Adobe announced beta 6 of its Muse tool that enables designers to build Websites without coding. Muse Beta 6 is a key release that sets the tone for the commercial availability of the technology.
Adobe has
delivered a key new beta release of its Muse software that enables graphic
designers to create and publish professional-looking HTML Websites without
writing code.
Adobe released
beta 6 of Muse on Feb. 8. Muse beta 6 features a new installer/update
mechanism. Due to changes to the installer, older versions of Muse beta
releases will expire in March 2012.
To continue
using Muse without interruption, all beta users will need to download the Beta
6 update from the Muse
website. The update to Beta 7 will once again be an update that can be
accepted and performed from within Muse, a post on the Adobe Muse Website
said.
Muse Beta 6
provides more than 80 updates and performance enhancements, including support
for auto-scrolling in the Design view; the ability to view site updates in the
browser without having to clear the cache; and reduced export and publishing
time with adjustable amounts of data in image files.
Adobe said the
Muse Design view now supports auto scroll. When an item is dragged to the edge
of the view, it will automatically scroll in that direction. Adobe also has
revised how Muse generates references to CSS, JavaScript and Favicon files in
the generated HTML. The net result is, your browser will no longer use
obsolete cached versions of these files when you update your site and go to
view it in your browser, the Adobe post reads.
Also with beta
6 of Muse, HTML element IDs no longer change. Muse now keeps the same IDs in
the HTML from one export/publish to the next, Adobe said. This reduces the
likelihood a small change to one page will result in updates to more HTML and
CSS files than you would expect, Adobes Muse beta 6 post reads.
Muse beta 6
also reduces the time it takes for designers to export and publish their sites.
Describing this aspect of Muse beta 6, the Adobe post said:
Now you can
adjust the amount of data stored in your image file. When you place a very
large image file into your Adobe Muse site, Muse will resample the image and
store enough image data for most uses. Muse has always done this to avoid
bloating .muse files with excessive image data. If you use an image at a very
large size (>1,000 pixels wide or tall), you can import additional image
data by choosing 'Import Larger Size' from the Assets palette. This right-click
context menu item only appears if the image is being used at a size larger than
the image data stored in the Muse file.
Other new
features and changes in the Muse 6 beta include support for jQuery 1.7, enabled
auto-scrolling when dragging an item in Design view, optimized Image Data,
added "Clear Overrides" buttons in the Character Styles and Graphic
Styles panels, and a revised font menu UI, among other things.
Adobe
announced a restructuring in November 2011 to focus on two key areas:
digital media and digital marketing. The Muse technology fits squarely in the
digital media camp and is one of the assets the company is looking at to boost
its already strong presence among professional designers. Both Adobe and
Microsoft have been chasing the designer community with tools to make it easier
for them to get their designs out and also to work better with Developers.
Microsoft has been approaching the task with its Expression suite of tools and
other technologies.
Adobe
officials said the initial commercial release of Muse is expected to be
available in early 2012 as a subscription-only product. It will be available as
part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, which the company said will launch
this spring and be available for $49.99 per license per month.
Adobe
announced the Adobe
Creative Cloud at its MAX 2011 conference last October. In a recent
interview, Heidi Voltmer, director of product marketing for Web and interactive
solutions at Adobe, told eWEEK the
Creative Cloud would go live to customers this spring along with Adobe Creative
Suite 6 (CS6) and other applications.
At MAX, Adobe
officials said Adobe Creative Cloud would become the focal point for
creativity, where millions can access desktop and tablet applications, as well
as essential creative services, and share their best work. And Adobe Creative
Cloud was announced in parallel with a new set of Adobe Touch Apps for content
creation on tablet devices. These new apps bring professional-level creativity
to millions of tablet usersfrom consumers to creative professionalsand use
hosted cloud-based services to share files, view them across devices or
transfer work into Adobe Creative Suite software for further refinement.
Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.
Email
Print
