Macromedia Studio 8 is the first release of the San Francisco company's Studio suite since 2003, said Jim Guerard, vice president of product management for the tools business at Macromedia.

Macromedia Studio 8 features the latest releases of Macromedia Flash Professional, Dreamweaver and Fireworks, as well as Contribute and FlashPaper.

The new release improves workflow features and includes new video encoding tools, new CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) enhancements, visual authoring tools for XML, and new tools for authoring and testing mobile content, Guerard said.

"With the new release, one of the most important things we did was change the development process," said Guerard. "We went out and observed users and even videotaped them. So this is the most customer-driven release we have had."

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Macromedia's days as an independent company are numbered, as the company has agreed to be acquired by Adobe Systems Inc. for $3.4 billion. Company officials have predicted they will finalize the deal in September.

Flash Professional 8 features improved graphics performance, new graphics effects capabilities, new animation controls, script editor, Flash video features and workflow integration with video editing and encoding tools, the company said. The product also features a new custom easing tool, support for new effects, the FlashType font rendering engine, and support for building content for mobile devices.

"We are excited about the possibilities afforded by the Flash Professional 8 authoring tool to develop exceptional mobile applications," said Brad Brockhaug, senior director at Forum Nokia, in a statement.

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