Currently, little is known about the development of CS4. New versions of Photoshop and Flash are known to be in development, and have been released to select beta testers. Other applications from previous versions of Adobe Creative Suite are also assumed to be in development. CS4 will be available as both 32-bit and 64-bit applications for Windows, but only 32-bit for OS X.
There is currently no public release date or pricing information for Adobe CS4, although there is speculation of a release date in late 2008 or early 2009.
Confirmed-applications
So far, only a limited number of applications from previous versions of Creative Suite have been confirmed to be in development. These are:
- Adobe Dreamweaver - codenamed "Stiletto"
- Adobe Fireworks
- Adobe Flash - codenamed "Diesel"
- Adobe Flash Player - codenamed "Astro" (a new version of Flash Player may be released separately from CS4)
- Adobe Photoshop - codenamed "Stonehenge"
- Adobe Soundbooth
It is assumed that other popular applications from previous versions of Creative Suite, including Bridge, Illustrator, and Premiere will be updated and included with CS4. Some new applications, including Thermo, may also be included. Additionally, it is possible that existing applications will be removed or merged together, given the several overlaps in Adobe's product line since acquiring Macromedia, and comparable feature consolidation from CS3.
New features
Although Adobe has not made any formal announcement about the new features to be introduced in CS4, some new features have been shown in beta tests and demonstrations. Visually, the suite is undergoing a new UI overhaul that does not following typical consistencies, similar to how Office 2007 uses a non-standard interface).
- Dreamweaver - Many new features aimed towards improving workflow and ease of use:
- Live View - The ability to view a web page under standards-based browser conditions, while still retaining direct access to the code
- Related Files - Manage related files more easily; all files related to the currently displayed page will be displayed in a toolbar
- Code Navigator - Displays all code sources that affect the current selection in a window
- CSS - Help information to be displayed to the user while editing CSS
- Code hinting for Ajax and Javascript
- Improved spry widgets and HTML datasets
- Increased compatibility with Photoshop
- Fireworks - There are several new features included in the Fireworks beta:
- Increased compatibility with Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash
- Web design and CSS export - allows graphical design of web pages, which can then be exported with standards-compliant CSS sheets created automatically
- PDF export ability
- Live style updates - when a style is updated, all elements using the style are also updated
- Adobe Type Engine - enhanced typesetting abilities, similar to that already seen in current versions of Photoshop and Illustrator
- Live gradients
- Flash - It is believed that Adobe will be performing a substantial overhaul of Flash for CS4. Possible changes include:
- Pixel Bender
- Removal of keyframes
- Inverse kinematics
- "Mobile Convergence", making it easier to make Flash content for mobile devices
- Object-based tween modeling
- 3D rotation
- Photoshop
- Compatibility fixes for Microsoft Windows Vista
- There has been speculation about Photoshop having Content Aware Image Resizing due to Adobe hiring one of its inventors
- Further integrates Bridge into one menu bar at the top
- Options for using greyscale application icons
- Soundbooth - According to Adobe Labs, several new features are available in the beta release:
- Arranging audio files on multiple tracks
- Making quick edits and applying fades
- Matching volume levels with a single command
- Removing unwanted noises and background sounds
- Adjusting tempo and pitch
- Recording and polishing voice-overs
- Adding effects and filters
- Previewing MP3 compression quality.
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