| Most large websites are created by both the designer and developer and the ease of communication between these two aspects of the same project is very important. Flash Catalyst CS5.5 has some new enhancements that simplify the communication between the designer using AdobeR FlashR CatalystR and the developer using Flash BuilderR. Flash Catalyst has some new panels that will help streamline your workflow. For example, the new Common Library panel has all the design elements/components in one place. Divided into two sections, Flex (Spark components) and Placeholders, with larger icons and a horizontal display, it's easy to just drag and drop any component from the panel onto the artboard when creating wireframes and mockups. You will also notice a few new components, including a combo box and numeric stepper, and placeholder pre-built artwork ranging from images and swfs files to popular ad layouts and charts. It's easier to align content on the artboard with the new Align panel. Users of Adobe products will find this new panel familiar as they have used the same panel in other applications such as InDesignR. Replacing content on the artboard is easier with the Modify - Replace command. You can choose the new content from the Select Asset dialog box, which lists all available images and components. As you edit one page or state of your wireframe, all states and subpages are automatically updated throughout your project. Now that creating one project for many screen sizes has become the norm, Flash Catalyst makes this much easier with resizable layouts. By using the Resize Handle at the bottom right corner, you can temporarily resize the artboard for a preview of how the elements of your design will appear on any screen size. Next → *Adobe provided a review copy to me free of charge. Join us in the Flash forum. | Join us in the Digital Art and Design forum. | |
