macromedia.com 2004 Update
Many of you have already noticed our new and updated macromedia.com. We call it macromedia.com 2004, and we're very excited about it.
Based on terrific feedback from the beta reports we published a few months ago, we wanted to share some of our observations and goals with you. Our hope is that by sharing this information we can create a greater understanding of how to define great digital experiences—and more importantly, how to build them in a cost-effective way.
Most of you already know that great experiences blend site elements that are created at the top of their game. Our new site is just this kind of hybrid. For information that lends itself to a page-based metaphor, we used HTML. In places requiring high responsiveness, we used Flash. This concept also influenced the development of our MX 2004 products, which were used to develop the new macromedia.com. One of the big new Dreamweaver enhancements is robust support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Another great feature is cross-browser validation. We utilized both across the new site to significantly improve our efficiency.
In addition to using our products to develop the new macromedia.com, we've also incorporated Halo—our new look and feel. Breeze users (especially Breeze Live and Central beta testers) will recognize this look and feel. In fact, all end user-facing applications have a Halo look and feel, as well as all of the components that ship with the MX 2004 products.
As we did with the last redesign of macromedia.com, we're inviting our loyal (and oh so vocal) community to give us feedback on the new site. We welcome this feedback, and know that the back and forth between us drives us all forward.
I've also asked Les Schmidt, the senior vice president who oversees macromedia.com, to write an article detailing the goals and thinking that influenced the site, from both a user and corporate perspective.
Great experiences matter, and we hope you enjoy both our new site and the products on the horizon that will help you create even more great experiences.
About the author Al Ramadan is executive vice president of marketing at Macromedia. As the former CEO of Quokka Sports, he's been focused on great digital experiences since before the phrase was coined. Send him examples of great experiences at aramadan@macromedia.com.
