What software is used for what? Part IIII

If you are new to the design biz you might be overwhelmed by all the software out there and not sure which is the best option for your project.  I know I won’t cover everything on the market, there is just too much out there but I will touch on the industry standards in this four part series.

Multimedia Development

Multimedia is a place where Adobe had not been the forerunner but has gradually taken a place.  There are a multitude of applications out there that could do similar jobs so there can be a lot of end user preference in the decision of what program to use.

Web design WYSIWYG applications have been a competitive market.  Early in the game Adobe came to the table with PageMill to compete with Microsoft Frontpage which was the forerunner.   Both programs were clunky, added unnecessary code and not as scalable as a web designer might like to work with.  PageMill had a short life span and was eventually replaced by GoLive.  It appeared like every software company had some sort of WSYIWYG program be it a free editor or a full paid application and none really cut it as a robust interchangeable option.   Programs like Netscape Composer, Macromedia HomeSite, BB Edit, and Claris Home Page were widely used as well.  Finally in 1997 a Mac only version of Macromedia Dreamweaver was released.  Although there were plenty of bugs it quickly became the software of choice for creating web pages.  Along with Dreamweaver came Flash which offered an animation and interactivity component to web design.

Macromedia developed several multimedia applications including Director, Authorware, Final Cut Pro, Fireworks, and acquired components from other companies like Cold Fusion programming, and Freehand which was direct competition with Adobe Illustrator.  In December 2005 Adobe acquired Macromedia adding these programs and more to its repertoire moving Adobe to the top in the multimedia forum.

Today the widely used multimedia applications used by professionals are from Adobe.  Dreamweaver for web design, Flash for animation and interactive applications, with Premiere and Final Cut Pro for working with video.

Not much posted for Dreamweaver or multimedia tutorials at this point. There are some basic HTML and CSS tutorials and more coming.  Download the trial version and get started.


If you missed any part of this series about software check out the last four parts of this series that covered off on Page Layout, Image Manipulation and Line Drawings.