Adobe CS3 Web Standard & Web Premium Are Here (Page 2)

CS3 WEB STANDARD

Click the box art to view at a larger size.

Imagine the package described above, but without Illustrator CS3, Photoshop CS3 and Acrobat 8 Professional. That’s CS3 Web Standard. I find the omission of GoLive a sign that it has gone the way of LiveMotion. The strengths of Flash and Dreamweaver alone keep this package robust, and the inclusion of Fireworks CS3 keep this a viable alternative for web designers who aren’t into designing the graphics or PDF publishing. Some things to note about Contribute CS3 and Fireworks CS3:

• Fireworks CS3 is much more impressive. I think Adobe realized that, in order for Fireworks to remain viable, it had to become something more than an image editor and optimizer. It has now become a good tool for conceptual web graphics and output. Layers can now have multiple levels, similar to Photoshop’s layer structures. 9-slice scaling keeps elements of web graphics from distorting during scaling. And its ability to build multiple pages in one document and share graphics between layers (or not) makes it a great prototyping tool. Of course, it is fully integrated with both Photoshop CS3 and Illustrator CS3.
• What can Contribute CS3 do for you? Contribute, a simple app that makes webpage editing easy for non-designers, is something you will have a use for—or not. It depends on if you have a website you want clients or colleagues to edit when you can’t. Adobe has gotten smart and integrated Contribute with Microsoft Office—the new Contribute toolbar shows up in Office apps and allows users to publish a webpage or blog entry without leaving Office. Flash Video support is also new, so users aren’t confined to text and images anymore.

PRICING AND UPGRADES

The CS3 Web Premium package is $1,599 straight up. If you want to upgrade, it gets complicated:

$499 for users of:

• Macromedia Studio MX, MX 2004 or 8
• Adobe CS 1.x or 2.x (Standard or Premium), EXCEPT
• Adobe Creative 2.3 Premium, who can upgrade to CS3 Web Premium for $340

$1,399 for users of:

• Adobe Photoshop 7.0 through CS3 Extended)
• Adobe Illustrator 10 through CS3
• Macromedia Flash MX+ through Adobe Flash CS3 Professional
• Macromedia Dreamweaver MX through Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

The CS3 Web Standard package is $999, and a $399 upgrade for users of:

• Macromedia Studio MX, MX 2004 or 8
• A copy of Dreamweaver PLUS a copy of Flash (MX, MX 2004, 8 or CS3)
• If you have a copy of Dreamweaver OR Flash (but not both) the upgrade price is $799