Macromedia tools getting cooler all the time

In early 1997, Macromedia was the poster child for the proprietary. Everything Web builders did with Director (which was at the time the only Macromedia tool of real interest to us) produced output about as Web-friendly as spam email with embedded tags. Today, the company has "Web-ified" its flagship Director product and added three other Web-focused tools: Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks. In the latest incarnation of Director, version 7.0, the company has begun what will surely be a new trend toward integrating features, functionality, and user interface across its products. Dreamweaver and Flash have both won product kudos from CNET Builder.com and other media. And although Fireworks has achieved runner-up status in the past, it is rapidly becoming the graphics tool of choice for people who shy away from the more complex Adobe Photoshop or who want a slimmed-own version of that venerable standard that lets them get their Web work done more efficiently. One major change in Director 7.0 that Web builders will welcome--and that I believe presages (or should presage) another major enhancement--is the shift in the Lingo programming language_s syntax away from the awkward functional notation to the more modern and de facto standard, dot notation. Thus, where Lingo scripters would once have written: With Director 7.0, the company has begun integrating features, functionality, and user interface across its products. Director 7.0 approaches nirvana for Web builders.