VERDICT: Adobe puts designing for mobile devices at the heart of its latest releases

One of the benefits for web designers of Adobe’s takeover of Macromedia is the wider graphical and design expertise that Adobe can draw upon...

This is immediately apparent in the Bridge CS3 application that is now bundled with each of the main standalone web apps including Contribute and Fireworks.
The redesigned Bridge CS3 provides visual thumbnail-based management of media files including new support for Fireworks’ PNG, Flash movie SWF and Flash video FLV formats along with new capabilities such a dedicated Loupe tool that can be used to quickly inspect image details in the Preview pane.
Bridge CS3 also acts as a central hub for other applications and components such as Adobe Acrobat Connect (formerly Macromedia Breeze) and the Adobe Stock Photos online image search. Most usefully, for web designers working with any of the CS3 suites or with the standalone versions of Dreamweaver or Flash, it provides access to the all-new Device Central CS3. Simply select a supported media format in Bridge CS3 and the Test in Device Central command and you will be able to see how the file should render on a wide range of mobile devices.
Key to this ability are two elements: the device profile, which details which formats are supported, say Flash Lite 1.1 but not Flash Lite 2.0, and capabilities such as download speed; and the device skin, which lets you see the rendered media on an accurate onscreen graphical emulation. Put the two together and you can see how your Flash Lite movie downloads and performs on a particular device, such as the Nokia N93, in real time and in situ. You can even interact with it via the onscreen buttons and see how well your planned design works with different levels of backlighting and with typical environmental reflection.
Web authors produce their designs on the desktop but it’s essential to recognize that that’s not the only way they are consumed. Adobe Device Central CS3 is an important step towards moving dedicated mobile design mainstream.