Adobe Flash Professional CS3

Flash remains the champ of professional vector software for the Web. However, creating Web pages, interactive games, and videos in Flash CS3 is no one-two punch; the complexity remains a barrier for new learners.

Most notable in this version of Flash is its improved integration with the other Adobe products. You can now save time by importing layers from Photoshop and Illustrator files, so there's no need to convert and name one layer at a time. The customizable interface lets you choose where to dock the time line and other panels, and you can drag features to the toolbar.

Prebuilt components such as buttons can be dragged directly onto the stage, then customized. If you are drawing from scratch, Flash adds tools that include an Illustrator-style Pen as well as Shape Primitives for making shape alterations on the stage. New filters and blends add more creative options.

Everything about CS3 is faster than in CS2, from the compiler to the player, including the new Java-based compiler and debugger. Rather than fishing through your work to find errors, click on a trouble spot in the Compile Errors panel to go straight to the problematic code.

Nevertheless, Flash isn't perfect--particularly with some fine details. It's still hard to zoom into the center of the stage. We'd like more control over brush strokes, too. This upgrade will be worthwhile for professionals who work with the other Creative Suite applications, but the learning curve and cost should not be underestimated.