Chapter 1: What Is Macromedia Studio MX?

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Macromedia Studio MX is an integrated suite of development tools for building professional Web sites and rich Internet applications. The suite also supports emerging standards and Web technologies. The applications included in the Macromedia Studio MX suite are FreeHand 10 (or MX), Fireworks MX, Flash MX, Dreamweaver MX, and ColdFusion MX Developer Edition. All the applications have a common interface, cutting the learning curve considerably.

FreeHand 10

FreeHand was developed as a vector drawing program and has grown to be arguably the best program on the market for the production of pure vector art. Over the last 15 years of continual change and improvement, FreeHand has become an extremely versatile program for anyone in the graphic arts community. FreeHand was the first drawing program to be built from the ground up with Mac OS X compatibility. That created a few minor problems on the Mac side of the aisle. Apple engineers were hard at work introducing an entirely new operating system, and Macromedia engineers were working on FreeHand 10 with daily changes from Apple. As a problem was fixed at one company, the solution would break something in the other company's software. Both companies had deadlines to meet, and both products were delivered with problems.

The version of FreeHand that is installed as part of Studio MX is a slightly modified version of the original FreeHand 10. The changes that were made to the program are minimal: Tabs in panels have a new way of operating due to a lawsuit with Adobe, and the program plays better with OS X and Windows XP. Other than that, the version won't get the full upgrade to an MX label until the engineering and marketing departments can get a handle on what is necessary to satisfy customers and the operability of the program — both in terms of the cost to accomplish it and its profitability. For now, FreeHand 10.0.1 is a great program, but it lacks some of the bells and whistles of the MX user interface.

Nearly anyone will tell you that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, and the same is true of FreeHand's and Adobe Illustrator's yards. Both programs contain similar tools and features, and both have tools and features the other program lacks. A comparison of the programs' common functions is located at the end of this section of the book. If you are an experienced Illustrator user and need only a jump-start, that comparison may be a good place for you to start.

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