VERDICT: Dreamweaver takes its place at the heart of the Creative Suite Web Edition

Recently I looked at Adobe’s CS3 Design Standard suite with its strong focus on professional print. These days, however, most designers are as interested in outputting to the web as they are to paper...

VERDICT: Improved CSS handling, browser compatibility checking and especially the new Ajax support make this the most significant Dreamweaver release for years.

Dreamweaver has dominated the world of professional web design in the decade since Macromedia first introduced it. Recently however there has been growing concern that it has been trading on past glories...

VERDICT: Improved workflow integration, new symbol handling and multiple page support give Fireworks a new lease of life and new purpose.

When Adobe took over Macromedia there was considerable doubt over whether it would carry on developing the dedicated web graphics application Fireworks...

VERDICT: A new interface, drawing engine and even programming language – but surprisingly little new power.

Under Macromedia’s development, Flash came to dominate the Macromedia Studio authoring suite with each release pushing back the boundaries of end user web experience. So what power does this first version developed under new owners Adobe unleash?

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: Non destructive image processing and creative filters lead the feature list in a comprehensive upgrade to the market leader.

Photoshop entirely dominates the world of professional photo-editing which makes it the must-have tool for designers and gives it a central role as the flagship for Adobe’s new CS3 releases...

With no real competition Adobe could have taken its foot off the pedal, but this latest version again pushes forwards on all fronts.

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: Photoshop moves beyond photo editing to conquer completely new territory.

My first reaction to the news that a new enhanced version of Photoshop was being introduced was deeply cynical...

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: A greatly improved working environment and ground-breaking new colour handling make Illustrator seem fresher than ever.

At almost 20-years old, Illustrator is the veteran of the core CS3 applications and at one stage looked ready to be put out to pasture...

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: New effects enable richer design results while a host of other improvements boost productivity.

By combining photos from Photoshop and illustrations from Illustrator with its own text, layout, formatting and output strengths, InDesign CS3 stands out as the central application in Adobe’s vision of the modern publishing workflow. It also stands out because it is the only one of the three main CS3 design applications that faces any serious competition.

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: Powerful and award-winning new versions of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator – and now Acrobat 8 Professional too.

So here they are – the new professional platforms for both print and web design have arrived...

VERDICT: Should be central to the CS3 suite but Bridge CS3 is comparatively disappointing.

The Bridge application was introduced in the previous CS2 release and, as its name suggests, is designed to integrate the different members of the CS3 suite by acting as a central media management hub.