macromedia

Macromedia has some great products. I use two of them on a fairly regular basis, though I am much better at one than the other. I would recommend any of their products typically over the Adobe equivalent because they are more intuitive to use for new users. However, if you are already used to the Adobe interfaces, it may be easier for you to just use all Adobe programs.

Captivate	[macromedia downloads]	Macromedia Captivate is a fantastic program for capturing screenshots and developing training materials. It created a Flash-based file that you can use extensively for training and demonstrations. I recommend Captivate for anyone who wants to develop training videos for their staff. You can view training videos I have created in the Training section.
Flash MX	[macromedia downloads]	Macromedia Flash is the standard for creating Flash movies and websites. Some people think that in the future, all websites will be entirely Flash. Flash files are great because they have very customizable interactivity, protected content [you can't download it] and very small file sizes. I recommend Macromedia Flash to any of you amateur web designers out there. I also recommend a class to learn how to use it!

flash button on your site

If you have any Flash files on your website, you might want to make sure and have a Get Flash Player button somewhere in the HTML code, so that people who don't have Flash Player can download it. Here is what it looks like.