GoLive and LiveMotion now shipping...

[serpicolugnut]

OK - here comes the dilema...

A few weeks back, I put in action my "screw macromedia" plan, just in case they didn't get on the stick with Dreamweaver and Flash...

Background: I'm a graphic designer, and although I work in all mediums, my day job is web design. We use Dreamweaver here at work, but as long as I can bring in files that are clean HTML and don't give Dreamweaver fits, I can use whatever HTML editor I like.

OK, so in anticipation of Macromedia continuing to slack on the OS X releases, I bought copies of GoLive 4 and LiveMotion on eBay for about $30, with the intention that I could get the upgrades when they came out...

My feelings are mixed on it - because having played with the GoLive beta, it made me appreciate Dreamweaver all that more. However, I was very impressed with LiveMotion 2. Although not as good as Flash for big complex projects, I can see getting smaller stuff done quicker in it. It's text effects tools are really great.

I guess I'm going to upgrade to both. LiveMotion 2 will be a good compliment to Flash 6 (the beta of which I'm already using), but I'm not sure how I'll feel about using GoLive for day to day work.

 

[mindbend]

I've been using GoLive since 4 and can't wait for 6 in X. I hear that many "back end" or programmer types prefer Dreamweaver and I can't dispute that, since I'm a designer, not a programmer. For me, however, GoLive crushes Dreamweaver for one feature alone, which is Smart Objects. It saves me hours per site just by not having to create new graphics simply because I chose to resize it 5%. Big time saver. I also prefer GL's approach to table/grid based layouts, but other than that I can't promote one over the other.

As for Livemotion, again since I'm not a programmer, I found it WAY easier to use and almost as powerful if you're willing to play around (see http://www.timrichard.com/Pages/timdance.html for a fun shockwave I did with Livemotion). I found Flash very powerful but way too intimidating. It doesn't draw you in. Like all MM products, they challenge you to use them when they should invite you to use them.

I predict the death of MM on the Mac once the Adobe product line setlles in. LM2 will crush Flash as a dev tool. GoLive will surpass DW because it will be first and because it will be better integrated with Photoshop and the rest.

 

[serpicolugnut]

I've played with the betas of Livemotion 2 and GoLive6. I think LiveMotion2 has a lot of promise. Now with scripting it can do just about everything that Flash can. It's integration with Photoshop. GoLive and After Effects is a big plus too. The only thing I didn't like about LM2 is that you can't arrange your work in to multiple scenes. Scenes are a great organizational tool in Flash, and trying to create large amounts of content without it seems like it would be difficult.

As for GoLive, I just wasn't impressed with the betas I tried (b34 being the last). Performance wasn't that great on a G4/800DP, and the interface seemed confusing. I actually started out with GoLive back when it was Cyberstudio at version 3. I've been using Dreamweaver for the last 3 years though, and have really come to like it's interface and especially how it doesn't mess with the code, or dump extra "resource" folders full of assets to manage a site. The only files it needs are the .html and image files.

However, I'm sick of Classic, so if Macromedia doesn't announce something here in the next month, I'll probably ante up for the ugprade and give it a go.

 

[Nummi_G4]

"I'll probably ante up for the ugprade and give it a go"


---I would go with Adobe. I would rather use LM1 over Flash. Flash scares me... I wish I could have my money back from buying Flash and FreeHand. I am going with Adobe all the way.

 

[serpicolugnut]

Flash scares me...

I know how you feel. When I first set out to learn Flash, it was a bit of an ordeal. I came from a After Effects background, and had LiveMotion 1 been around when I set out to learn Flash, I might have just went with LM instead.

But, once you learn the way Flash works, it really is a powerful application. The concept of symbols can really save you a lot of trouble if you need to repurpose images/scripts, etc.

Last year I set out to really get a grasp on Actionscript. I bought the Foundation Actionscript book and make good progress on it. The culmination of that knowledge is present on my company's web site, GearHeadMultiMedia . So I've got a bit of time/money invested in my Flash skills.

Livemotion2 offers quite a bit in terms of scripting, but I really don't want to learn yet another scripting language. I know Adobe says that LM2 supports Actionscript and Javascript, but I've yet to test it to see how much of the language is there.

I'm going with LM2 and GoLive and gonna give them a good thorough evaluation. I'm not sure if they will be able to dethrone Flash&Dreamweaver as my main tools, but they will probably become good supplements.

 

[Nummi_G4]

yeah... flash would not scare me if I learned how to use it... but I have been using LiveMotion for over a year, and I love it. I just hope LM2 will put me at the level of the Flash guys.

 

[serpicolugnut]

OK, I found a full version of the GM of GoLive6, and put it through it's paces last night. Overall, it seems the extra time Adobe took was well worth it. The app is much more stable than the betas (I was using b34 last), and little improvements, like scrollwheel support, are very nice. Application speed is much better than the betas too. Runs nicely on my DP800.

Getting re-accustomed to GoLive's way of doing things after 3 years of using Dreamweaver is another matter though. I really don't like the way it handles tables or CSS. It's not very intuitive at all compared with DW. Also, and this is minor - but why the hell does Adobe use the term "Clear", when they mean, Remove, Delete, etc. You don't "clear" a file, you "delete" or "remove" it. I know it's minor, but it's definitely not intuitive language.

But, I bit the bullet this morning and placed my order for the upgrade. I guess it's up to Macromedia to deliver Dreamweaver now if they want to keep me as a customer. As I get more comfortable and used to GoLive, I just may not opt to upgrade to DW5 whenever it becomes available.