dacs.doc electric

While Adobe has proven itself the clear leader in graphics software, at the last DACS General Meeting their presentation hardware proved buggy and not very user friendly.

Alarms began to sound when DACS PR director, Marlène Gaberel tried to email Adobe Representative, Timothy Plumer, to get some notes for the preview, but got no response. Then, as the meeting got under way, we were told that Steve Hart, a developer from the company’s Stamford office would take over the presentation. Almost immediately, Hart let it be known that since user groups are at "the bleeding edge of technology," he would skip the beginner stuff and get down to specifics.

We’ve been through this before. We keep telling presenters that DACS is a broad-based user group comprising all levels of experience, and that we prefer to be entertained--to see first what software can do and then figure out how to get it done later. Yet a long line of techno geeks keeps forming to show the fine points of navigating dialogue boxes and tool bars.

Steve was clearly in his element, carving up and resizing Photoshop images and shuffling them from one file list to another while they instantly materialized on his Web page. Clicking and dragging on a file produced a line that followed the cursor to the associated directory and dropped it firmly in place. If the association proved incompatible, the line would drop and dangle like a bungee cord. Another tool--a touch-up wand for red eye--was not so intuitive. On a hint from the floor, Steve had to look that one up in Help.

It was impressive, but mind-numbing. So, assuming I was not the only one to leave the meeting more confused than when I arrived, I set out to search Adobe’s Web site for a clearer demonstration of its new product line for Web authoring and creation.

In recent years, Adobe has begun to bundle its applications into functional groups and marketing them at a combined discount. This helps to standardize their applications around a single format and improves stability between applications. Toward this end, Adobe dropped its PageMill Web design application and purchased a more powerful one from GoLive Technologies. GoLive then became the centerpiece for Adobe’s Web Collection, along with up-dated versions of Photoshop, Illustrator and LiveMotion that have been re-tooled to work as a team.

A key element of the new GoLive is dynamic linking of Web content--just drag an item to be linked and a string follows your cursor to the associated file. Try to link to an unrelated file, and the line drops and dangles. Dynamic linking lets you quickly navigate between Web elements and the applications in which they were created.

Another great feature is Smart Objects. You can take slices of Photoshop images, such as a logo, and drag and drop them into place holders around your Web site. The place holders are linked to the original Photoshop file. You can then resize the object in the Web editor using data in the original file without changing the Photoshop image from which it is derived. This process can be repeated to create many more objects, each based on the same image.

You can use Photoshop to design your Web page and then import it directly into GoLive as HTML. Each layer of the Photoshop file can be saved as a separate image and stored in floating boxes. The images can then be stacked together or placed separately.

But I have little space left, and need more time to surf the Adobe site for more tips and tricks. You can make your own way through a wealth of how-to documents and tutorials by visiting the Adobe site at www.adobe.com/products/tips/golive.html.