Macromedia Studio 8 Upgrade Win/Mac

• Dreamweaver 8 to develop websites and applications.
• Flash Professional 8 to author rich interactive content.
• Fireworks 8 to create and optimize web images.
• Now includes Contribute 3 to manage web content.
• Now includes FlashPaper 2 to convert files to PDF and FlashPaper.

Worthwhile though pricey when upgrading Studio for nth time.:
Macromedia has delivered a worthwhile upgrade. The upgrade from version 4 of the Macromedia Studio to MX was well worth the money - a significant increase in functionality and workflow. However, the upgrade to MX 2004 was mostly about bug fixes. While I am all for bug fixes, I don't expect to keep paying for them. However, the upgrade from MX 2004 to '8' is actually worthwhile. Some nice touches in the new release are: Dreamweaver: The new code-view Section Collapse allows you to collapse select sections of code while leaving other sections expanded - very useful. Also, in Design View (which I rarely use), there is the addition of 'css layout backgrounds' and 'css layout outlines' (and more) in the visual aids drop-down. These allow one to have a better feel for where the css is and what it is doing on the page. Unfortunately the much vaunted 'better css rendering in design-view' just doesn't seem to be there. I see some minor improvements but there remains the usual dissonance between design view rendering and browser rendering. Also, when you change the code, the design-view sometimes goes completely out of phase completely dropping items (php includes in one case) which were still in the code and displayed correctly in the browser but which the design view didn't render at all even though it had done so perfectly before changing a piece of completely unassociated code. Only closing and reopening the application restored the correct design-view rendering of the page in question. That just should not have to happen and any workflow improvements there may be fail to make up for the need to close and re-open the application several times a session. Another excellent feature is the vastly improved writing, editing, and application of stylesheets for a page/site. It is much easier to code a standards-compliant site with pure css (no table) positioning for the layout. There is some new tag completion logic in place too. It takes a moment to notice, but when you are typing a div tag (for instance) and you close it, instead of the end tab being added immediately so that you have to backspace in order to put content in the div, now the div stays open and you can put in your content. The cool thing happens when you begin to create an end tag for your div - all you have to do is type the '<' and the '/' and then it closes it by adding the 'div' and '>' for you. This has the added benefit of helping you make sure all your tags are closed in their appropriate order. If you try and close a div tag before you've closed a span tag within that div, when you type '

My Top 8 Reasons to Buy, or Upgrade, to Macromedia Studio 8:
1. CSS layout visualization Dreamweaver 8 now gives you visual aides at design time to outline CSS layout borders or color CSS layouts to reveal complex nesting schemes and improve selection. Click on the CSS layout for valuable Tooltips, such as ID and padding and margin and border settings. 2. Code collapse Dreamweaver 8 allows you to focus only on the code in use. Hide and expand blocks of code by selection or by tag to stay organized. 3. Compare files Dreamweaver 8 can quickly compare files to identify what has changed, whether it is two local files, a file on the local and remote, or two files on the remote server. 4. Alpha channel support Flash Professional 8 now has support for a true alpha channel at run-time. This revolutionary new capability provides the unique ability to overlay video composited with a transparent (even semi-transparent) alpha channel over other Flash content. Create dynamic presentations such as splashing water, smoke and fire effects, as well as presenters shot in front of a blue screen. 5. FlashType - high-quality font rendering engine Flash Professional 8 has a revolutionary new font rendering engine that provides clear, highest-quality font rendering, FlashType makes small fonts look amazingly clear and greatly improves readability. Choose from several options for font rendering, each optimized for different use cases. Optimize font rendering with the new custom anti-aliasing feature in Flash Professional. 6. Filters With Flash Professional 8, you can create more compelling designs with built-in filter effects like drop shadow, blur, glow, bevel, gradient bevel, and color adjust. Filters are visual effects applied to MovieClips and text fields and are natively supported and rendered in real time by Flash Player. 7. Higher-quality video codec Flash Player 8 has a brand new, far more advanced video codec, On2 VP6. This codec provides superior video quality that is competitive with today's best video codecs at a much smaller file size. 8. The most significant upgrade ever All prior versions of Studio, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks are now eligible for the the same single upgrade price of $388.99 (save $10.01 on Amazon.com as of 09/13/05)! Thats right, you can now upgrade to Macromedia Studio 8 if you own any one of the following products: Studio MX 2004, Studio MX, Dreamweaver MX 2004 or earlier, Flash MX 2004, Flash MX Professional 2004, Flash MX or earlier, Fireworks MX 2004 or earlier, FreeHand MX or earlier, Dreamweaver UltraDev, Dreamweaver/Fireworks Studio, UltraDev/Fireworks Studio, Flash/FreeHand Studio, ColdFusion Studio, JRun Studio (Any Version) Please Note... Macromedia Freehand is no longer available in Macromedia Studio 8, but is still available as a stand alone program. Freehand was replaced by the addition of Contribute and FlashPaper to better fulfill the typical design-develop-maintain workflow needs of Macromedia customers.

Fear Not: It's GOOD:
I was the harshest critic of Flash 2004 (don't believe me? Go read my review), and for good reason. It was a one-star bomb. Macromedia came to its senses and outdid itself with Studio 8. (If you are a Flash-only owner, upgrade to Studio. For only about a hundred dollars more, you get a fantastic suite of software thrown in...what a deal!) This version of Flash is a return to the reliability of MX. No more PC crashes, the "normal" Actionscript mode has been reinstated, and there are all kinds of nifty surprises (like drop shadows). I was bowled over by the effortlessness of the video/FLV capabilities. Video used to be a complicated thing; in the new Flash, you can actually get it working without cracking open a tutorial or a book! That's the mark of intuitive software. Kudos! Bottom line: Highly recommended.

Don't be confused by hate!:
For any true loyal flash programmer/designer this is the update to get. Major improvement from MX, and MX04. Dreamweaver 8 starting to look like homesite which is the better. Don't let hate comments confused your choice, this is a well worth upgrade.