Archive for Applications
06.09.07
Posted in Applications, Technology at 8:27 pm by Ben
So I got my CS3 Design Premium update. This updates Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Acrobat Professional to … whatever version CS3 puts them at now. Its all fine and dandy and it updates pretty much everything I have from either Adobe or Macromedia. Almost. I therefore added Fireworks CS3 update to my order in the (mistaken) belief that I could update my Fireworks that I got with my Macromedia MX 2004 Suite. Hah! Nope. It won’t take my serial number for my MX 2004 Suite. So I call Adobe to see whats up. The Adobe rep tells me I need the serial for the stand-alone Fireworks and that the MX 2004 Suite serial won’t work for the upgrade. In fact, if I want an updated Fireworks I’m either going to have to purchase the Web CS3 Suite (as opposed to the CS3 Design Premium upgrade I did purchase), buy a standalone full version (non-update) Fireworks, or get the whole kit and kaboodle with the Adobe CS3 Master Collection. I’m a bit flabbergasted. I’ve generally been treated quite well by Adobe but this whole situation just rubs me the wrong way. It certainly makes “a la carte” ordering systems more appealing, where the more items you order, the greater the discount and you can purchase exactly what you need as opposed to what the marketing and business team think you need. Adobe has basically told me, “You can’t get here from there”. I should have checked the upgrade notes a bit more before ordering but still… So count this as a warning to all you potential upgraders and hopefully a wake-up call to Adobe to my suboptimal customer experience. Who knew that you can’t upgrade to Fireworks CS3 from a MX 2004 Suite license?
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04.24.07
Posted in Applications at 8:45 pm by Ben
If you haven’t heard by now, Panic, makers of fine Mac software, just released their latest app: Coda
Pros: It’s very good at doing what it says–providing a one-window web development environment.
Cons: It may not be your perfect solution.
Should you purchase it? Well I’d strongly suggest downloading the fully-functional 15 day trial and running it through the paces and see if it fits your workflow. It works for me but it may not work for you.
Will it solve all my personal issues? No. But it can free up your screen real-estate. Which may or may not be a personal issue.
Learn more about Coda & download the trial here
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12.17.06
Posted in Applications, Design at 4:45 pm by Ben
The ubiquitous Photoshop icon, the eye, is not on the tool palette. [begin update] And yes it’s been missing since CS…but it didn’t really strike me until the CS3 beta at just how profound it’s missing is to me. John Nack at Adobe has the reasoning behind the new icon. I like the font being used. [end update] Oh and CS3 is definitely on my upgrade list. Perhaps I should cut the leadership at Adobe some slack. (See my “Waiting for Adobe” post). But they better make sure that Illustrator is just as useful. Perhaps with multiple page handling? And Acrobat – please make sure that in your haste to address enterprise markets you don’t forget us designers and creative folk. Good looking PDFs are important. And are probably more useful then generic server produced PDFs. InDesign – I’ve always felt the XML handling was a bit…under executed. And it would be neat to have built-in support for database publishing…I know, buy one of the several 3rd party plug-ins available. I’m just saying that that kind of functionality would be really nice to have built in. But I see good things coming out of Adobe and I am excited that they let the general public get a peak at it’s flagship product. The transparency makes me hopeful that the Macromedia acquisition wasn’t just to get rid of a competitor but to build better products in the long run.
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