If you haven’t seen this already, I recommend that you check out the blog post on the work we did with Wired Magazine.
‘Created with Adobe InDesign CS5 and additional Adobe publishing technologies, the WIRED Reader is the first in a series of steps for Adobe to enable magazine publishers and retail catalogers to deliver groundbreaking experiences across tablets, smartphones and other devices. By reaching readers in new ways on these emerging devices, publishers can increase circulation (because these new apps count towards audited ABC circulation) and deliver incremental digital revenue.’
From a designers perspective, working with the tools they are already using as part of their workflow is critical. They can leverage what they already know to create compelling designs on new devices.
If you have an iPad, I recommend getting the June Issue. It is absolutely beautiful. If you don’t have an iPad, check out this video.
There has been a lot of talk about moving the web forward. It’s a great message and something that is difficult to argue with. Of course we all want to move the web forward, but what is most interesting is where the web has moved — onto devices. And as a result, the complexity of design has moved exponentially as well! There are so many considerations to address when thinking about a design or a campaign. Who is my target audience? How do I reach them? What devices do they use? What browsers? Should I be considering a native application? What about Flash? What about HTML5? At Adobe we have focused on making sure our designers and developers have the support they need in terms of tooling and technology. HTML5 is no exception.
Today Kevin Lynch, our chief technology officer, announced at the Google I/O Conference the delivery of a new HTML5 pack for Dreamweaver CS5 that is available as a free download starting today on Adobe Labs.
The HTML5 pack includes features that will make it easier for web designers to get started using HTML5. Some of the features include code hinting for HTML5 and CSS3 right within Dreamweaver; Multiscreen Preview and Media Query support, which essentially allow designers to preview pages they’re designing, just as they would appear on different screen sizes. The example below includes a smart phone, tablet browser and a desktop browser.
Here is Jorge Taylor walking through that demo.
The extension also includes Webkit engine updates and improvements to support video and audio in Dreamweaver CS5′s Live View. We also added some starter layouts complete with HTML5 syntax to help get you started. If you have more suggestions you can send an email.
In addition to the HTML5 Pack for Dreamweaver CS5, Kevin also showed the Google I/O attendees a couple more demos. One was the enhanced Illustrator export to SVG which you have already seen and the other was an early prototype where a designer can create a rich media ad using CSS Transforms and Animations. The demo was a great example of how CSS can really help a designer create a quite compelling experience using familiar features and design patterns.
We think this is an interesting area of exploration and we would love to hear what you think.
Even though we typically post about products and product futures, I want to say something about choice. I get the opportunity to spend a lot of time with designers and developers to better understand their workflows and what they are trying to create for their clients, their companies or themselves. Most of the time it is about designing the most compelling experience with the technology and tools that are most appropriate.
Kevin Lynch, Adobe CTO, said that Adobe will “create the best tools in the world for HTML5″ at Web 2.0 last week.
To his point, moving the web forward is about supporting a variety of technologies. Choice is the philosophy of our company as well.
We will always innovate around Flash and we will always innovate around HTML.
We will be showing some more product previews as well as making some more news around our support for HTML5 and CSS3. Stay tuned.
