Considering the decline of Flash and a recent data breach, some observers have wondered whether Adobe had a relevant future. The release of Edge Tools and Services as part of Adobe’s (News – Alert) Creative Cloud has shown that Adobe is not only relevant but also well-positioned for the mobile future.
Edge provides HTML5 tools that are comparable to those found in Hype or Sencha Animator. Edge Tools and Services that are provided with a Creative Cloud subscription include Animate, Reflow, Code and Inspect.
With Animate, developers can combine HTML, CSS (News – Alert) and JavaScript to create animated and interactive content. Designs are created within Webkit-based environment, which helps to ensure that they will render well on all types of browsers and devices.
Reflow enables developers to create responsive CSS-based layouts and visuals. Another Edge tool, Code, allows developers to code both content and applications using CSS, HTML and JavaScript. Edge Code works well with the other tools in the Edge series and is a distribution of the Brackets open source project.
The final tool, Inspect, shows developers what their sites will look like on a wide range of mobile devices. Developers can preview their mobile sites and grab screenshots from all of their connected devices so that they can easily see what to correct for mobile-friendliness.
Users can subscribe to Creative Cloud for $49.99 per month to use not only Edge tools but also the traditional Adobe products. Alternatively, they can just use Edge Animate in the cloud for $19.95 per month.
Adobe’s Sarah Hunt told Megan Leavy-Heaton of TUAW.com that the company intends to add audio storytelling to Edge Animate and wants to integrate it with InDesign. The integrated solution could be used for ePub3 support, article linking, chart building, drawing, video and more.
Edited by
Alisen Downey