Macromedia Inc has announced its Backstage Web development product line that enables users to build Web sites with database access and discussion groups without complex programming. The multimedia authoring software specialist came into the products when it acquired Campbell, California-based iBand Inc, a developer of Internet Web site development tools for $32m back in March. Products in the family include Backstage Designer, a WYSIWYG authoring environment for non-technical and technical developers alike that enables page creation similar to using a point and click wordprocessor. It includes Backstage Manager that maintains Web sites remotely from any Internet connection, Macromedia said. Secondly, Backstage Designer Plus includes Macromedia Power-Applets, a collection of customizable Macromedia Director and Java applications that enable developers to animate text and logos on Web pages without programming. Designer Plus also includes the Macromedia xRes SE image editor for creating Web graphics. Backstage Studios is available in two versions – the Desktop Studio, which includes Designer Plus, the Backstage Object Server and Backstage Objects, which are all capable of linking to desktop databases, and the Backstage Enterprise Studio, which goes a step further and enables access to client-server databases such as Oracle, Sybase and Informix from a Web site, without the need for programming or scripting. The Backstage Xtras Developers Kit, due later this year, will enable developers to build their own objects.
