SEPTEMBER 29, 2003
Up Close with the Adobe Creative Suite
Overview and first impressions of the new Photoshop, ImageReady, InDesign, Illustrator and GoLive
 by David Nagel
Page 7 of 9

GoLIve CS
Of all of the new CS applications, Adobe's Web layout suite, GoLive, probably receives the fewest major changes and the most productivity enhancements--not just for inter-application productivity, but also in the areas of workflow, code, collaboration, multimedia and enhanced standards support.[an error occurred while processing this directive]But we'll start off with the new tools, which include a brand new CSS editor, designed to allow for creating CSS level-1 and level-2 in a more visual environment. It adds a preview of styles; the ability to view code snippets for styles created; the ability to add new classes, elements IDs; the ability to store styles in the current file or in an external file; and re-sorting of styles through dragging.



Other CSS improvements include advanced rule support, including CSS @font-face, CSS @media and CSS @import to provide the ability to create a single document for use on various devices and for various applications. It also adds a CSS Rule Preview, a Style Info tab and CSS options in the Type menu.

In the code department, GoLive CS adds code completion, which includes drag and drop options for tags. The code-completion engine supports CSS, JavaScript, PHP, SMIL, SVG and XML. Other code features include:

  • Visual JavaScript authoring in a completely new environment using the Source Editor engine;
  • Customizable syntax coloring;
  • A tag library editor for adding and customizing tag libraries;
  • Tag selector for jumping around in the code;
  • Source code difference checking;
  • Query Editor for visually creating search and replacement parameters;
  • Visual source code debugging for a more flexible means of checking syntax in one or more files within a site;
  • New optimization features for cleaning up code.


    • On the multimedia front, GoLive CS gains a variety of enhancements, especially QuickTime support. This includes QuickTime interactive authoring with support for opening and editing 3GP, AVI, MOV and MPEG-4 files within GoLive's authoring environment and adding rich content through Apple's QuickTime Wired Action Programming Language. It also adds the ability to create and debug QuickTime scripts with multiple event handlers and automatically generate QuickTime wired sprites from Photoshop files. It adds support for QuickTime movie database containers and output of 3GP and MPEG-4 content for mobile devices.

    But QuickTime isn't the only area in which GoLive's multimedia capabilities have been enhanced, including support for XHTML, RealOne browser authoring, MMS slideshow authoring, SVG programming and debugging and Web services integration through WSDL and UDDI. It also includes several enhancements for working with PDF, including the ability to open PDF files within the GoLive environment; the ability to add PDF links and bookmarks; reviewing and commenting functions; byte-stream optimizations; PDF preview; and a full range of rendering and output options, including support for PDF/X-1 and PDF/X-3.



    More general enhancements include support for Smart Objects, allowing you to work with native Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat documents within GoLive CS, including the ability to crop Smart Objects. It also provides the ability to cut out portions of Smart Objects and update those objects' data; the ability to import layered Photoshop files, converting each layer to individual Smart Objects; integration of Photoshop local and remote rollovers; and support for ImageReady's rollover states and embedded links.



    For integration, GoLive CS supports InDesign's new Package for GoLive feature, discussed in the previous section, which includes pick whip-based Smart Object conversion and CSS style mapping for InDesign-formatted text. It also uses the Adobe Color Engine for a color-managed workflow; Photoshop swatch support; and XMP metadata support.

    Various interface improvements include zooming up to 1,600 percent; an updated Objects palette; the ability to collapse palettes to either side of the workspace; grouped palettes; smart guides; an editable layout grid; site structure diagramming; and interaction wireframing for usability testing.

    GoLive CS will be available in the fourth quarter for Mac OS X and Windows for $399, with upgrades running $169.



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