SAN FRANCISCO - Macromedia (www.macromedia.com) is now shipping Studio MX 2004, a package of tools for Web development that includes major new releases of its Flash, Dreamweaver and Fireworks products.
Initially released in 2002, Studio MX is Macromedia's best-selling product. The 2004 version, which is available now, will deliver deeper cross-product integration. Studio MX 2004 is available with Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004. By using Studio MX 2004 with Flash Professional, developers can easily design Flash and HTML Web forms, add components, integrate with data and build in application logic and navigation.
Dreamweaver MX 2004 simplifies Web site and application development, offering enhanced Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) support, cross-browser validation, built-in graphics editing and updated support for ASP.NET, PHP and ColdFusion server technologies. Flash MX 2004 makes it easy to create rich interactive content with new timeline effects, import of Adobe Illustrator and PDF content and CSS support is simple. Fireworks MX 2004 delivers a broad array of new design tools and effects. FreeHand MX (released in February) delivers new productivity tools and panels, and improved Mac OS X performance.
Studio MX 2004 also includes MX Elements, a series of interface building blocks with a new generation of embedded, interactive design patterns. These HTML and Flash elements will make it faster for customers to build effective interfaces by bringing together a range of technologies including components, templates, style sheets and behaviors.
Mac OS X V.10.2.6 and Windows versions will be priced at $899 for new users and $399 for upgrades from Studio MX. Studio MX 2004 with Flash Professional will be priced at $999 for new users and $499 for upgrades from Studio MX.