Adobe releases new Beta versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth

Adobe Systems Incorporated gave a sneak peek at three
applications from the next release of Adobe Creative Suite, its collection of
graphic design, Web development and video editing applications. The company
released public beta of new versions of Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Fireworks and
Adobe Soundbooth as free downloads on Adobe labs. Once downloaded and launched,
the betas will be active for 48 hours after which time only Creative Suite 3
customers will have an extended ability to use the betas until the next release
of Creative Suite becomes available.

The Dreamweaver beta for Web design and development, the Fireworks beta for
prototyping, and the Soundbooth beta for audio creating and editing,
demonstrate the direction that Adobe Creative Suite is taking with features and
technologies that will simplify and streamline design and development workflows
across all media. The betas also offer users the opportunity to give Adobe
feedback for further product development.

“Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth are the major applications
we’re unveiling as public betas before the next release of Creative Suite,” said
David Burkett, vice president of product management for Adobe Creative Suite.
“This early release software gives our loyal customers a taste of the radical
workflow enhancements that we have in store, as we redefine how designers and
developers collaborate to deliver stand-out digital experiences.”

“We’re excited to begin formally developing within the new Creative
Suite environment,” said Matias Penela, director of technology for AgencyNet.
“Adobe is providing the strongest and most efficient workflow to date. With a
plethora of new and improved tools for each software title, our day-to-day
development can be more effective and we’ll be further empowered to push the
boundaries of creative design and technical innovation for our clients.”

The Dreamweaver public beta includes a new Related Files Toolbar
and Code Navigator feature that allows users to dive deeply into complex pages
that include HTML files, links to JavaScript documents and integrated XML data.
Users can see related files in the Related Files Toolbar and with Code
Navigator make changes to code that appears in various parts of a document just
with one update. The update to Dreamweaver also features a new Live View Mode,
which is based on the open source rendering engine Webkit. It enables users to
see content in real-world, real-time environments without having to leave
Dreamweaver to preview in a browser. This feature also gives users the ability
to freeze JavaScript language to debug interactive pages as well as view and
interact with Flash content.

New features in Fireworks beta include a new user interface that is
now consistent with other applications within the Creative Suite making it
easier for users to switch between applications that now have a universal look
and feel. In addition, Fireworks beta now allows users to export design comps
as high fidelity, interactive, and secure Adobe PDF documents for enhanced
client communication. Fireworks beta is also now compatible with Adobe AIR,
HTML, Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex Builder so users can create their design once
and deploy to whichever application platform is required by clients.

The Soundbooth beta showcases a host of new features for creative
professionals to complete their audio production tasks more efficiently,
including the new multiple track support which allows users to edit multiple
audio clips on a number of tracks, and the new ability for users to match
volume levels across audio files. Also included is the capability to preview
MP3 compression settings before saving them and a new speech recognition
technology that lets users create transcripts of dialogue tracks quickly and
search them for words and phrases within a timeline.

Dreamweaver and Fireworks betas run on multiple operating systems, including
Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows Vista and Mac OS X version
10.4.11 or later on PowerPC G5 or Intel-based Macintosh systems. The Soundbooth
beta runs on all those systems except for PowerPC-based Macintosh systems. The
betas can be immediately downloaded from Adobe
Labs.