Macromedia unlocks the power of web publishing

Macromedia unlocks the power of web publishing for everyone with Macromedia Contribute

New product empowers business users and unburdens web professionals by making web site updates as easy as word processing

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – 12 November 2002 – Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) announced Macromedia Contribute, a groundbreaking new desktop application that enables anyone to easily update, add, and publish web content to existing websites without requiring technical skills beyond basic word processing. The product brings ease and simplicity to the Internet by putting the power of web publishing into the hands of non-technical users, while also providing sufficient control for the professionals who manage websites. Macromedia Contribute works with any HTML website, including those coded by hand or created with tools like Macromedia Dreamweaver MX or Microsoft FrontPage. Macromedia Contribute, available for Windows in December, features an introductory RRP of NZ$265 (inc. GST). To download a technology preview today, go to http://www.macromedia.com/go/contribute/.

"Macromedia Contribute represents a new product vision for Macromedia that reaches a whole new class of users with a beautiful solution that also frees up our current designers and developers to stay ahead of the technology curve," said Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO, Macromedia. "Contribute levels the playing field for web content contribution, and makes waiting for an overburdened webmaster to make site updates a thing of the past."

Within enterprise settings and government agencies to education and small businesses, people who want to make updates to web content today rely on web professionals with specialised skills to make even simple edits. Business users require quick changes to web content, but don't want to spend hours learning web development software and new processes. Contribute enables users to easily publish content to the web, and protects them from inadvertent mistakes. The product also ensures that web professionals who build the sites retain complete control over the site style, layout, and code standards.

"As web content management technology matures, architectural simplicity, low cost, rapid installation and ease of use become critical differentiators," said Lou Latham, research analyst, Gartner, Inc. "New products that provide 'quick and easy' web editing for non-technical users will have opportunity if they meet these criteria."

Macromedia Contribute allows web developers to delegate web content maintenance while protecting the site design, code, and functionality. Contribute rolls out in minutes using encrypted connection keys and permission groups. Contribute also maintains a living history of page changes so users can easily roll back changes and switch between different versions of a page. In addition, the quality of the code is guaranteed because Contribute is built on the core HTML authoring engine of Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, the preferred choice of more than 90 percent of web professionals.

Macromedia Contribute allows users to update web content in three simple steps. Users browse to the web page they want to update, edit the page, and publish their updated page to the live site. Contribute also features integration with Microsoft Word and Excel, so users can drag-and-drop Word or Excel files from their desktop onto a page and the content is added with the original formatting intact. Users can even e-mail draft pages for review before publishing them. Web pages can also be updated offline and published later.

An update to Macromedia Dreamweaver MX will be available simultaneously with Macromedia Contribute to improve its performance and provide the ability to administer Macromedia Contribute sites from within Dreamweaver.

Tony Redhead, principal, Red Square said "We jumped at the chance to beta Macromedia Contribute. What we found was an easy to use but deceptively powerful tool that provides and supports publishing on the web, for pages that don't require or are not part of a larger content management system.

"By using Dreamweaver MX, our designers and developers created and published template pages that allow our clients, using Contribute, to easily add content, duplicate pages and upload images and dozens of other tasks. The best thing is that all of this is possible while still maintaining the integrity of the page by creating editable areas within the page and by setting strict user options within Contribute.

"Contribute is currently being integrated into Red Square's suite of development tools and will be deployed amongst our clients to provide additional methods by which content is maintained and kept current."

Established in 1995, Red Square is a leading Australian Internet design and development firm. With an extensive range of services and technologies Red Square continues to provide innovative solutions to the business needs of its diverse client base that includes Telstra, Qantas, YHA and Harvey World Travel.

Macromedia Contribute also offers unprecedented support for Section 508 accessibility requirements, so people with disabilities can read and create web content. Macromedia Contribute also works with existing network security methods, and does not require any special servers or technology.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Macromedia Contribute will be available for Windows in December with introductory RRP of NZ$265 (inc. GST). Education, government, and corporate volume licensing will be available. The product will initially ship in English, with French, German, and Japanese versions expected to be available in 2003.

Macromedia Contribute will be available for Mac OS X users in 2003. Macromedia is currently working with Opera Software to develop the embedded browser technology required for this product. Dreamweaver MX users on the Macintosh platform will be able to download a new product update in December to improve Dreamweaver MX performance and provide interoperability with Macromedia Contribute.

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