Flash 4 review cont.

Interactivity

With Flash 4, a new scripting language has been introduced, ActionScript. It resembles many other popular programming languages, so experts should recognize it easily.
Basically, it removes nearly all limitations to Flash. You can program almost anything with it. Flash will now react to mouse movements, keyboard commands, and user input. For this, you can also create an editable text field, and store user input in variables. This input can be used to customize each experience.

The e-commerce part of Flash has been strengthened as well. With the ability to drag and drop, it's possible to build a virtual shopping cart into which you can literaly drop whatever you wish to buy. Flash will sum it up, and send the order to the company. Combine this with sound, music, animation and visual artwork, and you have a powerful e-store.

The above is a screenshot from a sample site at the Macromedia Flash 4 presentation CD.

Streamlined authoring environment

Flash 4 has had some cosmetic changes to the interface.

• The timeline can now be docked in a separate window, or on a separate monitor.

• There's a new feature called "Publish", which will allow you to export your Flash movie to several formats, including QuickTime 4.

• The library has been improved with folders.

• Photoshop® and Illustrator® users will easily recognize the keyboard shortcuts.

Other than these features, there are many other goodies that will help your workflow in Flash.