VERDICT The new interface and PDF and AIR export see Fireworks CS4 fully integrated into the Creative Suite.

VERDICT Simple HTML editing becomes a distant memory as Dreamweaver CS4 concentrates on advanced CSS and JavaScript handling for today’s complex compound web pages.

VERDICT A period of transition as Adobe gets to grips with its Macromedia inheritance and the changing nature of the web.

Adobe’s background is in print design and its web efforts such as GoLive and ImageReady were less than impressive. It seemed something of a miracle then when Macromedia agreed to be taken over, allowing Adobe to add the market-leading web apps to its market-leading print portfolio.

VERDICT New support for modern web technologies can’t hide the fact that NetObjects Fusion is showing its age.

These days every business is expected to have some sort of web presence, but the average user can’t be expected to get to grips with mark-up languages such as HTML and CSS, let alone recent web technologies such as AJAX and XML. This is where NetObjects Fusion comes in, providing a largely code-free web authoring solution to quickly guide end users through the maze.

VERDICT Plenty of design-rich development power for producing desktop EXEs - but the new browser-hosted Silverlight applications promise more than they currently deliver.
Everyone’s computing experience depends on the richness of the applications that they use both on the desktop and on the web. However there’s always been a factor holding that richness in check: a fundamental and frustrating chasm between the designer working on application presentation and the developer working on application logic. Just over a year ago Microsoft unveiled its ground-up solution to the problem and now, with Expression Studio 2, it is building on those foundations.

VERDICT Minor tweaks leave Expression Media looking even more old-fashioned, under-powered and out of its depth.
Microsoft Expression Studio is designed to provide end users with the richest computing experience possible so advanced media handling should be key. Unfortunately this obvious requirement seemed to pass Microsoft by so that, rather than developing its own visual file manager, it was forced to buy in an existing third-party solution at the last moment. Worse the program it picked, iView MediaPro, was ugly, awkward and well past its sell-by date.

VERDICT Top-of-the-range video preparation and encoding together with Silverlight-based web playback should give Encoder a winning edge – but doesn’t quite.
There’s one media format that can make or break the computing experience – video. That’s why it’s so important to get the right balance between quality and file size and why both Adobe and Microsoft provide dedicated video encoders. Surprisingly, despite Adobe’s longstanding video experience, this is one area where Microsoft outscores its rival.

VERDICT New interface and animation features and the ability to produce simple cross-platform Silverlight browser applications – too simple.
Expression Blend lies at the heart of Microsoft’s mission to make application development richer and more efficient as this is where you design the end user interface. XAML, Microsoft’s presentational markup language, is naturally central and Blend is the one Studio application where you can directly edit your XAML complete with full coding support. To code efficiently you really need to be able to see the effect of your changes as you work and Blend 2 adds the crucial Split view that makes this possible.

VERDICT Flex steps up a gear with improved CS3 integration and data connection and new desktop capabilities.
Flash began life as a way for web designers to add simple vector animations to their web pages. In the twelve years since it has grafted on impressive content handling, interactivity and programmability and become the one must-have browser plug-in. In the process, and almost unnoticed, Flash has turned itself into an online computing platform with Flash content viewable by almost all internet users. Now Adobe is determined to fully capitalize on this platform by unleashing Flash’s ability to create full-blown, self-contained Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) – and to take the same power to the desktop (see AIR boxout).

VERDICT: A modern cross-media technical publishing solution – that at its centre is old-fashioned and in need of a major overhaul.

We live in a fast-changing, global, consumer society and just about every product, and minor product variation, needs to come with its own technical documentation...