
- Templates with editable and non-editable regions, that - get this - you can update one time and change all the pages that use it, retaining the editable content!!!
- Use of a file [.lck or something] that sits on the server and allows you to share a site with multiple designers. If you try to d/l or u/l a file that is being worked on by someone else, you get a warning message. An elegant workaround to an age-old problem.
- Play the Flash movies you are positioning while you edit your page, so you can see what the result looks like.
[Note: Charles Mason writes this can be done with GoLive as well, and you can play QuickTime movies while you lay them out, to boot. My attempts to layout while playing Flash in GoLive were unsuccessful. I only got a blank square where the Flash movie should have been playing. The QuickTime playback was impressive, however, and very smooth. Just don't try editing while playing the QT 4 Phantom Menace Trailer...it may slow you down a little (a lot, actually). And in this matter, the GoLive interface is the one lacking. The "Start Playing" command is hidden in a contextual menu, and not in the Inspector where it should be.]
- View your layout and your code side by side...very nice. Changes to the code automagically appear in the layout view.
- DW will connect to your server and download your SSIs, allowing you to view how your final layout will look.
- FIND AND REPLACE. No, not that little dialog box in GoLive. A real find and replace, that lets you find a certain tag, a certain attribute within the tag, and change only that attribute. No more wildcards and expressions! More sleep for designers all over the world!
Of course, DW has its shortcomings, and they were as apparent as ever. Among other faults, the interface is still very lacking [sorry guys, but it's true], the only way to get a preview is in a browser, and there is no layout grid [oh wait...I was listing shortcomings...oops].
After Diana was done with her DW demo, Andy Rose stepped up to the plate and delivered great demonstrations of Flash and Generator. Andy showed quite a knack for maintaining audience attention. One of the first questions he asked was, "What is the greatest feature about Flash?" Following a mumble or two from some brave attendees, Andy jumped up and down, lifted his arms in a "V" and yelled "VECTORS!". He then went on to explain all the wonderful things Flash can do:
- VECTORS!!! heheh
- Animating Vectors!
- Streaming Vectors!
- Font Outlines described as Vectors!
- Transparency effects!
- Importing of several formats, including .dxf.
The Generator demo was definitely the most exciting for me; we were only 3 minutes into the demo and I had already thought of about 50 applications for the technology. Generating images based on database values...what a great concept!
We had one final session of note in the afternoon, where Andy showed us the wonders of Director. Too bad he did it on a Windows machine...all I can hope for is that the interface is *slightly* less cryptic on a Mac. The software's power overcame my designer instincts though, and soon I was captivated by all the possibilities. Now if only I had the money...
What it all boils down to is, Macromedia isn't sleeping at the wheel. If Adobe doesn't get busy with a major GoLive update, we GL users stand to fall behind on several fronts. It's true that our aesthetic gut pulls us to the "prettier" software, but everyone has a breaking point. Let's just hope the movers at Adobe are not only watching their competition closely, but also acting to keep up with the innovations I saw today. If not...
Now where did I put that Flash book?
