Macromedia Inc. Monday announced the release of Macromedia Authorware 5.1, the latest upgrade to its authoring software that is used to deploy learning applications for the Web, networks and CD-ROMs.
This release provides support for many of the leading multimedia and Web formats, new delivery capabilities along with an enhanced user interface. Also included is support for Macromedia Flash 4, Macintosh delivery capabilities, and a smaller player for streaming media over the Web.
Authorware is an authoring environment used for developing interactive, rich-media learning applications. The tool allows developers and instructional designers to create learning applications and deploy them to the Web, corporate networks and CD-ROMs. These applications automatically track and store a student’s results to external databases and data formats. The student’s information can then be sent to an industry-standard learning management system, such as Lotus Pathware.
New features in Authorware 5.1 are focused on new media formats, enhanced delivery and improved usability:
- New media formats – developers can take advantage of the latest versions of Web and multimedia formats, including Macromedia Flash 4, Apple QuickTime 4, QuickTime VR and animated GIFs
- Enhanced delivery – improved capability for delivering Authorware applications over the Web, networks and CD-ROM; new version of the Authorware Web Player reduces the player footprint by 80 percent to less than 800K
- Improved usability – the tool’s user interface has been enhanced to improve usability and workflow, with new model palettes, right-click context menus and optional scrollbars
By providing support for Flash 4 in Authorware, Macromedia (MACR) believes that developers will benefit from the integration of their technologies while they leverage the strengths of each product. Macromedia Authorware 5.1 is available as a free upgrade for registered users of Authorware 5.
