Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

The Flash Player

Several applications now leverage the Flash Player, such as Macromedia Flash Media Server 2 for real-time audio and video communications, Macromedia Breeze for web conferencing and distance learning , Macromedia Captivate for software simulation creation, the Macromedia Flex Builder and Macromedia Zorn for web application development, as well as several third-party applications, such as Swift 3D (Electric Rain) and 3ds Max (Autodesk) for three-dimensional art, and Swish and Wildform for producing text effects and animations at a lower price point than Flash 8.

The Flash Player, in addition, has now completely broken away from its roots as a web browser plug-in with several flavors to choose from. The Stand-Alone Flash Player has recently taken a big step with Macromedia Central harnessing it to combine the power of the Web with desktop applications.

The Flash Player has also crossed over well into the world of handheld and mobile devices. There now exists not only the Flash Player for Pocket PCs, but the new Flash Lite and Macromedia FlashCast client-server solution for delivering rich data services to mobile phones. Flash is also available in a wide array of other consumer electronics, including set-top boxes, home control systems, toys, refrigerators, electronic keyboards, and many others. The best part is that all of these platforms can still be developed for, using the Flash authoring environment.

To keep abreast of all these innovations, check Macromedia’s web ...