Macromedia Soups Up Flash For Web Printing

As reported previously, Macromedia's Flash is an plugin for most Web
browsers that allows flash-enabled Web graphics, which can include
animation, to be viewed quickly and easily.

The Flash enhancement allows Flash-enabled Web pages to offer Web
browsers the chance to automatically download information files to
their printer while the flash animation sequence is executing on the
user's computer screen.

Macromedia said that the new version of Flash (v4.x), which Webmasters can now use on their Web pages, is already starting to be
used by a number of its major customers.

The firm said businesses like Hewlett-Packard, BMW Motorcycles and
Maps.com already are using Flash to improve customer experience,
extend their brand and enable new business models online.

According to Macromedia, the new Flash technology allows developers
to develop new types of Web applications to take full advantage of
intelligent, high-quality printing.

Examples, the firm said, include "Click-and-Mortar" coupons that
drive online users to stores with trackable incentives, greeting
cards, ad banner printing that prints the unseen information behind
the banner and vector-based city and street maps.

Macromedia General Manager David Mendels said that when consumers
print information from their Web browsers, they typically get a
low-quality print of the entire navigational and banner ad content
that also appear on the page.

On some sites, consumers also can select a different printer-friendly
page, which requires additional developer time; or they may have to
launch an external application, which is not seamless from a
usability perspective. Also, he said, Web-native fonts currently
don't allow for high-quality rendering of text.

Mendels said that enabling Flash developers to control how their
information will look when a consumer wants to print it out is
invaluable. "For our e-business customers, the technology also opens
up new ways to engage their Web customers," he said.

Further details of the Flash print option, and routes to active pages
using the technology, can be found on the main Macromedia site at http://www.macromedia.com/go/flashgallery.

The Flash 4 print authoring software development kit (SDK) is also
available for free to registered Flash 4 users at
http://www.macromedia.com/go/flashprinting.