Macromedia MX2004 Studio

[YS2003]

I recall some of the form members said MX2004 for Macintosh is not as smooth-running as its Windows' version. I have Macs running both Tiger and Panther and I am wondering if there are disadvantages of using this suite on Mac instead of Windows.

I am interested in learning Dreamweaver and Flash in that suite and before I dish out $900 on that program, I am interested in hearing from people on this forum. I already have Adobe CS2 Standard and I have almost done with the basic skills using those productive and interesting programs and I am ready to learn new programs. In this fluid job market, it is always good ideam to increase your skill to make yourself competitive against the competitors in the job market.

 

[pulsewidth947]

I havent noticed a great deal of difference to be honest, except for Flash.

Flash runs very very slow on macs, try it youself - head over to newgrounds or something.

 

[decksnap]

Exported Flash (.swf) runs slower on Macs for some reason. (werrrr!)

The suite itself is a little buggy IMO.. I haven't used it on PCs so I can't compare.. but my guess is it's the same there too. Macromedia has stretched itself too thin I think. This will likely change in the future since Adobe bought Macromedia.

Don't get me wrong, they work fine- some things can be a bit quirky sometimes is all. Mostly Fireworks.

 

[hvfsl]

Well you could always download the trials and decide for yourself.

The programs are a bit slower on my Mac compared to my PC, but because of the Mac's interface, it makes using those apps so much easier than on the PC. So even though I have a 1.33GHz PowerBook G4 and a 3500 AMD64 PC, I still prefer to use it on the Mac.

 

[YS2003]

I decided to give it a shot and just ordered the MX2004 Studio with Flash Pro (about $750). The price was good as Apple Store was selling it at $999. I guess I will find out first-hand.

 

[Majglow]

Well you could always download the trials and decide for yourself.

The programs are a bit slower on my Mac compared to my PC, but because of the Mac's interface, it makes using those apps so much easier than on the PC. So even though I have a 1.33GHz PowerBook G4 and a 3500 AMD64 PC, I still prefer to use it on the Mac.

Hmm... I wonder why they would be slower on your mac then on your PC

Maybe it's because the hardware in your PC is a LOT faster. Kind of like comparing performance of an old G3 to a dual G5 (not really, this is just to illustrate the point), the G5 system will obviously be faster.

 

[cleanup]

I know by experience that Dreamweaver MX 2004 runs terrible on a Mac compared to when I used it on my PC. It crashes every few minutes during simple tasks, such as saving and exporting to view in Safari. When you're using it, save often.

In fact, I'm on the hunt for an alternative WYSIWYG HTML editor? Any suggestions? Free is preferred...

 

[pulsewidth947]

Dreamweaver's never crashed on me. I've been using it all day everyday for the past week, and I'm constantly previewing in browsers. Did you install the 7.0.1 update from the site? I run Tiger btw.

I find it strange that swfs run slow on Macs, especially seeing as many designers use Macs as their preferred platform. Oh well!

 

[mvc]

Cruddy, sloppy ports from PC' centric developers stacked with non-ptimised code - that's the usual reason identical things run slower on Mac than PC.

One glance at the interface style and colour schemes tells you that everything Macromedia has put out in the last 5 years has been focused on PC's. It all sits better there, looks at home, and runs sweetly.

But I still use Dreamweaver and Freehand on Mac everyday, so my life is less than optimal ;-)

Don't get me started on Freehand and what a rabid dog it has become - huge, mission critical bugs like the inabilty to open many existing Freehand documents, even those only 1 version behind (it crashes when you open documents with joined elements! - pathetic)

This particular mission-critical bug has sat completely un-fixed for a YEAR or more. Not even a decent work around provided, you have to export your old Freehand files as .ai files (of all things for heavens sake) and IMPORT them, which often screws them up a little!!!

There is simply no support, the dev team seems non-existant.

Freehand is surely history now that Adobe has bought Macromedia, and once again it will be sold off - maybe Apple will buy it this time and fix it!.

Fireworks will also die or be sold, Adobe will not undermine it's flagship product.

At least golive will disappear as well ;-)

So I would be a little wary of buying Macromedia at the moment, although you will probably be offered a cheap upgrade to what will effectively by Adobe CS3 in a couple of years!

 

[decksnap]

I know by experience that Dreamweaver MX 2004 runs terrible on a Mac compared to when I used it on my PC. It crashes every few minutes during simple tasks, such as saving and exporting to view in Safari. When you're using it, save often.

In fact, I'm on the hunt for an alternative WYSIWYG HTML editor? Any suggestions? Free is preferred...

Yeah those problems are specific to you- not the software. Dreamweaver has not crashed on me ever, honestly. Fireworks has, a couple of times in the past year.

 

[cleanup]

Well, I just downloaded the 7.0.1 update, as suggested. I won't be doing much HTML work for a while, so it'll be a while before I find out if it makes a difference, but I'll give Dreamweaver another chance. It gave me solid performance in Windows.

 

[wmmk]

I know by experience that Dreamweaver MX 2004 runs terrible on a Mac compared to when I used it on my PC. It crashes every few minutes during simple tasks, such as saving and exporting to view in Safari. When you're using it, save often.

In fact, I'm on the hunt for an alternative WYSIWYG HTML editor? Any suggestions? Free is preferred...

sorry to ressurect a dead threaad, but NVU is amazing!!!

EDIT: while cleaning up my room, i found an old fireworks disk that i bought when i had a peecee, but it was the mac version. it's not the newest version, but who cares? what can i do with this awesome new app?