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Adobe Unveils Creative Suite 4 Web Premium
Wednesday 24. September 2008 - New Collaboration Between Designers and Developers Simplifies The Delivery of Stand-Out Online Experiences
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today unveiled Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium, the next major release of its award-winning Web design and development software. Packed with new features and offering significant productivity gains, Adobe CS4 Web Premium drastically simplifies creative workflows and reduces the time it takes creative professionals to develop high-impact, interactive websites and online experiences. Adobe CS4 Web Premium includes new releases of Adobe Fireworks CS4, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Adobe Illustrator CS4, Adobe Contribute CS4, Adobe Device Central CS4, and Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional software. For the first time Adobe Soundbooth CS4, the latest release of its innovative audio editing tool, is also included in Creative Suite Web Premium edition. A version of Adobe CS4 Web Standard will also be available.
“Adobe Flash technology continues to revolutionize expressiveness on the Web while Creative Suite has become the industry standard for the creation and delivery of online experiences that delight audiences and customers worldwide,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “Having impact on the Web is essential for any brand, product, company or organization that wants to remain vital and Adobe Creative Suite 4 has the tools to make the Internet the primary communication channel for any idea or message.”
New Features and Improvements Streamline Designer-Developer Workflow
This major release of CS4 Web Premium includes a new object-based animation model in Adobe Flash CS4 Professional which eliminates the need for manual placement of keyframe and tween adjustments, dramatically simplifying the animation process and making it much more approachable for new users. In addition, Flash CS4 Professional now includes 3D transformation capabilities such as the 3D rotate and translate tools as well as the new Bones tool that delivers inverse kinematics to create chain-like animation, and the Deco tool that allows users to convert any symbol into an instant design tool.
Also new to Creative Suite 4 is a unified interface that makes switching between tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash or Fireworks a seamless process. Multiple new export options have also been added to simplify designer-developer workflows, such as the ability in Fireworks CS4 to now export design comps as high-fidelity PDF documents that can be reviewed as interactive click-through files. Fireworks CS4 also has new capabilities to export to CSS, so that designers can hand off prototypes to developers in a developer-friendly format.
“On August 11 we launched sesamestreet.org which is a primary long-term channel of distribution for us as more children and parents migrate online,” said Noah Broadwater, vice president of Information Services at Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street. “Features that were seeing in Adobe CS4 Web Premium are the types of capabilities that will enable us to be technologically proficient so that we can move innovative content from our television production environment to our Web experiences and print material even quicker than before.”
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 includes a new multifaceted workspace and the new Related Files and Code Navigator features to enhance the process of working with modern websites and underlying code of compound documents that include external CSS files, JavaScript libraries, linked files or server-side code. Also new in Dreamweaver CS4 is the Live View feature which lets users view documents and do interactive code editing in real-world browser conditions using the open-source rendering engine WebKit, eliminating the need to continually leave the application.
Creative Suite 4 Expands the Creative Workflow
The Adobe Creative Suite 4 product line, which includes Adobe Creative Suite Design editions, Adobe Creative Suite Web editions, Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium and Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection (see separate releases), offers access to online services* to creative professionals and developers who work and collaborate online. Adobe ConnectNow, a service of Acrobat.com, can be accessed from InDesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver CS4, Fireworks CS4, and Acrobat 9 Pro, allowing real-time collaboration with two colleagues or clients. Designers can also share color harmonies with Adobe Kuler, which is now accessible from within InDesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Photoshop CS4, Flash CS4 and Fireworks CS4. Other online resources include: Adobe Community Help for technical questions; Resource Central for accessing video and audio product-related news and tutorials, as well as Soundbooth scores, sound effects, and other stock media; and Adobe Bridge Home, a customizable resource for tips, tutorials, news and inspirational content. With a searchable library of more than 450 dynamically updated device profiles from leading manufacturers, Adobe Device Central CS4 (see separate release) enables users to easily test mobile content designed using many of the Creative Suite 4 products.
Pricing and Availability
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium and Web Standard for Mac OS X on Intel based and PowerPC based systems and for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista platforms are scheduled to ship in October 2008 with availability through Adobe Authorized Resellers and the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/go/gn_store . Estimated street price for the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium edition is US$1799. Prices for upgrading to Creative Suite 4 Premium and Standard start at US$599 from Creative Suite 3 and US$799 from Creative Suite 2.X and 1.X, Adobe Studio 8 and Adobe Studio MX 2004. For a limited time, validly licensed customers of any version of Adobe Creative Suite Design, Web and Production Premium will be able to upgrade to Creative Suite 4 for the CS3 upgrade price.