Emphasis is on cross-application, cross-media workflow


(InfoWorld) Adobe's newest set of print, video, and Web creation applications, Creative Suite 4 (CS4), focuses on workflow and Flash integration capabilities for both designers and developers.

Adobe announced several versions of its CS4 application collections today.

The company continues to centralize workflow functions in its Bridge application, which handles workgroup management of files across a project using the Version Cue capability. Bridge also lets developers apply consistent metadata, even as they switch among different CS4 tools such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver and InDesign to work on different aspects of a project.

Adobe has created XML-based versions of its CS4 file formats so other applications can work directly with CS4 files, for purposes such as database publishing and composite Web applications. And it has introduced rudimentary Flash file creation support in its print-oriented design tool InDesign, so layouts can be the starting point for Flash projects. Adobe has also included its Adobe AIR integrated runtime, which offers the ability to create rich Internet applications for the CS4 collections.

In addition, Adobe has enhanced several CS4 tools to support design workflows within the individual applications..........


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