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Review: Xtivity

Interactive designers have had a rough ride from Macromedia Flash over the last few versions. Although Flash 8 looks set to reignite the creativity within the community there are now a number of designer friendly Flash authoring tools out there. Xtivity is one of the most interesting. It has been built from the ground up to let anyone create complex interactive sites without ever writing a line of code. John Dalziel checks it out.

Xtivity: All of the cool. None of the code

Manufacturer: Tivity Software, LLC
Website: http://www.tivity.com/
Price: $399 (30 day free trial)

Installation
Xtivity installation is a simple two step process. You pick a directory and let it go. It takes a little while as there quite a few help files. Don't moan about it, this is good thing. Once the app is installed then the Macromedia Shockwave and Flash Player installer fires up. Again this is straightforward and painless. Once complete you can fire up the app and enter your serial number. This is validated online and your good to go.

First Impressions
The first thing that strikes you is that Xtivity looks a lot more like Photoshop than Flash. There are some Flash similarities, not least of all, the three column quick start box in the centre of the screen. Help is a big feature of the product. There are loads and loads of help files, tutorials and video walk-throughs. Tivity Software has gone to considerable lengths to make you comfortable with the product.

Xtivity has been designed from the bottom up to allow anyone to build interactive Flash sites. You don't need to be a programmer - you won't ever write a line of code in Xtivity. You don't need to be a designer either. There is a massive collection of media elements to choose from. Just drag and drop them from the library. These include graphics, animations, sound effects and transitions. In addition to these you have a huge library of interactive components and elements.

Creating interactivity
Interactivity is engineered by working with the the properties and paramaters of each object on the stage. Local or global events can be set to trigger a vast array of pre-built actions and functionality. This process lets you create some pretty complex interactive Flash sites without ever writing a line of code.

With all this talk of interactivity without programming you could be forgiven for thinking that Xtivity is pitched at designers. Once you start working with it you'll find that 'interactivity' is actually all you can create. Xtivity has no drawing tools. You do have a huge library to work with and you can import your own videos, Photoshop graphics, and even SWF files. You just can't create anything from scratch.

Conclusion
What makes Xtivity unusual is its fundamental concentration on interaction design. Existing Flash programmers and designers will only feel frustrated if they try to apply their traditional skills to Xtivity. Where it may be useful is as an easy entry into cross-skilling. Designers could use it to create interactivity and programmers will have access to a vast array of pre drawn library elements. The inability to fulfill their traditional roles may ultimately prove frustrating.

Where Xtivity will be ideal is for those users who have a requirement for an interactive Flash site but have no existing programming or design experience.

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