Feb 17 2003
Macromedia Director MX
Director MX was a huge announcement. It’s great to see a company like Macromedia
lead the charge into OS X. Director is a vital app for many developers, and
Director’s content is vital to many users. The problem with the previous version
of Director was the programs it made weren’t OS X savvy. There’s nothing like
loading up a cool interactive CD and seeing ugly Classic pop up on you. That’s
all solved in this carbonized release. Let’s dive in!
If you’ve never used Director before you’ll notice it’s set up similar to
a play. It’s got a stage, a cast, a score and a script. It looks similar to
Flash, and has the now-common “MX Feel” (see screenshot). In a conference call
with Macromedia we talked about the uses of Director. In a lot of cases, it’s
actually a better solution for tasks than Flash. The problem is that
Flash developers have gotten so good, they haven’t moved on to Director and
it’s more sophisticated development tools. This update has focused on tying
Directer in with Flash and the other MX tools, and it does so quite sucessfuly.
Director has it’s own programming language, Lingo, and it’s been updated in
MX. One of the most notable additions to Lingo is that you can control Flash
objects and the ability to create new Flash objects from within Director. That
is just one of the many integrations between the two products.
One of the most innovative features in MX is the ability to tie in with dynamic
server technologies. A copy of Flash Communication Server is included in the
box, but won’t work on the Mac so you’ll have to try it out at a friends or
take up hosting with a company that has it. What this dynamic stuff can do
is amazing. Think about a desktop application that can sync up with a server
that loads it with fresh content (news, stock quotes, you name it).
QuickTime fans will like that Director MX has support for MPEG-4 Streaming
via QuickTime 6. This is a big move, and Macromedia is taking a pretty big
stance by supporting both technologies. I could think of quite a few handy
apps using streaming video in tandem with Flash Communication Server (news
broadcast with live chat?).
During my talk with Macromedia, one of the big focus points was the accessibility
features. In the US, a lot of companies are mandated to make their applications
accessible, and now with MX, it’s easy. You can make your interface
tabbable and include text to speech features in just a few clicks (literally
drag and drop). This is invaluable for major applications.
Overall this program is excellent. The learning curve is steep, but the benefits
are worth it. The OS X compatibility is worth it alone, but even if you’re
a Classic user this upgrade is worth it. For new buyers, there is a little
bit of sticker shock, but think of how much you can charge for your services
. There are two book sized manuals that come in the box, and they are great.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a program with such good documentation–but
then again you need to learn a programming language.
