Adobe CS4

**Egg Bramhill** · 13 November 2008, 01:10 AM

I see that Adobe have released CS4. Very tempting .... but very expensive. I've got Studio8, bypassed CS3 ~ couldn't afford it, but I do find with these suites they make it difficult to purchase a single product. My main use is Flash. I've never come to terms with Dreamweaver, for the amount of html designing I do I find the learning curve very steep. Never had Photoshop but I expect the learning curve to be the same. I have had Illustrator but I've only really used it for file conversions.

Do I go for just the Flash CS4 upgrade £163 or stay with the bundle and go for Creative Suite 4 Web Premium upgrade at £530. Tony Blairs government was all about choice ... I don't want choice ... it confuses me! Ever tried to choose a mobile phone tariff, there's no end of choice/fog/confussion.

I know I'll go for the £530 upgrade in the end but it helps me mention it and rehearse the argument before I raise it with the wife.

**JDonner** · 13 November 2008, 06:31 AM

CS4 hasn't impressed me yet...sigh

**pauland** · 13 November 2008, 10:32 PM

Hi Egg,

I've been in the same boat as you, though my principle usage has been DW and Flash. For a long time I have been upgrading DW and flash separately - skipping versions with Dreamweaver, but upgrading flash.

Then came a job where the supplied files were a version higher than the flash I had installed. If I upgraded DW and Flash separately the cost was higher than upgrading to Flash 8 studio. I upgraded to Studio. I currently have CS3 - DW, Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks and captivate. The only downside to this is that my upgrade cost is now much higher than upgrading one product. The upside is that I have a lot of software i mostly don't use! LOL

I haven't upgraded to CS4 yet, but I will. It has some cool flash stuff, but FP 10 needs to get a bit more established.

Paul

**Egg Bramhill** · 13 November 2008, 11:33 PM

JDonner/Paul, thanks for the replies. I find that one of the biggest disadvantages of not upgrading on a regular basis is when you do a web search for a solution the solution is almost invariably written in the latest iteration of the software, so if you have Flash 5 the internet help is of no value at all as it's referring to Flash 8. So you're almost forced to upgrade to keep abreast with on line help.

**stlewis** · 14 November 2008, 07:21 AM

On Dreamweaver CS4... it has some neat tricks so if you are a heavy user it does pay for itself in saved time and reduced frustration. Support and management of CSS is better and the Liveview function is a help - you can see your page as it renders in a browser - including php scrips running - all from within DW. The Spry stuff has improved too; one of these widgits saved me a lot of time the other week.

Hiding in the suite is Fireworks. I have played with it in the past and got v frustrated but the reviews suggest it is now much improved as a webpage prototypes (on the design side - whereas DW is the building tool). I have found a promissing looking tutorial (http://abduzeedo.com/tutorial-newspo...reworks-part-1) which I plan to work through. I am hoping that with Photoshop export from Xtreme, this may become a useful tool.

Unlike Egg, my use of Flash is very occasional - and I have yet to explore it in CS4. Like Egg I have got trapped into paying for the upgrade (Web Standard) - cos once you have it they won't let you buy just a DW upgrade and leave the other parts of the suite.

**Regular** · 14 November 2008, 07:53 AM

Probably the best place to learn about the new changes to Adobe CS4 is at its Website Adobe TV.
http://tv.adobe.com/#

Here is one video on the improvements in CS4 for using 3D objects in PhotoShop Extended and in After Effects.

http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1577v1009

**Giovanni** · 14 November 2008, 09:45 AM

In my humble opinion CS4 is a leap forward; I played a lot with Fireworks and just a bit with Illustrator, and both of them show good improvements.

To be honest I find Fireworks quite comparable to Xara for non-professional work (so excluding import-export factor).

Still I don't know if it's worth the price of these softwares...

**Egg Bramhill** · 16 November 2008, 08:32 PM

Thanks for the replies. I've gone ahead an bought it. I d/l'ed Flash CS4 to have a play with it and I'm quite impressed. However catching up on ActionScript3 after ActionScript2 is going to be a BIG problem ...... I'm terrible at scripting!

**Giovanni** · 19 November 2008, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Thanks for the replies. I've gone ahead an bought it. I d/l'ed Flash CS4 to have a play with it and I'm quite impressed. However catching up on ActionScript3 after ActionScript2 is going to be a BIG problem ...... I'm terrible at scripting!

Yep I see your point. 3-4 years ago I started learning Actionscript by myself just for fun, but the learning curve is steep and I stoped after one months or so.
I guess you can learn new things if you have a precise target to achieve, otherwise get lost. At least that's what happens to me...