Adobe have released details of the latest Creative Suite software and for the first time since acquiring Macromedia they have included Flash, Dreamweaver and Fireworks in this mega bundle. Some of the really nice features which stand out to me are the advancements in Photoshop and Flash, for instance: You can now import native Photoshop files into Flash while preserving layers and preferences, retain Photoshop text as editable text in Flash, convert Photoshop layers or layer groups to movieclips and even specify publish settings! You can even convert motion tweens into AS3 code and then apply that to any movie clip you want.

Photoshop CS3 Extended has some nice new features too…like non-destructive smart filters. I remember when I used to apply filters to an image and then change my mind later on but my original image was lost forever. Now you can add smart filters which work much the same as the blending options which means you can turn then on or off.

It should be available in the UK around July 2007 and for the Master Collection you’ll have to seperate with around £2,313…so it’s not cheap.

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After a long period of not updating my portfolio site, mainly due to been too busy or too lazy…I’ve decided now is the right time to redesign it. The last time I designed my site was nearly 2 years ago and in that time I’ve learnt alot, not just AS but design skills and other web languages aswell.

I’ll keep you posted on how things are going and when I have an idea when everything will be done I’ll post it…looking forward to your comments!

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Adobe has just annoucned a beta version of the industry standard image editing software we all know and love! Photoshop CS3 beta includes a prerelease version of a major upgrade to Adobe Bridge, as well as a preview release of the all-new Adobe Device Central. Photoshop customers can use Adobe Device Central to design, preview, and test mobile content created specifically for smaller screens. The main purpose of this new tool, integrated in the Photoshop CS3 beta, is to simplify the creation of mobile content through a preview environment and built-in device profiles.

But before you start getting all excited there’s a catch…Even though this is a public beta release, in order to download the full beta you need to be an existing Photoshop customer and are required to provide your serial number. Without a serial number, users can still download Adobe Photoshop CS3 beta, with the product expiring after two days.

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Firebug is cool little development tool for Firefox which allows you to edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live on any web page. It’s really useful when developing webpages and checking code on other sites. A must for any budding developer!!

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Alessandro Crugnola (sephiroth.it) has created a really useful extension for Firefox which allows you to change the Flash Player version which is being used by Firefox. This isn’t really much use to anyone who isn’t a Flash Developer but if you are…you will be able to test you movies and applications with different players to spot any problems. I can see myself using this quite alot!

Download it here

Macromedia have released Flash Player 9 for Linux Computers.

Firefox 2 release Candidate 3 (RC 3) is a preview release of thier next generation Firefox browser and is being made available for download to Web application developers, thier testing community and users who want to get a sneak peek at the next version of Firefox. New features include: Enhanced search capabilities, Improved tabbed browsing, Inline spell checking, JavaScript 1.7, Extended search plugin format and SVG text.

Microsoft release Internet Explorer 7, which includes tabbed browsing (similar to Firefox), improved security features, a search box where you choose the search engine…so no more msn search! (unless you want it).

Personally I still prefer to use Firefox…but hey it’s up to you!

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For those of you that don’t have Flash 8…sorry but you won’t be able see this. If you do however, you’re in for a treat! Flash Easter eggs are messages hidden in the object code of a program as a joke, intended to be found by persons disassembling or browsing the code. In this case they are 6 retro games and an animation showing a slideshow of the Flash 8 development team.

Open Flash 8, Click the “Help” tab and select “About Flash Professional” and a box should appear on screen. For the retro games click the “i” in Macromedia (it’s a really small target so it might take a few tries) and for the slideshow click right in the center of the big “8″…sweet!

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Welcome to my blog!

This blog aims to provide a place to find information on all things Flash, including news, tutorials, extensions and updates…and also anything else I think is worth sharing with you people. I’ll try and post as often as I can and maybe give you info on projects I’m currently working on too. Anyhoo, this is just a quick intro to let you know what this is all about.

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