Insight

Adobe Muse: Will it Sink or Will it Float?

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]I have been meaning to share my thoughts for quite a while now on a relatively new and impressive software called Muse from the one and only giant – Adobe.

Muse made its first beta appearance back in 2011 and has been gradually improving since then. Adobe Muse CC gives the opportunity to any digital designer to create web content without the need of extensive knowledge of mark up languages such as HTML or CSS. Instead, Muse replaces this technical ‘know how’ with a simpler to use interface that any designer, well one that has used Adobe applications before that is – if they haven’t there most likely working in the wrong industry – can pretty much handle, considering they devote a certain amount of hours experimenting with it.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”2940″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Image credit: © Adobe[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]This is exactly what I, and many other designers before me, have envisioned when we first got introduced to the puzzling world of coding; a user interface that replaces the hustle of learning how to program. It was inevitable; the only question was when was this going to happen. However, there are still a lot of limitations to what you can actually do with Muse as it’s still a work in progress, one that constantly receives big package updates from its creators. For example, the biggest drawback of Muse in my opinion is that it does not support direct copy-paste of vector elements from Illustrator, nor does it support SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) implementation, making it impossible to include vector graphics that have been designed out of the package itself. Once the software allows the implementation of SVG there is going to be a lot more freedom for creativity, allowing the design of more custom vector shapes. At the moment the only vector element someone can design is a square and the option of having round corners to it. That’s something that I would like to see been taking care of in the next big update; support of svg being the main issue. Maybe I’ll drop the folks in Adobe a line with some suggestions! However I am pretty sure they are well aware of that and are already working on it.

Nevertheless, Muse really comes into its own when designing parallax web content and it has certainly a lot of potential in that department. When it comes to parallax design, the main weapon of choice should be the ‘scroll effects’ which might seem a bit complicated to get your head around initially. However after some experimentation, someone can get to grips of its animation mechanics fairly swiftly. Furthermore, the package offers a series of ready made widgets that can be implemented and customised accordingly and a lot of time. These widgets vary from social media sharing buttons, slideshows, menus, panels etc. while also having the opportunity to download additional content from the official exchange site of Adobe or buy new widgets from third-party websites such as muse-themes.com.

I for one can’t wait to see how Adobe is going to develop the package in the near future. The combination of Muse with Adobe Edge – another early stage software that allows animation in HTML5 – hopefully will take Flash out of its misery once and for all. So yeah… Adobe Muse is not sinking anytime soon.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_tweetmeme type=”horizontal”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_facebook type=”standard”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][/vc_row]