Should I Buy Macromedia Studio?

[Troubadour 0]

I've got the chance to buy Macromedia Studio for 76% off... Anyone who's used these programs, could you give me a quick review of what I might expect from them? It'd help me out a lot. Thanks!

[heimcomputer 0]

I've been using Macromedia Studio MX 2004 (important to include MX 2004, since ther infact is some diferrence in versions especialy when it comes to flash)

I am verry happy with it
probably exist other programs out there(cheaper) but..

At the time being i mainly use dreamweaver MX 2004
it is a great help when designing
I could tell you many things but maby not what you are looking for.
the best thing to do is to download(if you have bandwith)
a 30 day trial from
http://www.adobe.com/downloads.html
test it and see if YOU like it

but i definitely like the package
what part of the package are you especialy interested in ??

if flash , then you have to consider if you need Flash MX 2004 Professional of regular.
some components that are not enabled for editing in the regular version
but it will get you far --> like if this is your introduction to webdesign and flash
then no need for the professional version right away, you can always upgrade.


ok a little review of dreamweaver MX 2004 then
(refered to as dreamweaver in the rest of this note).
Dreamweaver
You can throw away almost every other editor/ project manager
and use this one. (NO don't do it)
I ocasionaly have to use notepad
and sometimes it is better to use an editor specificaly made for a
programing/scripting language like dreamweaver is not
It highlight almost all code
has great popuphelp
like shortcuts to tags and attributes

One of the great things with dreamweaver is that it also manage
youre project / site
You start with making a new site
defining absolute folder and web root if you would like to test it online/ localy
and then you can start putting some files into youre site
realy a simple thing but it is handy
the preview mode of dreamweaver is no good for getting a good impression on
how it will look in a browser
and that is maby not so bad(since different browsers display pages differently)
I have the different browsers installed so I can test the page.
but the prewiew in dreamweaver can be used for editing
you can edit webpages in 2/3 modes
visualy or by code or both at the same time
you can past other formats (like word .doc files with tables and so on)
directly into either the code or the visual layout.
This i dont use that much, but can be verry handy if in lack of time

I could go on for ever
but lets keep a discussion insted
so i neednt wrongly define how dreamweaver is working

It is a realy great tool
but you have to be carefull
it can be misused.
it is better if you know how to code
i have not had any problem with ugly code being generated at large scale
(only thing is filepaths that update to be absolut if I press a yes button
when a dialog asking me if it want to )
but i constantly see warnings when using different tools
like the CMS i am looking into right now
Mambo http://www.aavictoria.org.au/
is warning me of careless dreamweaver use
but if you keep youre eyes open you neednt worry.

I realy like it
but maby some day i will dislike it

hope I did not confuse you by this post

[heimcomputer 0]

And one little thingI did not have to buy the package myself.My Boss did that for me

[Troubadour 0]

Thanks a bunch Heim! You've made a believer out of me. I'm currently in the process of learning to code, so I'm pretty much at a beginner's level when it comes to dynamic web page development. Well, anywho, thanks a bunch for the reviews and reccomendations, you've been a great help!

[heimcomputer 0]

how nice

[NilsC 0]

how nice

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great post (not the one I quoted but the prior informative one in this tread) , clear and informative. I gave you a +1 reputation for this. You seem to know you stuff. Welcome to Xisto and You'll see me asking all the beginner questions since I just started playing with web site creations

 

Reputation is a way to show others who helps out and it's just a way of recognizing a post / poster.

 

Nils

[Ploforia 0]

I use Flash MX 2004 on a daily basis for work and I find it is quite easy to use and fairly simple to learn. You can do all sorts of simple animation easily - motion tweening, shape tweening, etc. This is all fun stuff even to just experiment with but really it's not all that hard to get a good concept of what is going on and use it to make MOST projects look more professional. If you are looking for web-site design stuff, it's the bomb. If you are looking for animation capabilities, it does a lot easily, though it's probably not the most advanced animation program out there. In my opinion, once you really learn to use Flash you can do most of your web site design using only Flash, should you want to. Dreamweaver also is a good program but since it was already mentioned I won't go there now. In my opinion the whole MX suite is a good choice but if you are only looking for "moderate" web design - Flash or Dreamweaver or both would really be all you need.Good Luck

[thatguycalledrob 0]

Yeah, I'd agree with what the guy said above (I didn't read so much as I skimmed though)I'd say you probably don't need the whole studio though. Freehand and Fireworks are a bit lacking, I'd probably just buy a graphics program seperatly. If you want to do Flash it's good, but really your fine with just Dreamweaver.As far as it goest I'd consider Dreamweaver the second best site management tool I've used. Really Frontpage is the best as far as management is concerned. It's makes poor code, makes unneccesary folders and files, but it's very, very easy to use. And gives you a great graphical structure of your site.Dreamweaver does a decent job though. And, it will help you make your code be compatible, verifiable, and accessible. Something frontpage doesn't attempt.

[lacking_imagination 0]

Yeah, I'd agree with what the guy said above (I didn't read so much as I skimmed though)

 

I'd say you probably don't need the whole studio though.  Freehand and Fireworks are a bit lacking, I'd probably just buy a graphics program seperatly.  If you want to do Flash it's good, but really your fine with just Dreamweaver.

 

As far as it goest I'd consider Dreamweaver the second best site management tool I've used.  Really Frontpage is the best as far as management is concerned.  It's makes poor code, makes unneccesary folders and files, but it's very, very easy to use.  And gives you a great graphical structure of your site.

 

Dreamweaver does a decent job though.  And, it will help you make your code be compatible, verifiable, and accessible.  Something frontpage doesn't attempt.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would have to disagree with a few of your opinions. While freehand is a bit lacking(unless you have a wacom tablet or a tablet notebook), fireworks is definantly my favorite graphics program. While I'm just beginning to see its potential, as it has a very large learning curve (although tutorials are included to help the process), I use it more than photoshop and ms paint . The fireworks layers and interface is so easy to use, and it is VERY similar to flash mx 2004.

I feel dreamweaver 2004 is the definitive web page designer program. It is professional quality and allows easy embedding/editing of graphic files (flash, .png, .gif, to name a few). It creates a folder and all files used in the site are copied to that folder. It makes uploading so simple anyone could do it. It also lets you bypass the visual editor and code from scratch... Ug... I remember those days, and I'm only 18. Studio mx is nice, but mx 2004 is worth the extra bills. Plus flash, even if you're not going to do any major developments, is usable for animated gifs and you can waste hours making cartoons and just junk for no reason. Its some fun stuff. Well, hope I helped

Peace

Aaron

[Troubadour 0]

Thanks a lot everyone! Based upon your revews and some others, I went ahead and bought the package. It was an all or nothing deal, so I had to but the whole thing. I'm just starting to learn how to use it and have been playing around with it, and I gotta say that I love it! I'm really glad I made this investment. So thank you to everyone that helped me out here!