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Two new source files, Methods of Line Drawing and Eight Direction Movement With Arrow Keys. The first shows methods for drawing lines in Flash 5 (prior to the introduction of the drawing API) and the second is an example of how you can create a character that can be moved in 8 directions using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

I put up a new tutorial in the Fireworks Tutorials section called Fireworks: The Things You Might Have Missed. It covers many things in Fireworks you might not have ever known or simply overlooked. For instance, did you know you could double-click fill handles to return them to their default positions? That tid-bit is included as is many more.

I just updated the Map With Pan, Zoom, And Selection Flash source file. The update includes a slightly different method for retaining label sizes and now allows for the inclusion of custom buttons within the pan clip (where those labels exist). New parking buttons have been added to demonstrate this.

Extrude Path is a command that allows you to extrude a single selected vector path vertically at a specified height creating a 3D-like effect. Check it out.

Just threw up a new Flash MX file using an Ease class that transforms a linear progression from 0 to 1 into one with easing of various sorts. Could be a useful alternative to other tween methods for ActionScript. I personally perfer the 0 to 1 "percentage" approach.

Out of the goodness of his heart, Coen Naninck has resurected Freestylermx.net bringing back all Fireworks downloads and tutorials that were originally on the site. Sadly, there will no longer be any more updates for Freestylermx, but the resource lives once again and continues to be an asset (as much as it was) for developing Fireworks users.

I just uploaded a new Flash file, the (AS 2) MovieClipHistory class for Flash MX 2004. This class is used to allow movie clips to remember common method calls like lineStyle, lineTo, attachMovie, etc. and record them in a history property where they can be recalled for future use, either on the same clip or even another. The example provided recalls the history of one clip in another one step at a time as you click the mouse so you can see when each method was called and what its effects were on the original.

I recently added a new Flash FAQ in the Flash Tutorials section. Those questions and answers included are a collection of questions I encounter and answer frequently in Flash forums such as the Kirupa forums and the ActionScript.org forums. More questions and answers will be added as I encounter them or simply when I think of them.

A new sister site of Fireworks Zone appeared today, Fireworks Tips. Apparently the brainchild of Coen (of FW Zone), the site provides helpful tips and hints that will get you on your way to being a more productive Fireworks user. A few of the tips listed are even my own, so I suggest checking it out (not to mention the logo looks like it was made with my pinwheel shape which makes me appreciate it all the more).

Conicidentally, I had planned on a "Things You Might Have Missed" tutorial for Fireworks which covers many of the helpful Fireworks features many people have overlooked. Fireworks Tips, however, pretty much covers that now. And the best thing? If you have a tip, you can submit it to Fireworks Tips as well!

Despite having been removed earlier for unknown reasons, Macromedia has reinstated the trial downloads for both Fireworks and Freehand. This is great news, though the fact still remains that something did encourage them to remove the trials in the first place. What that was still remains a mystery but one can't help but to assume negative connotations.