Macromedia has announced the upcoming Macromedia Studio 8, a suite to design and maintain websites, interactive media, and mobile content. Studio 8 combines Dreamweaver 8, Flash Professional 8, Fireworks 8, Contribute 3 and Macromedia FlashPaper 2.

Macromedia Studio 8 is expected to ship in September. Pricing is $999 for a full license and $399 for an upgrade. Studio 8 replaces the current Macromedia Studio MX 2004 and no longer includes Macromedia Freehand.


What's New:

Dreamweaver 8

• Enhanced CSS rendering including support for pseudo elements
• Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) Layout Visualization shows the underlying structure by displaying borders and/or differently color backgrounds for each div and positioned element
• New server behaviors and code hinting for PHP5 and ColdFusion MX7
• Unified CSS Panel lets you have a summary of all CSS attributes that affect that object's appearance.
• Background File Transfer lets you keep on working as your files upload
• Improved code hinting support for XML and XSLT
• Drag-and-drop interface for XML data
• Enhanced usability features such as Pixel-Level Zoom, Zoom levels of up to 6400%, and Code Collapse streamline the development process
• Simplified Insert Dialog Box for Flash Video files (FLV)
• Improved Paste Special support for Microsoft Office applications

Flash Professional 8

• Toggle between Flash's merge drawing model or the traditional object drawing model of programs such as Adobe Illustrator or FreeHand
• Apply filter effects, such as drop shadow, blur, and glows at runtime to text, button, or movie objects.
• Apply traditional blending modes, such as difference or overlay, to movie clips at runtime
• New Easing controls create complex and realistic non-linear velocity motion for animations
• Built-in mobile device emulator to experience your application in Flash Lite
• Script editor usability
• Improved video quality and higher compression levels using the new VP6 Encoder for Flash Video
• Batch process video files to the .FLV format
• Workflow integration with leading video editing and encoding tools.
• New sophisticated gradient fills
• Better text rendering at small point sizes

Fireworks 8

• Generate external CSS for interactive pop-up menus
• Experiment with more than 25 new blend modes
• Solid Shadow and Perspective Shadow effects
• Import new file formats
• New palettes, including Insert Special Characters and AutoShapes
• Improved roundtrip editing with Dreamweaver 8 and Flash Professional 8

Studio 8 is rounded out by the addition of Contribute 3 and FlashPaper 2 to better fulfill the workflow needs of users. Contribute 3 lets web professionals modify or update content in a controlled, template-based workflow that improves efficiency while preserving website integrity. FlashPaper 2 extends the content creation process by converting any file type into web-ready PDF or SWF file formats.


Related Links
Macromedia
Macromedia Studio 8