Super Ginormous

Tag: CS4

  • Upgrade to CS4

    For a limited time, Adobe is offering a US$200 savings on upgrades to Adobe® Creative Suite® 4. Check out http://www.adobe.com/special/up2suite/ for details on this special offer. (And no, this is not an ad. ;) I really dig CS4 and hope you’ll consider upgrading to it.)

  • CS4 is out the door. I’m definitely going to upgrade. CS4 is jam-packed with new features and UI enhancements that will change the way you work.

  • Is CS4 worth the upgrade?

    Is Adobe Creative Suite 4 worth the upgrade? Having been involved in the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium beta test for the better part of this year, I’ve had a good bit of experience using the new versions of Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Illustrator.

    Here are just a few of the things that have stood out so far:

    • Better UI. I hated it when I first saw it, and I know that others are going to have that same reaction. But the new unified interface is consistent from app to app and is more customizable than ever before. You can quickly toggle between several default workspaces without having to restart the applications. (This was one of my peeves with Dreamweaver CS3. It supported “workspaces” to an extent, but changing it required restarting the program.)
    • Tabbed windows. I tend to work with multiple documents open at a time. The new tabbed windows allow you to see all the documents you’ve got open, easily switch from window to window, and easily sort them. Want to see all of documents you’ve got open and match their zoom level in Photoshop? It’s super easy now.
    • Speed. I tested CS4 out on two machines: a Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop running Windows Vista Ultimate with a 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo and 3Gb RAM, and a Dell Dimension E510 running Windows XP Professional SP2 with a 3Ghz Pentium 4 HT and 3Gb RAM. I was able to keep several apps open at once on both machines and they were all quick and responsive.
    • Stability. Even in the prerelease versions I tested, CS4 was very stable.
    • Installation.  One of my biggest problems with CS3 was the installation process. CS4 installer has been GREATLY improved. What was once a 2-3 hour ordeal*, only took 35-40 minutes on the two machines I tested on.

    This just scratches the surface. CS4 is a major upgrade, and it’s well worth the money in my opinion. In my next post, I’ll discuss some of the new tools and features available in CS4.

  • Thoughts on CS4

    I’ll be speaking on September 23 at 6:30pm about Adobe Creative Suite 4 at the Columbia County Library in Evans, GA as part of the next Refresh Augusta meetup [info]. The presentation will cover what’s new, what I’ve thought about the Suite so far, and more. (As part of the meetup, Refresh Augusta will be giving away two copies of CS3 Web Design Premium, courtesy of Adobe.) Then, on September 24, I’ll be in Columbia SC at The State Newspaper give the same presentation to Refresh Columbia [info].

    These presentations will come hot on the heels of Adobe’s planned unveiling of CS4 on 9/23 [info].

  • Brilliant

    Are you ready for something brilliant? Yesterday Adobe announced that it will unveil the new Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 lineup in a special web event on 9.23.08. Register today to be among the first to learn about CS4. This is not something you’re going to want to miss. Trust me.

  • Dreamweaver, Fireworks CS4 Betas Released

    Fresh from the Adobe Labs comes betas for Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 and Adobe Fireworks CS4. It should be noted that if you’ve been using CS3, there is a new unified interface that’ll be appearing in CS4 that may take some getting used to.

    Also, if you tested the Photoshop CS3 beta when it was released, I can’t stress enough that you should not install this software on a machine that is mission critical for your business. This is beta software. It may have problems. It may cause difficulties if you decide to upgrade to CS4 when it’s released.

    Caveat emptor.