Studio MX Upgrade from 2 products (Flash MX, Dreamweaver MX, Fireworks MX, Freehand 10, ColdFusion MX Developer Edition, Flash Player 6)

Integration between the individual products is generally very good. It begins with the interface, which uses common elements such as dockable, collapsible panels and a dynamic property inspector, so that you can switch comfortably between products. On a technical level, the key feature is round-trip support. You can embed Fireworks graphics and Flash movies in Dreamweaver pages without losing any information, so that you can later reopen an element in its original application with all its features intact.

The MX range differs from earlier Macromedia products by targeting application development as well as design. For this you need to build on a web application server, such as the bundled ColdFusion MX, or one of the other supported platforms including ASP, ASP.Net, PHP, or any Java Enterprise Edition server. You can connect to databases through JDBC, OLEDB, or.Net data providers, depending on the server platform being used. Dreamweaver MX is more developer-friendly than previous versions, with an enhanced code editor incorporating many of the features of HomeSite, Macromedia's code-centric web page designer. Although ColdFusion MX has its own tag language, called ColdFusion Markup Language, it generates Java code that can be deployed on any of the leading Java application servers. This also enables Java developers to extend ColdFusion with custom tags and components. In effect, the combination of Dreamweaver and ColdFusion provides an easy way into dynamic, Java-based web development. As an alternative to ColdFusion, support for Microsoft.Net is a little less comprehensive, but still good, and includes visual designers for the key ASP.Net server-side controls.

Application development is not just a matter of server-side scripting. Flash MX also has potential as a rich client, with an interface driven by embedded Javascript. Through a technology called Flash Remoting, Flash MX has support for web services, and the Studio bundle makes it relatively easy to set up ColdFusion to supply web services, and Flash to consume them. While it may seem strange to think of Flash as a rich client moving beyond the web page, it does make some sense when you consider that it is cross-platform and very widely deployed. In addition, ColdFusion itself can consume web services hosted on other platforms. Taking everything together, Studio MX is an essential development tool for ColdFusion as well as a great bundle for any Web designer. --Tim Anderson

It can be said that this will give the pro an edge on most of the other software that is on offer on the market and will give the beginner something to really think about, all in all building a web site with Dreamweaver mx is an experience because it gives you so many different features that ealier versions havent got, for instance you can build a site using PHP, ASP, and even JSP, take your pick...I have to say that I have to say that changes are done in seconds, in Fireworks it takes only seconds to edit an image for Dreamweaver, Freehand 10 is a desktop publishing experience which only goes to show that anything can be done with a little creativity and a great peice of software...

Susan Barrett
Web Designer


Studio MX Over-hyped   January 22, 2004
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Macromedia Studio MX has helped in creating websites but the best two applications are Fireworks and Flash. Dreamweaver is useful for novice users but coding using either HTML, JavaScript, Java or DHTML is better. Freehand is useless and is not the Industry standard compared to Adobe Illustrator although the package overall would benefit from including Director as part of it. My advice is buy Fireworks and Flash although also choose Dreamweaver if novice. Buy Adobe instead of Freehand.


w.y.s.i.w.y.g DreamweaverMX   April 7, 2003
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I have never used a web building programme before, yet with the help from a book I was able to design a website in 2 weeks, on and off. I have had no training in how to use a web building programme but Dreamweaver makes it so easy. I can recommend this as an all in one web site design suite to anyone who is contemplating desiging a website.


Excellent Smithers!   October 2, 2002
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Dreamweaver, Fireworks & Flash have had a face lift! (1) reason to buy! another dreamweaver is a lot more stable, fireworks text tool is a lot better than in version 4, Flash MX can now handle importing of video and converts it to the time line (MPEG, AVI, MOV)... Freehand 10 is Freehand 10 with a new icon! - Basically your gonna buy this software if your work in the new media industry or have money to burn! Either way its worth buying because its makes life a little easier when publishing to the web!


Macromedia - always good   August 29, 2002
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I feel pretty silly writing a review on Macromedia. You really can't criticise them. They do lead the way. Studio MX is more tightly integrated, the new Flash is great, Dreamweaver MX is a real must have (I personally could never stand all those windows everywhere), Fireworks has moved on a bit but not that much, Freehand (don't use it much, but its nice when they give it you for free). It was also a killer stroke getting ColdFusion from Allaire - a brilliantly simple way to knock together database applications.

All in all great software at a reasonable cost, you can't complain.