Macromedia Adds JavaScript Support To DirectorMacromedia Adds JavaScript Support To Director

Macromedia on Monday unveiled a new version of its Director multimedia authoring application that includes support for JavaScript, Flash MX 2004 content, and DVD-Video.

Director MX 2004 lets multimedia developers in a variety of arenas--from enterprise E-learning and Web designers to professional CD and Flash creators--build presentations and content for deploying on compact disc, intranets, kiosks, and the Internet.

The authoring tool, which previously relied on a proprietary scripting language called Lingo, now supports the industry-standard JavaScript for creating interactive content from a variety of sources, including audio, video, and Macromedia's own Flash format.

"We're fundamentally changing Director," said Miriam Geller, director of product management at Macromedia. "Now people have a choice [in scripting languages]. The reality is that developers have a limited amount of time, and any new language that they have to learn tends to be a barrier."

Analysts applauded the addition of JavaScript support.

"Macromedia keeps doing more and more of the right things," said Joe Laszlo, a senior analyst at Jupiter Media. "The move to support JavaScript, although unexpected, is very smart. While there's a pretty big pool of Director developers skilled in Lingo, it's definitely much smaller than the pool of JavaScript developers."

Opening up Director to JavaScript, said Laszlo, also may portend a shift by Macromedia to push Director as a development platform for enterprise-style applications in areas such as sales support or those used by employees on the corporation's intranet.

"Macromedia's going a big step beyond last year's innovations," he said, alluding to the company rolling out deeper, stronger ties between Director and the tools for creating Flash content. "Director's the kind of tool that lets developers create applications where you need something that's very user-friendly, where users have to be able to intuit how to use it. But we haven't seen much use of Director to, for instance, create applications that tie into back-end databases. The move to support JavaScript may help Macromedia move into that market."

While Lingo and JavaScript will be equally supported for "the foreseeable future," according to Geller, Jupiter Media's Laszlo wouldn't be surprised if Lingo eventually takes a back seat.

"I see this as the start of a transitional phase," he said. "In the long term, it's easier to support one scripting language, so I expect that Lingo will play a subsidiary role as time goes on."

Beyond the addition of JavaScript, Director MX 2004 includes several other enhancements. It now supports more media types, including Microsoft's Windows Media and DVD-Video; better integrates with Flash MX 2004--a subset of that Web authoring application's tools are embedded within Director--and can create executable files, called 'projector files,' for both Windows and Mac OS platforms using a single-step process.

The updated Director takes advantage of Flash MX 2004's performance improvements, and adds some of its own, said Geller, to boost playback of Flash animations; includes a tweaked user interface that resembles that in the rest of the MX 2004 line-up; and now lets developers name a project's "sprites," the term Director uses to designate a component of the presentation, such as an animation or an on-screen object. Previously, Director simply numbered sprites, making revisions to scripted projects difficult.

Director MX is scheduled to ship in February and will be priced at $1,199 for new users, $399 for upgrades from Director 8.5 and Director MX, and $499 for educators. It requires Windows 2000 or Windows XP, or Mac OS X 10.2.6 or later.