The Software Behind The Gizmos

We love making Gizmos^TM. Every year our Gizmos get better, and one reason for that is the software we use to create the Gizmos continues to improve. Macromedia Director is the primary tool used to create our Gizmos, and Macromedia just announced that a new version will be released in February.

Director MX 2004 will include several new features that will help with development of our Gizmos. Most notable (for our web-based delivery) in this release are the named sprites and channels, improvements with Flash sprite handling, Flash components, JavaScript coding, and improvements to the authoring environment.

Every time Macromedia releases a new version of Director I get rather excited and can't wait to use the product to create great Gizmos. For our site we will not make use of the new features immediately, but will begin investigating exactly what can be done with the various features. Once the new Shockwave Plug-in has been out for a reasonable amount of time, our Gizmos will start using some of the new goodies, but we will be sure to let you know well ahead of time so there won't be any surprises waiting for you one morning.

I've presented many Director workshops at national or regional AAPT meetings, and will be sure to show off all the new features at my next workshop! For those that are interested, keep reading the Buzz and I'll be sure to let you know when/where the next workshop will be (most likely in the fall/winter).

Thanks to all those at Macromedia that worked long hours to get this new version of Director released!